Designing a native garden can conjure up images of dusty trees and shrubs, monotonous green with little to commend or excite. But it doesn't have to. Many new and exciting native gardens are designed today, just as interesting, pretty or dramatic any other style.
Dramatic effects are possible when you stay simple, restrict the number of varieties of plants and use dramatic natives. Think of natives in the wild where they are massed or there is predominance of one colour - green forests, tawny tussock lands. It is a very similar approach.
What is that distinguishes a formal garden- the symmetry, the regular outline and the balancing of plants and architectural features.
Formal gardens are not fossils, and they are not just the classic French parterres and grand allees of Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte. But formal design need not be lavish, nor extravagant.
The Japanese garden is seen as a place of peace and meditative thought. Opposites are put into balance- light and motion against the solidity and stillness of stone, mountains and serene lakes. The typical Japanese garden is a landscape in miniature.
We all dream of living somewhere warm, hot even, where rain doesn’t spoil the day or the evening barbeque. Those who live in such climates, however, know just how challenging gardening without rain can be. But adapting our garden design leaves us with huge scope for wonderful, vibrant gardens in dry climates.
Courtyard gardens often seem to be the simplest gardens to design, yet these seemingly small, simple spaces have a number challenges to overcome for the result to be successful.
Gardening near the coast presents a special challenge, and one that New Zealand gardeners know well! Salt wind and beach gardens are not just something that weekends are made of.
Coastal conditions can vary markedly, and different plants will succeed in various areas, but some coastal toughies will be found in gardens almost from North Cape to Bluff.
