A crop of Auckland’s best-designed gardens will go on show for the Auckland Garden DesignFest on November 16 and 17. Reporter Emma Whittaker spoke to designer Trish Bartleet, whose work features, about what makes a stand-out garden.
Trish Bartleet is a garden guru.
She takes the overgrown, the under-planted, the uninviting and the awkwardly designed and turns them into an outdoor oasis.
“Everyone deserves a nice garden. You don’t actually have to have a big garden to have an amazing garden. I get just as excited by the small as I do about the big.”
The former teacher has been doing her green-fingered magic for 28 years.
She’s worked on sprawling country gardens and even an island, but it’s not just the extravagant that gets her going.
Many of her clients live in the suburbs and are only after some advice on planting.
One of the most common mistakes people make in their gardens is making spaces too small, she says.
“So often you go to people’s houses and you think this deck is too small, this courtyard is too small, this path is too narrow.
“The most important thing is getting a feel for the garden and getting the spaces right and making sure the areas are in proportion and relate to the house.
“Don’t make any space you want to sit in any smaller than three metres squared.”
Another of her top tips is to use a lot of the same thing.
“Buy groups of plants and love the plants you buy. Throughout the garden I try and use things that will look good most of the year, but also that when it does berry or leaf you love it.”
Vegetable gardens and fruit trees are in vogue.
“There’s an absolute trend towards them with my clients right across the board.”
Three gardens designed by Mrs Bartleet are featuring in the Auckland Garden DesignFest organised by the Garden Design Society of New Zealand and Rotary Club of Newmarket.
The biennial event is being held for the second time and is a chance for people to visit some of the city’s most beautifully designed gardens.
Money raised at the event will go to the Ronald McDonald House, KidsCan and Garden to Table charities.
One of Mrs Bartleet’s featuring works is at a historic home on the slopes of Mt Eden.
She has been working gradually on the project for about 13 years.
When she first visited it was a series of winding paths with a few original trees.
There were few features and the steepness made access difficult. One of the new features visitors will come across is a black and white chequerboard-style courtyard.
“It just gives a lovely sense of arrival and a sense of things to come.”
Mrs Bartleet has included some of the old details of the property including terracotta edgings and old bricks which have been used as risers on the stairways.
“The reason the clients live in an old house it that they love it so we wanted to keep the old.”
The hedges are creatively shaped and give a sense of movement as you walk through the garden.
A pool has been added which looks out over the city and the back of the garden has been converted into three large terraces to make the steep terrain useable.
“Things have changed quite a bit over time. It’s been a huge long-term project.
“The fact that it’s a very steep garden and it’s on Mt Eden and the attention to detail, make it special.”
GIVEAWAY
The Central Leader has a double pass to the Auckland Garden DesignFest on November 16 and 17 to give away.
To go in the draw email your name, address and a day time phone number to edcl@snl.co.nz with Central DesignFest in the subject line.
A winner will be drawn on November 13.
– © Fairfax NZ News
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