Re: secluded vs open gardens
Glenn Breayley wrote:
>
> Moira writes
>
> >I am like you in part, in that my back garden is very private and only
> >seen by invited guests, but like a majority of NZ suburban gardens the
> >front is quite open, omly separated from the footpath by a low wall of
> >pierced concrete blocks, so that all who pass can look in
>
> Perhaps you could mention the very strict NZ bylaws on what fences are
> allowed along street frontages & their maximum height. This makes for a very
> different urban environment than many other places in the world & influences
> the whole nature of garden design.
> I remember in my boyhood - in NZ - all suburban streets had a concrete
> footpath seperated from the road by a grass verge & council provided street
> tree. It made for very leafy suburbs. Of an evening people would go for a
> walk after dinner & examine others front gardens for new ideas &
> associations.
> Is that the way things are still done ? Its a very civilized way to live.
Glenn
Where exactly in NZ did you spend your childhood? This mention of very
strict by-laws about fencing had me very puzzled. I live in Lower Hutt
where anything seems to go from high wooden or block fences down to
nothing at all (all in the same street!), and the same seems to apply in
any other town I have visited.
In fact I was sufficiently intrigued to ring the local Concil offices
and enquire. The only regulation I could find was that if one wanted a
fence more than 2m high one needed planning permission - was this
perhaps what you were thinking of?
There are of course some further considerations for fencing _between_
properties, but this is largely a matter of liasing with the neoghbours
affected.
The provision of footpaths and grass verges with trees still applies
though. The council supplies the tree (Ours is the cherry 'Shimidsu
Sakura'), but the householder is expected to tend their own bit of
verge. One person I know tested this by refusing to mow his front, but
the council would only bring their mower round twice a year, so he
finally got sick of the "Hayfield" outside and capitulated!!
The tree is also largely under one's care also. In its early days we had
several times to defend ours against passing children who would swing on
the still frail branches or (worst of all) snap new shoots just for the
fun of it) Ours lost two potentially major branches early on to a casual
small boy, who had snapped them off before I could stop him. I had to
later train a shoot through from the other side to restore the balance.
Fortunately the tree is becoming quite sizable and the kids seem to have
either grown older or just lost interest.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
