Down the garden path

A crushed-shell pathway, meandering watercourse and large drifts of colour enhance the visual impact of this hillside garden

View of a landscaped garden which features a botanical garden, flower, garden, grass, grass family, landscape, landscaping, plant, vegetation, walkway, water, watercourse, yard, brown — View of a landscaped garden which features a crushed-shell pathway, watercourse, small wooden bridge.

View of a landscaped garden which features a botanical garden, garden, grass, grass family, landscape, landscaping, path, plant, tree, vegetation, walkway, yard, brown

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For generations, the typical back yard was an expanse of grass, a couple of fruit trees and a vegetable plot. Today, however, more and more homeowners are relishing the chance to create a much more inviting home landscape.

The owners of this country property, Pete and Nora Dougherty, were quite happy not to have any lawn in their back yard they already enjoy a green outlook over neighbouring fields.

The couple commissioned landscape designer Alex Schanzer to come up with an alternative planting scheme for their sloping site one that would provide plenty of visual interest and allow for seating areas and a water feature.

"As the garden is overlooked by the house, it needed to look good from above," Schanzer says. "And, from the ground, it was important to create a sense of mystery, so you wouldn't be able to see the entire garden at a glance. The garden needed to draw you in to explore further."

Schanzer says the starting point for the design was the watercourse, which meanders between an upper and lower pond.

"The bottom pond is the catchment area. Water is pumped from here to the top pond where it flows out over a waterfall to run in a small stream back down to the lower pond."

To reinforce the natural look, the stream is bordered by orange-toned Waiheke stone boulders and rocks.

A crushed shell path curves across and down the slope, and over a small wooden bridge to end at a small paved seating area, complete with pergola. The path is bordered with ponga logs and a variety of plants in contrasting textures and colours.

"I like to introduce great drifts of colour and sculpture into the garden," says Schanzer. "The expansive ground covers here include the reddish-brown coprosma Red Rocks, which contrasts well with the lush broad-leafed plants, and the green coprosma Hawera."

Stainless steel totem poles set into the ground cover are topped with the hardy Bromeliad aechmea recurvata, which has leaves that change from green to yellow and red over the course of a year.

The landscape also features extensive plantings of the New Zealand native snow tussock. This highly decorative grass features year-round seedheads that change from lime green to a sandy colour.

"As this site is rather exposed, the tussock waves in the wind, creating movement in the garden another prerequisite for a lively landscape," says Schanzer.

Varying the heights of plants and hard landscaping features also adds interest. The designer has introduced a low ponga wall that follows the serpentine curve of the stream. The wall is topped with epiphytic bromeliads.

Other plantings include clusters of day lilies, Agave attenuata, dwarf Australian frangipani and purple cabbage trees.