Photography: Jacob Leaf
There’s nothing like an upcoming family event to spur on a DIY project. When Mohan (Mo) and Niru Patel’s daughter Sivani decided to get married at her parents’ home in Papakura, Auckland, in 2022, holding the wedding at her childhood home was a no-brainer.
The Patels’ thoughtfully curated subtropical garden is a tribute to their love of cultivation. There are lush green pathways to explore, brightly coloured blooms, an ancient tōtara forest backing onto a stream and an eclectic orchard with unusual delights like custard apples and ice-cream beans. It’s a plant-lover’s paradise and a joy to visit.
But to make it the ultimate venue for the celebration, Mo and Niru decided the garden needed one more feature – a wooden archway overlooking the tree-covered valley. It would be the perfect structure for the couple to stand under during the ceremony and would look wonderful in the wedding photos.
Sivani had something simple and elegant in mind, but Mo, a gold medal-winning Olympian hockey player, had bigger aspirations.
“I said to her, ‘No, no, it’s not going to be a little archway’.”
Finally, Mo had the perfect reason to construct a large, ornate Victorian pergola he’d bought from an old house in Remuera and been storing for years. He completed it just weeks out from the big day, and it’s now a pivotal feature of the garden.
From the beginning
While this type of time-sensitive build could be a stressful nightmare for less competent DIYers, Mo has decades of experience, having renovated their bay villa over the past 35 years. The Patels moved to the property when their two daughters were small. They’d been living in Mo’s childhood home in Grey Lynn, but Niru, who grew up on a farm in nearby Pukekohe, was keen to return to her roots and for the girls to have a rural upbringing.
“I couldn’t get used to the city. When I moved there, I’d never had neighbours before, and Mo had this hankering for having a glasshouse and growing things.”
The two-hectare property had once been a horse-breeding ground, with little garden but a large swimming pool.
“Everybody used to come and play in it,” says Niru.
“And then it got a leak and there were frogs in it and it became disgusting.”
The Patels decided to fill the pool in, meaning they now had room to extend the deck around the side of the villa and an enticing patch of land in which to start their longed-for garden. Mo decided to plant heat-loving subtropicals, having fallen in love with their various leaf forms and various shades of green while holidaying overseas.
He planted a wide range of palms, including Bangalows, wax palms, a rare blonde flame thrower, and nīkau, including the Kermadec and Great Barrier Island species.
Immersive experience
Rather than grouping similar species together, Mo favours a more natural look, and densely planted pathways with a wide variety of plants provide an immersive experience as you wander through.
“Establishing the canopy and the sub-canopy was very important for creating a microclimate for delicate plants and the feeling that you’re being enveloped by plants, not just around you, but also above you.”
of garden tools,” says Niru.
Brugmansias (angel’s trumpet), with their intoxicating scent, dangle their upturned trumpet-shaped blooms, in shades of peach, pink, gold and cream, just out of reach, while brightly coloured hibiscus bloom at waist height. Lower down, hebes, clivias in orange, red and yellow, and bromeliads fill the understorey, adding vibrant colour at ground level, says Mo.
“The good thing about subtropicals is that you can just about throw anything anywhere, and you don’t really have to dwell too much on perfecting a palette.”
Mo studied botany and zoology at university and spent 40 years as a high school science and biology teacher, which has equipped him with a large amount of growing know-how. But his success with plants, particularly ones that are tricky to propagate, stems from an innate curiosity to just “give things a go”.
Niru reckons that Mo inherited his green fingers from his dad, who grew tropical fruit, like pineapples, in his glasshouse, and once even successfully grew a mango.
“The people from Turners & Growers came to look at it,” says Mo.
Look & learn
Mo’s tropical garden success stems partly from being ready to trial things and watch, and learn.
- Two glasshouses allow Mo the space to grow heat-loving plants, such as turmeric and ginger and different types of Indian beans for an extended season.
- Establishing a canopy and sub-canopy was very important for creating a microclimate for delicate plants and the feeling that you’re being enveloped by plants, not just around you, but also above you.
Exotic tastes
While you won’t find mangos in the Patels’ garden, you’ll find more than 45 different types of fruit and nut trees. Tamarillos, persimmons, walnuts, citrus and avocados grow alongside more unusual varieties, including cherimoyas (aka custard apples because of their texture and flavour, the ice cream bean, which has vanilla-flavoured candy floss-like pulp inside its long pods, and rose apples (Syzygium jambos), a Southeast Asian fruit that has flesh like watermelon with a floral flavour. The couple enjoys experimenting with their produce, and Niru has made butter from their homegrown macadamias and key lime pie from their key limes.
Niru, who loves flowers and favours more of a cottage garden vibe, grows hydrangeas, dahlias and other flowers in two areas of the garden that she’s designated as her own.
Niru says that mostly the two gardeners work together harmoniously, “Although occasionally Mo will go and plonk a tree in my garden. One time, he planted a magnolia, and I said, ‘That’s shading my dahlias’ and made him take it out.”
Retirement has given the couple the luxury of more time in the garden – and to spend time with their two-year-old granddaughter, Kaia, whom they look after a couple of days a week.
“She enjoys wandering through the garden, picking and eating a variety of fruits and berries, and she has her own set of garden tools, including a little rake, which she mainly uses in her sandpit,” says Niru, who was an early childhood teacher.
As Auckland’s remaining countryside gives way to urban sprawl, the Patels say it’s inevitable that they’ll eventually move. But they’re not in a hurry, says Mo. Spending time in the garden each day provides an opportunity to connect with nature throughout the seasons.
“The essence of a garden is that it’s always changing, it’s always evolving,” says Mo.
“Every time you step out into it, there’s always something different to see.” What brings Niru and Mo the most joy, though, is sharing their garden with family and friends and celebrating special occasions in it. “That’s the ultimate pleasure we get from doing all this,” says Mo.
“Seeing people enjoying themselves.”
More Photos of the Patels’ garden
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