Tiny gardens can be surprisingly varied, says Gillian Vine.
Walking around the Dunedin City Council's complex of flats in St Kilda is a delightful experience, as so much is packed into the tiny gardens.
I spotted immaculate little vegetable patches, including one with a fine array of tomato plants and runner beans protected by corrugated plastic.
There were well-trimmed shrubs - ''The council says they have to be below window level,'' one resident tells me when I admire his neat camellia - pots of flowers and gardens full of hollyhocks and gladioli.
One with street appeal is Mary Anderson's.
From Victoria Rd, the first impression is of a neat little box hedge with lots of colour behind it.
English-born, Mary and her husband emigrated to Australia and after 27 years in Sydney, came to Dunedin at the urging of their daughter, who had married a New Zealander.
After her husband's death, Mary decided to downsize and moved to her unit 18 years ago, something she has never regretted.
There was nothing in the garden and her first job was to improve the soil.
''The ground here is so hard, you dig about a foot [30cm] down and it's that yucky clay stuff, so I've had to build it up,'' she says.
''You've got to build it up to do anything.''
The other problem is salt, as the flats are so close to the sea.
''We get some terrible winds here and in a good blow I even get sandy salt on the doorstep,'' Mary says.
To her surprise, roses seem to thrive: ''I think this year they're the best ever.''
She has stopped staking them, leaving them to move with the wind.
They now don't snap as they did when held firmly by stakes.
She has a good selection of roses, with soft yellow Eldorado a standout this summer, but her favourite is probably Tequila Sunrise, as it reminds her of a close friend who died a couple of years ago.
''She had a beautiful one and it's still going well in her garden,'' Mary says.
Six years ago, Mary planted the box hedging, which gives ''a little bit of shelter''.
''It's grown really nice.''
In Sydney, she had a beautiful garden, with several large bougainvilleas.
As a reminder of them, two years ago she planted two of the evergreen climbers, bright red Bougainvillea spectabilis Scarlett O'Hara and purple-magenta B. glabra ''Magnifica Traillii''.
''I just saw them and had to have one, hoping for the best.''
They are both doing well, with the less hardy Scarlett O'Hara performing better this season than the more cold-tolerant magenta variety.
At their feet, Mary has planted an enviable selection of geraniums, which find this year's hot summer very much to their liking.
Not as successful have been her attempts to attract monarch butterflies to her large swan plant (Gomphocarpus physocarpus).
She has not seen a single caterpillar or adult this season.
Nor has her neighbour, so it seems it has been a very bad year for the colourful butterflies.
Close planting reduces Mary's need to water often and now the garden is so well-established, weeding is almost unnecessary, with the main task deadheading in the mornings.
The result is a fine example of what can be done in a tiny garden, just a couple of square metres in size.
