I told my son I was going on a garden trail with my friend Sophie and her two friends, Sarah and Janet. He replied ‘Why.’ He wasn’t asking me a question but giving me his opinion - ‘ why would anyone want to do that in the name of fun?’ is what he meant. And I told him, even though he already knew, that I loved plants and gardens and I was going to be in the company of 3 other garden lovers for an entire day. It was going to be paradise. Then he rolled his eyes and coughed like he was being sick. And I accepted the fact that he wasn’t ever going to get it. Just like I was never going to understand what drove him to get up at 4am to watch a football match on tv.

Everyone has something that compels them. Something that inspires them, brings meaning to their life and connects them with people. Something that is part obsession, part passion and part escapism. For me that something is plants.

The garden trail was in Waikanae, about an hour north of Wellington. The climate is different up there. The sun is sunnier and the wind is less windy. Janet lives in Waikanae. She told me that it has 3 distinct micro-climates on account of it being stretched between the hills and the sea. There’s hilly Waikanae, flat sheltered Waikanae and coastal sandy Waikanae. Janet lives in the middle and it was at her house that we all met.

We had a cup of tea and a stroll around Janet’s garden before we set off on the garden trail. Her land is bordered by a creek filled with spring water, which never floods. With this ready supply of the freshest clearest water it’s little wonder that her plants are flourishing. That and her incredible garden skills and very keen eye. I visited lots of great gardens on the garden trail, but most paled in comparison to Janet’s. Hers is a gardeners garden. Chockablock full of plants and little paths and secret areas. Maybe one day Janet will let me write a blog about it!

So coming up in the blog are some garden trail photographs. I’ve organised them into themes. The first theme is white and grey plants. Why did I choose this theme? Probably because I’ve just finished reading the book, ‘Vita’s Other World - A Gardening Biography of V. Sackville-West’, by Jane Brown. And as most of you know, Vita is famous for her ‘White Garden’, which she dreamed up during her night time walks around her garden.

‘I cannot help hoping that the great ghostly barn owl will sweep silently across a pale garden, next summer, in the twilight, the pale garden that I am now planting, under the first flakes of snow…I think of it as cineraria in masses, rabbits ears in masses, lad’s love, santolina and the whole background being predominantly as grey as rabbit’s ears, then out of this jungle of growth I wish regale (lily) to rise…’ (Vita Sackville-West).

This hosta has scented flowers. I would’n’t have ever known this if it wasn’t for another garden trail visitor telling our group to smell the flowers. Which we did, blocking the narrow path, bending down and stuffing our noses into the petals. The flowers smelt of honeysuckle.

Hostas with scented flowers are the Hosta plantaginea species. They’re a little different to their other hosta cousins. Hosta plantaginea are heat lovers and their late summer flowers are a lot bigger. They’re the only hosta that grows new leaves in summer.

The next theme is water. I love water in gardens and one day I’ll have some in mine. Probably a small pot of waterlilies if I can find a spot that gets year-round sun. In an ideal world I’d have a fountain and a pond, but that’s never going to happen. I haven’t got the space. And while I’m on the topic of Neverland gardens I wouldn’t mind a few rills, a moat, a waterfall and a freshwater pond you can swim in.

I really want a garden shed and a glasshouse. I’d settle for a covered potting area and some cold frames made out of old windows.

I loved looking at other people’s sheds, greenhouses and shade houses on the garden trail. They were just as interesting as the plants. They were very neat and I suspect they were tidied especially for all the garden visitors.

I like gardens with jungly areas. So here are 3 different gardens with wild shady corners.

The plant with the big leaves, in the photo above, is Fatsia japonica. It was a big star in the 1970s as an indoor pot plant. But as you can see it’s equally happy outdoors. I have a couple in my garden and I think they’re a very hardy plant, much more robust than they look. They love the shade and semi-shade and can be pruned quite hard, if they start to encroach on paths. They have small white flowers in autumn, that insects like, and pretty black berries in winter. You need to plant them in the right place because, as I found out the hard way, they have a very thick and far reaching root system, which is hard to dig up once established.

Most of the trees in the jungle pictures are Kohekohe Dysoxylum spectabile, which are native to New Zealand. The tree in the photo above has soon-to-be-red fruit growing straight out of its trunk, which is a characteristic of many tropical trees. New Zealand doesn’t have a tropical climate - not yet!

The next theme is flowers, late summer ones.

The pitcher plant above was growing in a very damp spot. I don’t know what family it belongs to; it could be one of several. It looked dramatic planted beside a big patch of marigolds - an unusual plant combination but one that I loved. It’s all too easy for gardeners to replicate fashionable planting schemes in garden magazines and play it safe. To my mind, gardeners who experiment are courageous and have real spirit.

The next theme is actually three rolled into one: lawns, big trees and enclosed-open spaces. This is a garden that has a park-like feel because of its scale and age.

Here’s an odd collection of things. Garden ornaments, pots and garden structures.

I was impressed with this specially built frame for a rambling rose. I’m always on the lookout for interesting structures to support plants. It doesn’t look difficult to make, but I’m left wondering how it was placed in the ground. Was it planted into a hole along with the rose or banged in afterwards with a mallet?

The final theme is foliage. Foliage that is clipped, trained or left in its natural state. Foliage that is green and leathery or fine and feathery or so translucent that the light shining behind transforms it into the ‘stained glass windows’ of the plant world.

There were gardens with designated flower sections and there were gardens that had a few flowers providing small spots of interest and then there were foliage plants that also had flowers like the hostas. But by and large, most of the gardens were foliage gardens. At least that’s how I remember them being.

Sophie and I visited a garden nursery in Waikanae before we went to Janet’s house. Gus Evans Nurseries. I can’t tell you how excited I was to go to a place that grew the plants it sold. The plants were in such good health and so reasonably priced. I bought 2 small kotukutuku trees (bottom left in the photo below), which I’ve not seen in the Wellington garden centres, and have wanted for ages. I’ve even tried, and failed, to grow this tree from a cutting. Kotukutuku Fuchsia excorticata is a beautiful New Zealand tree. It’s the largest fuchsia in the world and it’s deciduous, which is unusual for a native plant.

You can see what I bought below, along with one of the many cuttings and plants that Janet gave me. (an orange flowered datura).

The plants I bought at Gus Evans Nursery and.a datura cutting from Janet.

Gardeners are generous people. There’s this marvellous green economy going on and not a cent changes hands. Gardeners are often in the business of swapping or giving: cuttings, seeds, plants advice and encouragement.

After the garden trail we went back to Janet’s for a cup of tea and some more of her fruit cake. We talked about plants and gardens and the importance of good neighbours. We had third helpings of cake. Then Janet fetched her spade and began to dig up some plants in her garden. These were for Sophie and me to take home.

I left the plants from Janet in the boot of Sophie’s car. I would drop round and pick them up later. This morning Sophie turned up at my house carrying armfuls of plants in pots. She’d potted up my plants from Janet. Thank you Sophie and Janet and Sarah for your generosity and great company.

The plants that Janet gave me and Sophie potted up.