A SEASONAL SHIFT
As an avid consumer of garden magazines (I’m looking at you Gardens Illustrated!) I find I have an unanswered thirst when it comes to editorial garden features…
I pour over the pages of the beautifully photographed planting, eyeballing what each interesting specimen might be, but I also long to turn the page and see that same garden as it has progressed into the next season.
When possible, Unearthed is going to allow me to share gardens along with their seasonal ebb and flow in a single article. I am sure that I am not the only gardener out there who needs their fascination met!
Words and photography by Julia Atkinson-Dunn
Garden profile
LOCATION: Hawarden, North Canterbury, New Zealand
SIZE: 3.4 hecatres
ENVIRONMENT: Stony ground combined with clay. Situated at the base of the Southern Alps and exposed to cold winters, hot dry summers and unseasonable frosts.
SPRING Lambs over the fence from the rose garden with aquilegia in the foreground
To begin, I decided to revisit some unshared imagery that I took at Flaxmere garden in springtime versus its summer crescendo, taken from similar viewpoints. The spring imagery was photographed in October (mid-spring New Zealand) and the summer, at dawn in February (the height of our summer).
If you have read any of my articles over the past three years, it’s likely you will recognise the name Penny Zino. Her passion, support, availability and cheerleading have influenced me hugely in my discovery of gardening. Penny demonstrates that gardening is a cycle of constant learning and after 57 years of experimenting within her 3.4-hectare rural space, she is currently clearing a new area to try her hand at creating a dry gravel garden!
Penny is a creative force with an enormous curiosity for plants and how she can put them to pleasing use in her often harsh environment. Think gale forces winds, unseasonal frosts, snow, heat, drought and stock break-ins to name a few!
It isn’t my aim today to reintroduce the garden or Penny’s approach, but to celebrate and highlight the beauty of her planting that rolls with the seasons, finding a new essence and identity as the year progresses.
It’s safe to say that autumn at Flaxmere is a flaming sight to behold and Penny is the first to proclaim that the skeletal stillness of winter is her favourite of them all.
For now, we will enjoy the verdant seasons in comparison.
SPRING view of the naturalistic planting.
Large-headed Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii brings incredible zest to the spring display.
SUMMER view of the naturalistic planting.
You will see the mustard flowers of Ligularia dentata to Penny’s right.
SUMMER view of the naturalistic planting.
The silvery mounds of santolina catch the eye amid the very soft drifts of other perennials. Great fountains of Stipa Gigantea grasses catch the light.
SPRING highlights in the naturalistic garden.
Iris x hollandica ‘Montecito’ and aquilegia
SUMMER highlights in the naturalistic garden featuring Echinacea purpurea - I believe it to be ‘Magnus’
SPRING highlights in the naturalistic garden including Iris x hollandica ‘Montecito’, aquilegia and euphorbia amid bolstering grasses and clumps of summer perennial foliage.
SUMMER highlights in the naturalistic garden.
Exotic Grasses (including Stipa gigantea) and native grasses (including Poa cita) mixed with flowering perennials including bright crimson monarda and persicaria in the background.
SPRING show in the naturalistic planting.
Different varieties of euphorbia bring a zinging fresh vibe! In contrast to the summer, the spring planting has a lower mounding habit with green as the dominate colour. (See next image for direct summer comparison).
SUMMER show in the naturalistic planting.
Now much taller and softer than the fresh spring display, with the dominant faded silvers and greys brought to life by the floating dots of colour.
SPRING Lady Bank’s Rose bordering the naturalistic area
SPRING show in the naturalistic planting.
Mounding and green with clumps of colour.
SUMMER show in the naturalistic planting.
Exotic and native grasses bring great softness to the summer perennials, creating an airier atmosphere where dots of colour float rather than dominate in clumps.
SUMMER in its silvers and greys.
SPRING in the rose garden.
Sprawling grey leafed daisy Anthemis punctata cupaniana (Sicilian Chamomile)
SUMMER in the rose garden.
Alchemilla mollis - now with lime, cloudy blooms creeps along the edge of the path.
SPRING in the rose garden.
Tulips, irises, forget-me-nots and euphorbia are eye-catching amid budding up roses and the bolstering clumps of summer flowering perennials. Choisya ternata (Mexican orange) is the vibrant white-flowered shrub in the background.
SPRING forget-me-nots and tulips.
SUMMER in the rose garden.
SUMMER in the rose garden.
SPRING in the rose garden.
SUMMER in the rose garden.
SPRING across the pond featuring the rambling NZ native Clematis paniculata and azaleas.
SUMMER across the pond.
SPRING down the shaded woodland path.
During this time of year Sympthytum orientale (white comfrey) fills any unplanted spaces under the trees.
SUMMER down the shaded woodland path.
The unstoppable Penny Zino!
If you would like to see and learn more about Flaxmere garden I welcome you to watch the video and read fthe full feature I created about Flaxmere, taken on a summer’s dawn.