Roses abound in a Milton garden. Gillian Vine reports.
Bev Ashley jokes she only agreed to move from the Waikato to South Otago because she could grow paeonies, and she has a fine array in her Milton garden.
The first impression, though, is of roses, and passers-by often pause to admire the line of Iceberg behind the front fence and Dublin Bay arching over the gate.
The path to the front door is overhung with more climbers, including the impressive Sir Edmund Hillary, a strong grower with fat white flowers, whose centres are lemon-tinted.
Not a New Zealand-bred rose but a Scottish one, Bev says.
Alongside Sir Edmund Hillary, Albertine, Compassion and Rosa banksiae flourish in a lavish show.
''My mum always had Compassion and I grow it for her,'' she says.
Then there are the smaller roses - fine rugosas, the rich-red David Austin rose L.D. Braithwaite and, by the front door, a hybrid tea with huge, slightly frilly apricot blooms.
''That's Hayley Westenra. It's my favourite rose [because] it seems just like her.''
When Bev and her husband, Paul, bought the property almost eight years ago, little remained of what older Milton residents told them had once been a lovely garden.
They saved an unnamed pink rose, ''a lovely old white lilac'' and a cabbage tree.
Bev has some reservations about the cabbage tree, though, giving Paul the job of removing the build-up of dead leaves on the trunk, as she has been told rats occasionally make their homes in the dried foliage.
''My husband loves the garden, too, and does a lot of the work.''
This is important because since being diagnosed with leukaemia - ''fortunately, I'm in remission'' - Bev is not allowed to do some things, such as pruning roses.
''My husband does the spraying and pruning. I just admire,'' she says.
When she was very ill and confined to bed, her great joy was being able to look out to her pink garden, which roses such as the delicately coloured Souvenir de la Malmaison and single Sally Holmes share with a pink-flowered cornus, clematis and many smaller plants.
Much as she loves Souvenir de la Malmaison, named for the Empress Josephine's garden on the outskirts of Paris, Bev points to the Bourbon rose's drawback: ''She absolutely hates the rain and the flowers just rot.''
Missing now from the pink line-up is a Cercis, or redbud.
For no apparent reason, it died.
''I was heartbroken,'' she says, although she gave it new life at Christmas by decorating the bare branches.
Many of the flowers, such as snapdragons and lupins, Bev recalls her mother growing.
She was ''a fantastic gardener'' who continued to look after her New Plymouth property until she was in her 90s.
Sweet peas are another traditional plant, with Bev's preference being for those with good scent.
''I love perfumed sweet peas and keeping picking them,'' she says. In the rear garden, a small pond is surrounded by hostas, water-loving irises and heuchera, while an old pump circulates water.
In the front garden is a little fountain, Paul and Bev's 25th wedding anniversary gift to themselves.
Flowering cherries do well in Milton and several along the northern boundary give height as well as spring interest.
Their light shade suits a variety of perennials, which are closely planted to conserve moisture and minimise weeding.
Paul is a rhododendron fan, so he has planted his favourites, mostly on the southern side of the garden.
Nearby is a bed with a selection of tall bearded irises, which unfortunately fared badly this past season, as high winds in November battered the flowers, although they still managed a brave show.
Throughout the Ashleys' garden, the colours are mainly pinks, mauve and white, Bev noting: ''I really don't like orange in the garden.''
An exception is Californian poppies (Eschscholzia californica).
They were supposed to be the cream variety Milkmaid but turned out to be orange and Bev couldn't bear to pull them out.
They are a bright accent in the foliage under the fountain.
