Gardens flourishing in limited space

Gardens, whether decorative or productive, are getting smaller, but visiting Balmoral Park in Dunedin shows how much can be done with limited space.

The Caversham complex, on part of the old Parkside Hospital site, opened in 1993 and now has some 50 self-contained cottages. All have gardens, ranging in size from small courtyards to about 100sqm.

"Of the units here, there are not many whose owners don’t garden in one way or another," says Richard Wells who, with his wife Myra, moved to Balmoral Park 18 months ago.

Many residents have concentrated on flowers, with paeonies, lilies and roses among the most popular.

Helen Furlong has a lovely rose collection, with highly perfumed crimson ‘Old Port’ among her favourites.

Nearby, Liz and Rod Lester have one of the few gardens with a lawn, an immaculate patch surrounded by flowers, while their back garden has tall vegetable planters to minimise stooping to gather rhubarb or dig potatoes.

In the five years he has lived here, Eddie Hobcraft has developed an impressive vegetable garden, with broad beans, runner beans, potatoes, cabbages, lettuces and carrots producing excellent crops.

The previous owner had planted a Peasgood Nonsuch apple, espaliering it to save space. Eddie has no idea of its age, but says it crops so well that he gives away large numbers of apples every year.

He doesn’t neglect flowers either, and I drool over a violet and white alstroemeria in his front garden, one of the numerous less-usual flowers grown by residents. Things like a variegated-leaf lily-of-the-valley, a scarlet-flowered decorative vetch, fuchsias with giant blooms and some lovely hostas vie for attention.

Despite the bright red begonias popping up in her rhubarb bed by her front door, Robyn Dick is more of a fruit and vegetable grower, saying "I’m pretty much self-sufficient’’.

Also at the front of her unit are two varieties of blueberry, a unique planting at Balmoral Park and something that rewards her with masses of fruit over the summer.

For the back garden, Robyn has a tiered structure, painted yellow, in which she grows up to a dozen kinds of vegetables at once.

In the centre of the courtyard is large strawberry planter — "My strawberries have been marvellous" — and on the edges are two Ballerina and a dwarf ‘Blush Babe’ apple in pots, as well a lemon, whose fruit she freezes for winter.

"They freeze well. Just wash and dry them, then freeze," she says.

There are many lovely gardens at Balmoral Park and, as Richard Walls says, "Each garden has something that really stands out."