The spherical contours of his "whimsical" coprosma hedge — which from a certain angle may be mistaken for the large, tusked pachyderm — has attracted compliments and admiration from Mornington residents.
Mr Thomson said the hedge was planted by his late partner, Malcolm Gould — an interior designer with an extraordinary eye for detail who "noticed things", he said.
Mr Gould had an interest in gardening and took pleasure from maintaining the hedge, originally shaping it by hand.
When he died in 2012, responsibility for the hedge fell to Mr Thomson.
"He was my partner for 42 years till he died, so it’s a memorial really.
"I do love it, it’s unique.
"People do admire it if I’m out there ... it’s seldom that somebody doesn’t come past and say that they enjoy it."
When he and Mr Gould bought the Parkhill Ave house about 30 years ago "it was in terrible condition", Mr Thomson said.
It was built in 1937 and the hedge had become so overgrown it completely obscured the view of Otago Harbour, overlooking Mornington Park.
"So the day we bought it, we got the chainsaw and just chopped — it was like pulling the curtain on a stage, you might say, suddenly all is revealed."
His partner transplanted coprosma seedlings from their previous property to develop the hedge into "this lumpy bumpy thing", which Mr Thomson believed may have been inspired from shaped hedges in Britain.
"It’s just whimsical, you might say, just rather than having a straight hedge.
"Sometimes I look at it and I think that bit there looks like an elephant."
Maintaining the hedge was tricky, because of all of its "strange little hollows," spiky growths and required a "haircut" more often through the growing season.
Mr Thomson said he hoped the hedge added to the vibrancy of the neighbourhood.
