Garden designed by Mark Read and Richard Neville, Remuera. Photo / Supplied
If I were a real gardener, by now I'd have the beds turned over, the spring veges planted, seeds under way for December transplanting. Possibly built a new path or at least pruned all the spring growth off the hedges.
Sadly, I'm not one of those gardeners, much as I'd love to be. Happily, instead, I can take the trek around some of Auckland's most beautifully landscaped gardens in the bi-annual Garden DesignFest and pretend that's exactly what I'd be doing if I had the time, money or taste.
Launched six years ago by landscape designer Rose Thodey, the festival fills a gap between the generic home and garden tours or local garden fetes. These are real gardens for real -- albeit very lucky -- people. Rose and her team of enthusiasts modelled the festival on a long-running one in Melbourne, to feature the work of professionals from the Garden Design Society of New Zealand. Designers submitted recent work to a panel of fellow designers; there's a pretty rigorous selection process and 20 gardens made it into this year's festival. The panel is careful to cluster gardens so you're not trekking across the isthmus for only one viewing, and have places from Castor Bay to Mt Eden in the south.
One gorgeous spring day, Rose and fellow organiser Deb Hardy ran me around a few of their picks to give me a taste of what the weekend-long event will be showing. I had to laugh as they peered over fences and slowed the car down to spot potential candidates for their 2017 festival but, as they pointed out, it takes a while for a new garden to be settled and grown enough to be put on display. They don't repeat a garden, ensuring enthusiastic ticket-buyers see something new. The money goes to Ronald McDonald House, the schools' Garden to Table and children's charities supported by the Rotary Club of Newmarket, you can buy pretty Picnic Box lunch boxes to eat in some of the gardens, it all seems very good value for only $65 for the whole weekend.
It also takes a lot of work for the owners. As we raced around the suburbs, Deb and Rose were checking logistics for gate-keepers, ticking off maintenance schedules (those lawns and hedges, they blast away between now and the middle of November) and chatting to gardeners digging in punnets of coloured flowers that will hopefully be at their peak in four weeks' time.
The gardens range from a teeny inner city courtyard (all of 5m by 10m, I estimated) to a sprawling eastern suburbs mansion that could put any public park to shame. Rose and Deb have deliberately chosen gardens that demonstrate different styles, from formal English to colourful Mediterranean, with lots of terrific relaxed native gardens too.
"We wanted to showcase what can be done with a design approach," says Rose. "People can see a style and say 'that's what I want for me', but also just admire other people's styles, too. Every owner has told us what a difference having a garden like this makes to their lives, that's why I'm so enthused about this."
My shopping list is groaning. I wanted the Moroccan/Mediterranean courtyard that Trudy Crerar had created for a couple with Lebanese roots who host large family meals and love cooking. The tiny space still had room for a dining pavilion, complete with punched metal roof, a gravel walk edged with Dr Seuss-like clipped trees, cool rusted steel panels framing views of the neighbouring industrial wall -- even room for a clothesline. This was only garden one, and already I was realising that all the magazine clipping and Pinterest dreaming in the world would not create this as a DIY job. There were fruit trees (dates, pomegranates, citrus), there was fragrance, there was bubbling water. If Spain's famous Alhambra gardens were miniaturised, this would be their distilled essence, right here.
Then there was the native garden from Mark Read and Richard Neville of Natural Habitats. The pair had transformed a scruffy bit of stream and an ordinary concrete patio into a native garden retreat, complete with chunky decking, gravel bush paths and a bridge over the now-cleaned-up stream (not so sure about the eels that have taken up residence).
In Westmere, Trish Bartleet, always known for her architectural eye, worked with architect Jack McKinney to create a garden so integrated with the house that it is hard to tell the boundaries, with a sculptural pool and clever mix of native plants and tropicals -- it is hard to imagine the owners would ever want to leave their own private resort.
Landscapers in Auckland are lucky enough to capture our stunning views -- from Rangitoto to up-close views of One Tree Hill.
Classical designer Barbara Garrett has a way with greenery, from clipped hedges of various sizes, Italianate cypress avenues to fun mop-haired trees, not to mention clusters of perfect topiary balls in the courtyard garden rooms.
There are more gardens I long to see, I finished the afternoon with a list of suppliers and ideas (all handily detailed on the festival website, along with extra photos and stories) and a determination that this summer I will do better.
Auckland Garden DesignFest, November 14 and 15. Tickets from iTICKET, garden retailers (see website for details) and also at the garden gate. All Garden Tickets (whole weekend) $65, single garden $10 each.
Weekend Life has two fabulous Auckland Garden DesignFest prize packs worth $400 each to give away. Each pack includes four All Gardens passes for the event, complimentary morning and afternoon tea and a scrumptious gourmet Picnic Box lunch each. And as a money-can't-buy bonus, you'll be invited to the post-event Garden Party (only available to designers, homeowners and event organisers), to meet the designers over a glass of wine at stately Highwic on Sunday night.
To be in to win, go to nzherald.co.nz/weekend, enter your details and the key words Auckland Garden DesignFest by midnight, Wednesday, October 21.