Image: Su Leslie 2019Last November I visited Taranaki in New Zealand’s North Island for the annual garden festival. Armed with my carefully annotated programme and map, I criss-crossed the provence, visiting an array of private gardens whose owners had kindly opened them to the public for the duration of the festival.
All were beautiful and interesting, but the one that has proved to be the most memorable was neither on my list, nor a private garden.
Entrance, Hollard Gardens, Kaponga, Taranaki, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2019Hollard Gardens was established in 1927 by the then owners, Bernie and Rose Hollard. While the garden is now owned and managed by the Taranaki Regional Council, “Hollard Gardens is unique in the fact that it is an achievement of almost a lifetime of work by a private individual. It is a plantsman’s garden and a reflection of patience and horticultural skill.” (The History of Hollards)
“Bernie selected his plants based on personal appeal and whether they would fill gaps in his existing collections of species or varieties. The overall design of the garden considered not only the aesthetics, but whether a plant would thrive in its environment.” (The History of Hollards)
The gardens consist of several areas, including a woodland glade, avenues of lawn lined with different rhododendrons, hydrangeas and other flowering shrubs, and a kitchen garden.
It was the kitchen garden that made Hollard so memorable and special for me. It was one of several organic gardens I visited that have been designed according to permaculture principles, but the most accessible and informative.
That the garden is managed by the Regional Council demonstrates an official commitment to sustainable food production which I find refreshing and reassuring.
Lens-Artist Photo Challenge | a special spot
Also posted to Friday Flowers
Zimmerbitch 
How I’d wish to visit the Holland Gardens with its spectacular flowers, while we are experiencing winter in full force here in Canada! It must have been a great joy for you to visit the garden displays, Su.
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I’m sure you would have loved it Peter. It is a magical place where humanity shows how to work with nature, not against it.
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That first one – oh my….. and then all the following beauties! I stand here (sitting) in awe of the beauty you present, while here it’s utterly miserable, grey, wet, cold, windy….. BUT no fires, no damage (except water everywhere) – I still have bad dreams thinking of your scary and yet spectacular shots from the other day. Can’t get it out of my mind – the tragedy, the poor people, the destroyed birds and animals, the land and forests….
As always, thank you for sharing, the beauty, the good and the bad, your life!
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Thank you so much. The fire-skies have left their impact on our mood too — very hard not to feel overwhelmed.
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It’s wonderful when you discover a lovely garden like that. We have something similar in the Edwards Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the former estate, garden of Rupert Edwards and he created the garden in 1944. He later sold the property to the city of Toronto to become a public park. It is also the site of the Toronto Botanical Garden. It is an enormous expanse of land with water running through it. It has a mature forest bicycle paths, walkways, rose gardens and many other show pieces. There used to be an old grand estate home on the site but that burned down, unfortunately.
Leslie
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Edwards Gardens sounds lovely. Botanic Gardens have become amongst my favourite places. It amazes me that even quite small towns here have them — often owned by local trusts and run by volunteers.
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You can google their site – it really is a wonderful place and open to the public….
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Thanks Leslie; I will.
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What a wonderful garden Su. Thanks for taking me along as I did enjoy everything. I love the signs that look like covers of old magazines. Amazing what can be achieved organically and with permaculture principles
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Thanks Brian. I loved the signs too.
The whole Taranaki trip was an eye-opener in terms of what people can achieve. One lady I met lives on a very ordinary suburban street, with about 400m2 of land and she grows so much food. — all organically and with the gardens arranged so she can continue to work them as she grows older.
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I love suburban gardens like that. I only wish I had enough water to grow more. Plus I need very elaborate fences to keep the wildlife out.
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Water is such a big issue and I can’t believe how wasteful we are in this country. I think because we’ve lived on tank water in the past, we are quite careful, but I notice that now we have mains as well, it is easy to slide back into being careless.
And I guess I don’t really appreciate the wildlife problems; we have rats and possums, but that’s about all in the ‘burbs.
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Water wasting has always been a bug bear for me. I am sorry for the possums, they are the bane of my life too
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Looks like a beautiful place. Love your photos!
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Thanks Maddy
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Thank you, Su for the fabulous tour of this beautiful garden. The kitchen garden is very special!
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Thanks Amy: I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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It might be my eyes but you’ve written Holland several times when I think it should be Hollard? All the links go to Hollard. Anyway what’s in a name when the place is so beautiful. A garden I would love 😍
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Well-spotted Jude. I read it incorrectly once and have perpetuated the mistake. 😬
Off to fix it now: thanks.
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Easily done 🙂
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Especially in these days of predictive text and Google. But given I’ve worked as an editor, I do feel a bit of a twit 😂
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Well I wasn’t sure whether to say anything, (didn’t want to upset/annoy you) but then I figured people might look up the wrong place if they didn’t follow the link. And I’m not sure how many people do on a post. I do, but then I’m
nosyinquisitive. 😃LikeLiked by 1 person
A very special garden, Su. A spot to feel hope in. We need that more now than ever. The bug hotel must be the largest I have ever seen. Thank you for a refreshing and hopeful tour.
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Thank you: I need such reassurance that there are good people doing good things.
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Yes, keeps us going and hoping.
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🙂
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What a beautiful place Su, and how wonderful it’s now open to the public. He must have been quite something.
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How beautiful!
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What an incredible oasis. Thanks for sharing it Su.
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Thanks Amanda 😀
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What a beautiful garden and concept! I especially love that flowers were selected for spots regarding where they would thrive, very sensible and from the plants point of view almost empathic.
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It does seem so sensible, and yet humans spend so much time and money trying to force plants to grow in unfriendly environments, or in modifying nature to accommodate one plant at the expense of others. Aaaggh!
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Tell me about! Every time I was in the south of Spain I got so angry driving by all those golf courses!! Green grass in the height of summer when water’s getting sparse – just horrible. 😦
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Our country exports water, in plastic bottles, and allows Hughes amounts of it to be taken up in wasteful farming practices, while rivers are dry or degraded and we’re being told to conserve the modest amounts of water that households use. Aaaagh!!!
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Aaaagh indeed!!
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