Distinctly Aotearoa

Landscape design by Naomi Gray, Sculpt Gardens

From the designer:

A beautiful coastal site in Torbay deserved a garden to match. 

The gardens were designed in conjunction with an extensive house renovation, pool upgrade and new back patio decks and gardens. 

The brief was to use New Zealand native planting in a contemporary way to ground the front of the house and complement modern architecture while responding thoughtfully to site conditions and coastal context.

Originally, the front garden consisted of a steep, sloped driveway dominated by a substantial concrete retaining wall. 

While structurally necessary, the wall presented a visual challenge, creating a hard edge between the home and the landscape. 

The homeowners wanted a refined, modern New Zealand native garden that would soften the retaining wall over time while sitting comfortably alongside the home’s clean architectural lines.

A large feature Northland Rock welcomes you, surrounded with low ground covers next to an asymmetrical top decking platform to unify multiple angles between house retaining walls and garage. 

The decking stairs and staggered platforms cut down the slope through the planting to the front door with a black metal strap handrail designed to complement the architecture.  

The planting design focused on swathes of mass planting, texture and repetition. 

Rather than using a wide variety of species, the planting palette was intentionally restrained. 

This allowed the inherent textures, forms and colours of each plant to shine, creating a calm and cohesive aesthetic that feels contemporary and timeless with echoes of the surrounding coastal environment. 

Some of the planting in the front berm garden was retained and modified to complement the new, including the Ti - cabbage trees that were planted to soften the garage and retaining walls. 

A group of Nikau palm provides another strong vertical element, while a compact Pōhutukawa 'Maori Princess', references the larger, established pōhutukawa growing naturally along the nearby Torbay cliffs – connecting the garden to the wider landscape helps the garden feel grounded in its coastal setting.

Rocks were used as features in the garden and to help stabilise and modify the slope, with gently mounding Muehlenbeckia axillaris weaving between the rocky edge in the exposed areas and under-utilised native ground cover Nertera depressa loving the shadier damper spots. 

The warm coppery hues in some of the Northland paddock rocks are reflected in the tones of fine textured Carex testacea, while the Waikato river pebble path introduces a soft, neutral contrast and helps with the drainage at the bottom of the slope where the water tended to collect.

Over time, the dense native planting will continue to soften and partially conceal the retaining wall, allowing the garden to mature gracefully. 

Thoughtful plant selection, mass planting and material harmony are essential when designing modern landscapes with New Zealand natives – proving they can be both ecologically grounded and architecturally refined.

The project was delivered collaboratively with Sculpt Gardens’ senior landscape designer Naomi Gray and constructed by Folium Landscaping, whose attention to detail ensured the garden was executed with precision. 

The result reflects Sculpt Gardens’ approach to landscape design: structured, site-responsive, and deeply informed by plant knowledge – creating outdoor spaces that are timeless, functional, and distinctly Aotearoa.

The garden is now cared for on a monthly basis by the garden team at Sculpt Gardens, ensuring the planting continues to establish, knit together, and grow into itself over time. 

Staying involved beyond installation is an important part of Sculpt Gardens’ philosophy, allowing ongoing care and advice as gardens develop and mature.

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Story by: Trendsideas