"Anything goes anywhere" is Janet May's gardening mantra.
It's a philosophy that serves her well, as her Rangiuru cottage garden attests.
The rural property Janet shares with partner Paramjit Singh is a mass of floral beauty interspersed with attractive hard landscaping features such as a pigeon loft, a bridge straddling the pond they created, and a rustic timber structure with outstretched arms of wire to welcome the sprawl of roses.
In Janet's garden it's hard to spot the soil; and that's how it is intended.
"It's as packed as possible which suits its cottage style. In my garden anything goes anywhere. Mother Nature doesn't have things in pretty rows."
The dense planting means she doesn't have to water the garden so often - with open soil it dries up more rapidly, she explains. And while roses tend to prefer air circulation around their base, hers thrive amongst the rambling flora, thanks to special feeding and spraying attention.
Janet is well versed in creating cottage gardens that flourish. "I have cottage gardens wherever I go. I used to buy old houses, do them up, create gardens and then sell."
Paramjit's not having a bar of it this time. He likes what they've created on their peaceful, rural, half hectare. Plus, he says, Janet has more plants than furniture so shifting is a massive endeavour best avoided. Janet doesn't deny that trailer-loads of plant cuttings and favourite florae move house with her. Plants hard to source these days, and much-loved roses are amongst the migrating masses, as are the huge air-plant balls she has had for about 50 years. These have pride of place hanging from the arms of an even older Copper Beech.
The story of what this industrious couple has created at this address isn't exactly a short one.
When they arrived 10 years ago there was little garden to speak of. Then, as now, the majestic Copper Beech (reputed to be about 80 or 90 years old) inspired awe. Avocado trees, close to the house, were removed to make room for Janet's flower gardens - although a few stumps have remained for ivy to clamber over.
Janet May's son Barry created the steel garden features. Photo/supplied
Janet and Paramjit cobbled the driveway and put in the picket fences which Janet then painted. She also painted the house, while Paramjit tackled building renovation jobs. The same hammer was put to action creating the garden's hard landscaping.
"Basically we seem to have a project each year," Janet tells. "One year it was the fence, then the deck, next will be putting in a swimming pool."
Janet's children have provided a hands on influence too. Linda was to the fore when it came to helping her mum lay the brick pathways that meander through the gardens.
Daughter Karen assisted in creating the pond which, at latest count, houses about 90 goldfish; and a son-inlaw made the water feature that feeds the pond. Son, Barry, is the creator of the steel garden features, including the pyramids the climbing plants so appreciate.
"They all come and dabble," Janet smiles. Her garden is devoid of a colour scheme and hence a vibrant orange lily resides next to a red rose, and marigolds can be found at the base of irises and pink snapdragons.
Large contributors to the colour mass are the multitudes of white and purple catnip, foxgloves, lupins, dahlias, lavender, old fashioned forget-me-nots, stock, pansies, penstomens, little carnations, geraniums, butter-fly plants, granny's bonnets ("a total must-have") and pyrethrums ("great for hedging and for deterring flies"). Tall thistles have a place too thanks to the beauty of their bright blue flowers. Also included in the mix are zinnias and pin cushions, both popular with the butterflies, Janet says.
"No matter how many times I come out to my garden I find something new to look at. There are so many plants and colour coming up all the time."
Janet May's cottage garden. Photo/supplied
Looking permanently lovely are lambs ear en masse adding a touch of silvery allure under a planting of white roses, while scores of succulents create attractive bedding under the Copper Beech. Succulents (hen and chicken) have also been used to create curved garden edging in one area of the garden. Even succulents like to be watered in summer, Janet advises.
Many of the plants in her garden flower all season. Most of her roses, for example, are repeat flowerers. It is very much a summer garden, she adds. While she may plant some stock, for example, for spring, there is little happening in the coldest months. Winter is the time to let her garden rest, she says.
Trees add to the glory.A weeping cherry, weeping crabapple, magnolia, dogwood and camelia reside within the cottage garden section of the property.
There are more trees to be found...beyond the demarcation line. The back part of the property is Paramjit's patch. Here, in amongst the towering Norfolk Pine, fruit and avocado trees can be found chickens and a duck, and a large vegetable garden.
Janet obviously has boundary issues - the mass planting of larkspur around one avocado tree is a giveaway that she has crossed into Paramjit zone. Another avocado tree could benefit from some surrounding pyrethrums, she muses.
Janet emphasises that while her garden is expansive it hasn't been an expensive undertaking. She grows many things from cuttings, and her healthy teucrium hedge is a fine example. She lets her plants go to seed, and items purchased are often in seed-form, or seedlings wrapped in newspaper. And, of course, so much of the man-made beauty created has been done by Janet, Paramjit and extended family.
There's more to come -aproject she has not tackled before. Janet has plans to create a marsh garden and she has a great deadline to work toward. Janet's garden will feature in the NZ Garden and Art Festival in November and the plan is for the marsh garden to be ready as another feature to delight festival-goers.
