The garden-tour season is now in full swing. Gillian Vine reports.
Other people's gardens are always fascinating, so spring and early-summer visits are always popular. Coming up over the next few weeks are four fund-raising tours.
Tomorrow: From 11am to 5pm, the Port Chalmers Presbyterian Church is running a West Harbour garden trail.
As well as gardens on show, there will be Devonshire teas, a $2 barbecue, food and plant stall.
One of the properties is the garden of Jenny Frost and her tuba-playing husband, Alwyn. He is not offering music but his favoured instrument is on show in the garden in the form of two old tubas painted and recycled as bird feeders.
Set high above St Leonards, with stunning harbour views, it was once the site of the Speight family's holiday crib and is - as Jenny says - "a lovely spot". As well as the attractive gardens close to the house, trees and a woodland planted to attract birds form the backbone of this spacious garden. Jenny is optimistic that the unusual pale lavender-blue wisteria on the house will be "just about right" for garden trail visitors tomorrow.
November 5: Milton Primary School is holding a house, garden and kitchen tour. The annual event, first run more than a decade ago, is an important fund-raiser for the school. As well as an array of gardens, new and established, there are three houses open to view, stalls, afternoon tea and - so the blokes do not get bored - Rex's Butchers Museum, which is packed with butchery memorabilia, will be open. There is also the option of touring a working abattoir, the only privately owned abattoir between Gore and Oamaru.
November 12: An immaculate South Dunedin garden not much bigger than a king-sized sheet is one of the standout attractions of the Summer is Coming garden tour, organised by the Dunedin South Presbyterian parish.
This garden is owned by 97-year-old May Cuthbertson, a keen gardener since her Ravensbourne childhood, when her father was in charge of the vegetable garden and her mother looked after the flowers. Although she expects most of her dozen or so tulip varieties to have finished flowering, May thinks the roses will be just right and the first lilies are likely to be in bloom. Although tiny, the garden has a surprising number of trees and large shrubs, sensibly placed on the boundaries and along one side of the drive to the leg-in section.
There are five other gardens, including that of Dunedin city councillor Neil Collins, on the Summer is Coming tour and all are in the St Kilda, Andersons Bay and Waverley areas, making it easy to see them all in an afternoon.
December 4: Nine houses and gardens, mainly in Dunedin's north end, feature in the Dunedin Garden Club's tour to raise funds for a defibrillator for Dunedin's Community House. Certain to be of interest is Bronwyn Thomas' Carey's Bay garden which, like the Frost garden on tomorrow's West Harbour Trail, has stunning views of Otago Harbour.
The Dunedin Garden Club was formed in 1919 and meets on the second Tuesday of each month, as it has done for 92 years. But that does not mean standing still, president Midge Ruka says.
"You don't want to stagnate."
A nude gardeners' calendar, an idea that pushed the boundaries for members, proved one of the club's most successful fundraisers, underscoring the the focus "on friendship and having fun", she said.
Members were keen to give something back to the community and the $4000 defibrillator project was chosen.
Getting tickets
• West Harbour Garden Trail: Gardens open 11am to 5pm tomorrow. Tickets ($10) available on the day at Emmanuel Church hall, Station Rd, Sawyers Bay.
• Milton Primary School tour: Houses and gardens open from 1pm, Saturday, November 5. Tickets (adults $15, children $5) available at Milton Primary School, Hammer Hardware, Tokomairiro 4 Square and the Coronation Hall, Union St, on the day. Limited tickets.
• Summer is Coming: Gardens open 1pm to 5pm, Saturday, November 12. Tickets available on the day at St James' Church hall, King Edward St, South Dunedin, where there will also be a plant stall.
• Dunedin Garden Club tour: Gardens open Sunday, December 4. Tickets ($25) available from Nichol's and the Red Barn or contact Midge Ruka, phone 488-2796.
All four tours include afternoon tea in the ticket price.
