Timaru Garden Tour #8

The last stop on our tour is the garden of Lillian and James Milne.

 This is another 'normal' sized garden in a suburban street. (Smaller gardens often give me more hope, as the ideas seem like they will be more achievable in my own small space.) 

I'd really like a stone-flanked terrace like this one. It's so sunny and private. I love the selection of treasures nestled under the conifer.

 Happy pansies in a decorative barrow brighten this shady corner.

 Rounding the corner of the house, you come upon the glasshouse. Concrete steps are set into the corner of the path.

 Another view of the glasshouse, and the gently terraced vegetable garden.

 The front garden is filled with sun loving plants. A small tree creates a focal point.

This pretty rose is tucked away under the tree. I don't know the variety but I thought it would be a good note to finish the tour on. Hope you've enjoyed taking a peek into these lovely gardens! Thanks to all the garden owners for creating and sharing such beauty.

Timaru Garden Tour #7

Pictures from the garden of Mr and Mrs Forde.

 Upon stepping through the gate, you are greeted with this beautiful wisteria covered pergola.

 Which frames a secluded walled garden. I like the pencil conifers marking the gate.

 I'm not sure what the trees are, but they must be stunning when in blossom! Small trees like this are great to provide interest in spring and shade in summer.

 Tucked in under the trees are the obligatory peonies. In this sunny microclimate they've obviously been blooming for ages. Gorgeous!

I had to take a picture of this rambling rose on the way out. It's screening off the tennis court. I'd have it rambling all over the court if this was my house!

Timaru Garden Tour #6

This is the garden of Jo and Corey Baxter.

Here's a cute little gazebo overlooking a waterfall. It looks so cool and sheltered tucked in behind the roses.

Metal herons bask in the sun.

The fluffy seedheads on this plant caught my eye as they swayed in the breeze. It might be pulsatilla? I'm not sure because I've never managed to keep one alive long enough for it to develop seedheads.

In this secluded courtyard, we met the boy of the house and a dog named Bonnie. Bonnie was a fat, old, lovely brown labrador. The boy showed us his favourite tree. Bonnie waddled off. As he was showing us some pruning he'd helped with, a truly awful smell drifted over. We looked over to see Bonnie, squatting with a grin on her face. "Awwwh!" cried the boy. "Bonnie dropped one!"

Fortunately she'd dropped it off the main track, and we were able to continue on.

See the little birdbath tucked away beside the conifers?

Small tree, big focal point.

This garden was also hosting Devonshire tea. There's nothing like a dainty teacup to make you feel ladylike.

The driveway was lined with rustic metal rose arches, and these Narnia-esque lamp posts. Magical!

Timaru Garden Tour #5

This is the garden of Hamish and Anne Steele.

So many peonies in promising bud! There are also lots of delphiniums and lilies, hence the wire cages. These wouldn't be too hard to make and once the plants fill out you'd hardly notice them.

At the back of the border there must be a microclimate where everything has sprung into wonderful bloom.

A shady pergola leads from one part of the garden to another.

A bold primary planting scheme catches my eye.

The delphiniums make a gorgeous window screen.

What a lovely view to look out on from your living room. I like the box hedge too... trimming it is probably a pain, but at least it hides the weeds from view (not that there were any here!)

A special attraction at this property was plants for sale. They were from a nursery, not the property owners, and I beelined in on a saxifrage just like the one I showed you in the previous garden tour. I also got a dainty little dianthus -  I didn't photograph it at the time, but I remembered seeing that in one of the previous gardens too. Do you think that planting those will make my garden look tour-worthy? I doubt it, but it made me feel better to purchase them anyway.

Timaru Garden Tour #4

These pictures are from the country garden of Margaret and John Hepburn.

This garden looks out over paddocks and hills. A seat attached to a rustic cartwheel overlooks the vista. The red flowers are London's Pride, a form of heuchera.

Tucked in next to the seat we find this. A souvenir from a really good party perhaps?

Flowers in the birdbath are a really nice touch. I'll be stealing this idea, as soon as I get a birdbath!

Normally I'm a flowers, flowers, flowers kind of girl, but I really like the different textures happening here. I've been seeing ornamental grasses a lot in the magazines I read, and now here. They do look really lovely blowing in the wind. I also love the pencil conifers.

A happy planting combination that caught my eye. Violas really brighten up any situation don't they?

I initially thought this was erigeron (Mexican daisy) which is considered a weed in NZ so you can't buy it from garden centres. But it's actually an abundant saxifrage. It looks just lovely spilling over the low terrace wall.

And of course I had to photograph the vege plot. I like the tapestry effect achieved here by planting in rows. The nice wooden edge would be useful to balance your harvest basket on.

Timaru Garden Tour #3

These pictures are from the totally charming garden of Mr and Mrs Emmerson. It's what I would call a "normal" sized section, but the space is so well used - not a square metre is wasted!

 I noticed a great use of stepping stones in this garden. They've been placed to link to focal points, as well as providing access for weeding and tidying.

 Stepping stones also help to ground this wheelbarrow planter.

 A sweet little summerhouse has a harbour view from its back windows.

Facing away from the summerhouse, this narrow stretch of grass has a boat shaped central bed and sinuously curving paths. I love how there is so much movement in this small space.

 This seems to be a garden for all seasons, with rhododendrons finishing off and roses and peonies waiting to take their place.

 There is lots of whimsical garden art, but my absolute favourite is this stone cat riding a vintage tricycle. Oh, do you think Lui would like it if I got him a tricycle?

 The garden walk was in some ways a week too early, at least if you wanted to see peonies. They were in all the gardens and they were mostly still all in bud. So when I saw one in flower, I photographed it madly! This is a tree peony - not sure if they flower earlier than regular peonies or if it was just in a good spot.

 This property has three glasshouses (with a fourth looking like it was being built), two sheds and a summerhouse. They were all being put to excellent use.

 There is also a thriving vege patch. I photographed the peas as a note to self - bent metal sticks will be a lot easier next time than tying up cane teepees.

I took away a lot of lessons in focal points from this garden.

Timaru Garden Tour #2

This is the garden of Janet and Joe Young, and it is three years old.

The sunny vegetable garden overlooks strawberry cages and chicken coops.

This little arrangement caught my eye, in particular the fluffy pom pom aquilegia.

The garden has such a stunning backdrop. Mountains in the distance, a lovely pond and grazing sheep. You almost wouldn't want to let the roses get any bigger.

This flower garden is looking pretty established. I was especially taken with the drifts of snow in summer.

I sowed this as seeds this season and mine's nowhere near flowering, so I took this photo to remind myself what I have to look forward to. (A great groundcover for a hot dry area, like my front garden.)

This gazebo was a lovely spot to sit in for a few minutes and rest out of the sun. I wish I could fit one in my garden. I'd need to bring those mountains to look at too.

Timaru Garden Tour #1

Here are some pictures from the lovely established garden of Jane and Tom Coughlan.

It is wide and sweeping, with gorgeous views over lush paddocks out to the sea in one direction and mountains in the other. Plenty of established trees provide shelter and shady nooks to sit in.

This elegant fountain is almost hidden by tall spires of foxgloves and roses. I like how the plants are asserting themselves here, not taking over but definitely making a statement.

I'd enjoy weeding the vegetable garden if this was the view!

A sweet little gate complete with climbing rose. 

And a sweet rustic shed. I'm not sure what the climber is as it looks to have just finished flowering.

An avenue of white roses leads to the house.