Photography: Sarah Rowlands
Suzanne Hunter-Welsh and her husband Clive have lived in their Christchurch place for 17 years since downsizing from their large family home.
Suzanne was brought up in the US, and while the interior of their house is decorated in what she terms Manhattan loft-style, their courtyard, the mainstay of the couple’s elegant garden, is very much in the manner of an English woodland. We asked Suzanne about her garden.
What was the original garden like?
First off, the garden was not the motivation to buy. It was anathema. The courtyard was gloomy with dreadful peach-coloured pavers, an awkward, brick barbecue and an ugly raised shingle bed. We didn’t do much for a year or so after we moved in; it gave us a chance to see what was in it, which wasn’t much as it turned out. Then we removed several trees that were far too big for the beds. About all that is left of the original plantings now is the lilac wisteria around the veranda and the Japanese maple, which provides us with shade in summer and glorious colour in autumn.
How did you go about improving it?
We had a bit of a vision of what we wanted for the courtyard, so we hired a landscape architect to draw up plans and a landscaper to do the work. It included a sump for drainage – something we wouldn’t have ever considered, but invaluable in heavy rain. It’s vital to think about what’s important to you when creating your outdoor haven. We wanted a feeling of space.
Ironically, this wee garden has more outside livable space than the other larger sections we’ve owned, and we spend far more time relaxing and entertaining in it than we did in those others.
Why did you choose the English woodland look?
Mainly because the largest single area in the property is the courtyard, bounded by the house on the south and west. The sunniest parts we use for living – for dining and seating.
The garden itself is a metre or so wide around the north and eastern fences and is shadier. So woodland plants are more appropriate, not liking or needing as much sun as many others. And there is no shortage of candidate plants.
What are some of your favourite plants in the garden?
Scabiosa, echinacea, delphiniums, astrantia, bleeding heart, salvia, white foxgloves, campanula, hosta, peonies, Oriental poppies, nepeta and lily of the valley. I favour blue, white and pink with splashes of red.
For a while, I tried an all-white garden, but it just looked flat. We have narrow beds down each side of the drive, as we are a back section. Down the sunny side, we have hollyhocks. The long line of tall spires looks amazing. Here we also have Russian sage, which I love, with its great billowing purple racemes.
On the other side, we have topiary – box, bay and lonicera (honeysuckle). Luckily, I have a friend who is a whiz with the shears and keeps them looking sharp. I love hydrangeas, particularly the deep burgundy ones, and a white one, which is great for the vase. I also have two climbing species. And, of course, lavender. Every lavender in our garden came from a cutting from a plant at the back door of my husband’s work. I started doing this in the late 1990s.
Has the garden changed much over the time you have lived there?
There have been plenty of changes, as some plants thrived, while others didn’t. Some looked good together, some clashed. Plants grow and crowd out others. I am big on moving plants around to get the best effect. And I find it hard to resist buying plants that catch my eye. The three small beds dotted about the courtyard break up the expanse of concrete used to contain sunflowers, or poppies, or whatever annual I felt like each year.
Now I have a lemon in one, which absolutely loves the spot and gorgeous blue Louisiana irises in another. The third one now has pots with thyme, rosemary and cat mint. They’re primarily there because Tex, our puppy, has chosen that one to dig up all the time, but actually, they look surprisingly good and provide a focal point in the courtyard.
Are you sentimental about plants?
Not especially. Recently, we cut down an old liquidambar at the end of the drive, which took our afternoon sun in the house and courtyard. Its removal has meant the dogwood we planted is thriving. We replaced the liquidambar with a large Juniperus chinensis ‘Kaizuka’ – expensive, but at our age, we don’t have all the time in the world to wait for one to mature.
A few years back, we extended the veranda to incorporate a wood shelter, but we had to cut down an olive that we planted after we moved in. Because we loved it so much, we have planted another one in another corner of the garden as an anchor plant and partly to obscure a new two-storey house over the back fence.
What about edibles?
We have three raised beds along the southeast corner, which grow a few vegetables and herbs, like spinach, broad beans, salad greens, parsley, coriander and basil in the summer. And raspberries and strawberries, but due to not getting full sun, we only get a modest yield. We grow our tomatoes in pots in the courtyards and some at the sunny front door.
We also have an amazingly fecund grafted apple tree, half are Granny Smith and half are Braeburns. This tree gives us more than 50kg of fruit a year, plus we have another Granny Smith and a Peasgood Nonsuch cooking apple. We do have to net them so we can harvest before the birds discover them.
Look & learn
- Some things don’t work perhaps because the plant wasn’t right for the conditions, or trees and other plants have grown up, creating shade. You may have to move them or give them away and replace them with plants that thrive in those conditions.
- Sometimes you imagine how the garden is going to look, but it doesn’t turn out like that at all. But the beauty of a garden is that you always get another chance next year.
- I abhor crowded plants. If they’re too close or growing into one another, they will be in competition for light and nutrients and will suffer. Crowded plants can also appear claustrophobic. Leaving space between them can make small gardens appear bigger.
- Creepers and climbers are useful for covering fences. We have ‘Cecile Brunner’ and banksia climbing roses, clematis, star jasmine, and climbing hydrangeas. We painted our fence black, which is supposed to make the boundaries appear to fade, but more importantly for us, it provides a flattering backdrop for foliage and flowers of every colour, shade, and hue.
- To make new projects more affordable, once you embark on one, ask for garden vouchers for gifts, or learn to take cuttings and propagate from other plants.
- We feed all the garden annually, with our compost supplemented by a load brought from a landscape company, and with Nitrophoska Blue Fertiliser. I love my garden. The plants are almost like family, so I look after them
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- The secret to a thriving garden this spring? Pollinator-friendly plants
- TikTok is loving chaos gardening – here’s how to try it this spring
- The best fruit trees for a Kiwi backyard
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