Gillian Vine visits one of seven gardens near Port Chalmers that will be open to the public on Saturday.
From Purakaunui Rd, there’s no sign of the home of Andy and Alison Cunningham. Then the drive dips into the valley and there it is, set in a hectare of garden.
When the Cunninghams bought the property a decade ago, "the house was a dump, the garden a paddock", Alison says.
However, the combination of the "brilliant setting and very good growing conditions" worked for them and they have achieved the lush look for which they aimed.
The plan was to have colour near the house, natives beyond that and shelter at the edges to protect the garden from the northerlies that "desiccate everything", Andy says.
"We started when I was [very disabled] after an accident, so I was shuffling around on my bottom planting trees.
Fortunately, he made a remarkable recovery, although later, after he had nailed into place every plank of the 300m-plus boardwalk, he needed shoulder surgery.
Recent building projects have been rather less ambitious: a fenced vegetable plot, covered fruit cages and containers of differing sizes. The latter are for Andy’s experimental planting of "Cliff’s Kidney" potatoes, so he can assess which size tub gives the optimum crop.
Tamarillos and lemons in the greenhouse fruit plentifully, as does a fig outside but Alison says the birds usually get to the figs before she does.
Being in a direct line from the Orokonui Ecosanctuary means they see numerous natives, including kaka, and eastern rosellas are common. Winter food sources include grevilleas close to the house and these attract bees, too, as do the scented geraniums that do exceptionally well in dry parts of the garden.
The Halo Project’s trapping of possums and mustelids in the area has been visibly successful.
Alison says: "We have no possums but a lot of rats."
The centre point of the garden is a pond, fed by natural waterways.
Native plantings rise from the pond’s edges, with numerous ferns, dianella and hellebores at ground level. The dianellas were a gift from a friend "who brought us a ute load of them".
Being "manic over-planters" worked well initially but Andy says, "lots of plants that did well at first then got overgrown and died".
Refining what works is an ongoing joy and, looking ahead, they plan to adapt the garden so it needs less maintenance as they get older but without sacrificing its charm.
See it
Alison and Andy Cunningham’s garden is open on Saturday from 10.30am to 4.30pm. It is one of seven gardens on the West Harbour Garden Trail, a fundraiser for the United Church of Port Chalmers.
Tickets cost $25 each, which includes Devonshire tea until 4pm, and are on sale at the Emmanuel Church Hall, Station Rd, Sawyers Bay, from 10am.
At the hall, there will be sales of plants, produce, baking and a raffle, and a barbecue ($2.50) from 11.30am until 2pm.
