We’re into early November, and half way through Spring here in New Zealand. The garden is alive, bursting with life, full of bird song, hope and joy. The trees display canopies of intense Spring green, characterful abundant beauty. It’s also the time to be in tune with nature, and embrace seasonal living, enjoying the sights and sounds of the season, just living the season and enjoying its natural spectacles and harvests.
The garden for me has always been pure escapism. I’ve always known from a very young age that being outside and garden keeps me very happy - spending hours outside, a spot of weeding, pruning, mowing, digging, sowing seeds, well more like throwing seeds rather than sowing, listening to the birds and just pottering, is an amazing tonic, unfazzling the mind and unwinding. This won’t be news to many of you, who probably feel the same way about your own gardens. As I’m out n’ about pottering, the Fantails like to follow me around. They’re equivalent to the UK’s little Jenny Wren - very inquisitive, sprightly wee things, dancing from branch to branch in time with human movement. They’re extremely friendly.
As we’re approaching mid Spring, there’s even more opportunity to be outside in warmer weather, with clear blue skies and warm sunshine. As well as spending more time in my own garden, there is one garden in particular that I’d be very happy to lose several hours in. It’s a botanical garden like no other, located in a suburb of Cambridge, a town in the Waipa district of the Waikato, a few miles southeast of Hamilton, picture-perfect, characterised by quaint charm and tree leafy streets.
My cartoonist friend has been the custodian of this pocket-sized botanical garden for quite a few years now. She tells me the previous owner was a gardener at Hamilton Gardens, one of the world’s leading attractions, and during Covid, he decided to turn the outdoor space at the back of the house into a mini Hamilton Gardens. Plans were drawn up, and work began with lots of horticultural skill, imagination and unexpected delights thrown in.
My friend’s backyard is made up of a group of mini gardens that transport you through time - as you meander through the gardens, you’re immersed on a journey through a living tapestry of sheer human creativity. There’s a Japanese garden of minimalist design, compact, with a beautiful Mapel which changes colour with the seasons and delicate fern; a cottage garden, full of lavender and iris, a potager garden full of kitchen companions such as fennel, calendulas, borage, sage, pineapple sage and tufted california poppies; a fruit grove of lemons, limes, feijoa and peach, and a persimmon tree planted amongst greater tussock sedge. A twisting grape vine climbs up and trails along the entrance to the garden. My friend tells me it’s an amazing plant, grown for its fruit and seasonal shade, and as she says, it has turned a boring area into a lush oasis. Olive trees grace the small patio which is just large enough to entertain guests and hold a barbecue.
The planting covers an area which is quite imaginatively organised. The paved path meanders, helping to define the different sections of each garden. It is quite simply a paradise for nature lovers, one big pollinator pad with buzzing visitors for garden enthusiasts, aspects of garden traditions, and historic representations displaying the relationship of people with plants.
Wandering amongst this beautiful hidden gem, with a greenhouse that I’m told by my friend’s son, is the best part of the garden and lovingly tendered plants, it’s nothing short of inspirational. The experience and work that has gone into maintaining and developing such a garden in a garden, in an amazing space is incredible, and it certainly gives me a wee bit of inspiration for my own garden and ‘garden rooms’.
My friend’s garden is not just a garden, but a mini botanical garden, all of Hamilton Gardens rolled into one. It’s a collection of gardens, that showcase and are presented in a wonderfully unique way. It’s captivating and enchanting - a hidden gem in a small suburb with much to ooh and aah about!
Footnote: Hamilton Gardens is a top 1% must-visit in Waikato, New Zealand. You will discover diverse cultures and serene landscapes. A must-do on your bucket list. Each turn reveals a new world, filled with intricate details and hidden surprises. Hamilton Gardens’ newest masterpiece the Medieval Garden is now open. Folk can step back in time to the cloistered courtyards of the Middle Ages.
