Our Garden on Display

The garden around our house we call the “House Garden”. This is the longest established. First started in 1982, some areas have been reorganised since the first plantings and others are about to be reorganised. It is largely a garden of foliage, bamboos, palms, alocasias, ferns and cycads.

The next garden is the enclosed “Cycad House”. In here, there are many species of cycads, e.g. Dioons from Mexico, species from Madagascar, the Solomon Islands and more. Also growing here are Pachypodiums (related to frangipani) with different species flowering most of the year. The third main feature here is the Euphorbias. There are oddities like the Welwitschia mirabilis and the Dioscorea elephantipes (the climber with the way-out base).

Over the road is a more recent garden venture, “Paloma”. Started in 1990, this garden has several themes: the succulents and cacti on the north-facing hillside; the palm forest; the sub-tropical hillside behind the phone box (check out the giant African Lobelia tree); and the bamboo groves. Our guest cottage, The Red House, is in Paloma.

Leading from the bottom of Paloma is the “Paloma Arboretum”. An easy walking path meanders down the valley. Extensive tree plantings can also be found in the valleys to the north of the Cycad house. Visitors are welcome to wander – there are around 2000 different species and all are named.

You will be able to enjoy all our gardens (on both sides of the road), but be careful of sharp plants, slippery/rumbling paths and the water.

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WITH THE HIGGIES, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
with Jack Hobbs © Television NZ - Maggie's Garden Show

The Higgie garden, set in the hills of Wanganui, is one where you can expect the unexpected – sheep grazing with Cacti and Succulents taking over the hillsides. Eighteen years ago, Clive Higgie wanted to create a lush peaceful oasis in which to relax. He has created his restful garden by using architectural and foliage plants for texture and variations of green. He uses colour only as punctuation. In the lush garden, Washingtonia Palms create a tranquil air and green-cushioned, Scleranthus, contrast with the rocks. Agaves dominate the arid garden. Clive keeps many special plants that do not do well outside in a green house. Elephant’s Foot, Dioscorea elephantipes, has an enormous tuber, which sits on the ground. The tuber has thick cork-like bark broken up into broad plates or ridges. Pachypodium, originally from Madagascar and South Africa, tend to grow with a single spine-covered column with two or three main branches. Clive’s Dragon’s Blood Tree is laden with berries. After this first crop, the single trunk will branch out into several branches. The Giant Yucca, Y. elephantipes, has striking white flowers and succors from the base. The Higgies put plants where they like to grow – the arid plants are on the western and northwestern slopes; the plants that prefer shelter are on the leeward side of the hills facing east. Niki Higgie shares the work in the garden but has sneaked in a rose or two.

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