Ayrlies, one of New Zealand's most famous gardens, has featured in America's Wall Street Journal in a feature article headlined "Beverley McConnell's garden paradise".
The outstanding, influential and vast garden at Whitford south of Auckland is described as Mrs McConnell's "own patch of Eden", a place she has tended for 50 years which is also open to the public.
![Beverley McConnell owner of the 4.5 hectare Ayrlies Garden in Whitford Auckland.
Photo / Jane Ussher](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/O5RSNYRRRRZKFPBGOYMMIFZAHQ.jpg?auth=c6b922f2f14e82208a64f9174e00ce1e4744eb201ae433790e9ba35be4bf0c1b&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
The journal calls it a place that ranks among the finest in the world: "12 acres of densely planted, rolling landscape with trees, shrubs, perennials and vines woven into a tapestry that borders a thriving wetland."
The article cites American renowned plantsman Daniel Hinkley calling Mrs McConnell "without a doubt the first lady of horticulture in New Zealand".