Pisa Moorings, near Cromwell, is parched.
“It’s probably the driest area in New Zealand,” Jo Wakelin says.
Jo, who has lived here for almost 33 years, recently retired as principal lecturer in horticulture at Otago Polytechnic’s Cromwell campus.
“The last three years have been flat out, so I’m in catch-up mode,” she says, pointing out planned changes to her garden.
Actually, it looks really good as it is but like all keen gardeners, Jo can always see things she could alter.
Inspired by the gravel garden near Colchester created by the late Beth Chatto, Jo decided to create a garden that could cope without being watered.
“I don’t water at all,” she says, adding that the exception is her vegetable patch.
The notion that everything needs to be watered is, she says, “embedded in people’s brains” but as water becomes an increasingly precious resource, that needs a rethink.
“It’s about changing the way we garden. It’s just a matter of plant selection.”
“Horticulture is in my DNA,” Jo says.
The ground at Pisa Moorings is glacial outwash, “absolute gravel and so stony”.
Rather than ignore the gravel and stones, these are incorporated into the design as paths and a “river” of washed stones.
Some plants are to be expected, like the blaze of orange Californian poppies (Eschscholzia californica) against the house and in the paddock facing the Pisa Mountains.
A surprise, though, is a well-grown kowhai. Yet kowhai once grew across much of Central Otago.
“People don’t know that kowhai grow here,” Jo says, adding that growing from seed collected from local species has been an Otago Polytechnic project.
‘Pinnacle’ is special: when it was released in 1949, New Zealander Jean Stevens was ranked among the world’s top six breeders.
“I think she was the Keith Hammett of irises,” Jo says.
‘‘Pacific Blue’’ lavender, euphorbia, sedums, rock rose (Cistus), salvia and Jerusalem sage (Phlomis) have been extremely successful.
Many grey-leafed plants adore the Mediterranean-style climate, so there is a Russian olive (Eleagnus) hybrid, a daisy from the Sicilian coast and white-flowered Salvia argentea, with silver downy leaves, a particular favourite – “I love it”.
Other salvias include Salvia x sylvestris ‘‘Blue Hill’’ and a soft lavender-pink one.
Phlomis are most often seen in yellow but Jo has some less usual species and varieties, including a lavender-flowered hybrid she was given that is “the best of all”. In spring, red-flowered pasque flower (Pulsatilla) make a fine display from plants Jo grew from seed, while the tulip ‘‘Spring Green’’ does well, Jo calling it “a laster”.
“My mother gave it [C. agrippinum] to me and it flowers reliably here,” Jo says.
At the same time, the foliage of an ornamental grape from her grandmother’s Wanaka garden comes into its own, flaunting vivid seasonal foliage.
Growing from seed is a good, inexpensive way of increasing plants and as expected from a horticultural professional, Jo is a dab hand at it.
As well as Pulsatilla, she has grown some beautiful dark-leafed sedums, the seedlings showing attractive variations, from which she saved the best. Two euphorbias have also been increased by saving seed.
The garden is a great example of how little water some plants need to do well and although she was inspired by the Chatto garden, Jo says: “This is all me.”
