I’ve spent this week re-designing my meadow garden. It’s the garden around the clothesline, which I extended before I knew we were getting a puppy. At the moment it’s fenced off. I want to remove the fence in a couple of months but first I need to plant the area densely with dog-proof plants.

The meadow garden looking very uninspiring.

The meadow garden faces north-west. Some of it gets good sun and some of it doesn’t. I need dense planting to hide the fence, the garage roof guttering and the compost bin. The soil is good. It consists of a thick layer of compost on top of clay. To top it off it’s been well mulched with pea straw (which I’m a big fan of) and fallen oak leaves.

The meadow garden is overshadowed by the oak tree, which will block some but not all summer sun.

The inspiration for the meadow garden are the wild grassy roadside verges of my childhood, so characteristic of the rural New Zealand landscape. These verges, which still exist (though lots get sprayed with weedkiller), are a mixture of grasses and wildflowers and domestic garden escapees such as agapanthus, apple trees and hydrangeas.

Before I started school my parents rented a farmworkers cottage in Hautapu (south of Hamilton). In the afternoons, while my dad was at his office job, my mother (who couldn’t drive), my sister and I went for afternoon walks along the roadside. I was head height with the butterflies and bees that buzzed and flitted between the wildflowers. There were dragonflies too, thanks to the drainage ditch that sat between the verge and the field. I’m sure I remember the sound of frogs croaking. In late summer we collected blackberries. It’s the memory of this short time in my life, when my mother, sister and I were together, that inspired me to make a meadow garden - New Zealand style.

Over Easter this year my family and I spent 4 days cycling the Otago Rail Trail. Here are a few photographs of meadows and grassy verges that I’ve revisited this week to get some ideas of how to shape my meadow garden.

These wild roses grew all along the Otago Rail Trail. Technically they’re considered a pest plant but I met locals who loved them. They look beautiful against the stark dry landscape and let’s face it there isn’t a lot that will grow in such inhospitable conditions. Once I saw these wild roses I knew my meadow garden could have them too and still be authentic.

Yarrow was introduced to New Zealand as a pasture plant for animals to eat. Like all hardy plants it jumped the fence and now lives in almost every wild and unloved open area.

Despite all the bare ground in the meadow garden I already have a few plants growing there. Some I planted and some have self-sown. Here’s a list of them:

Lime tree (which isn’t meadowish at all but is there for sentimental reasons and because its thriving there).
Comfrey (planted under the lime to give it a nutrient boost).
Chasmanthium latifolium, oat grass (I divided it in autumn this year).
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’
Miscantus sinensis ‘Zebrina’ (have divided it many times in the last couple of years.
Honesty, Lunaria annua ‘Sissinghurst White’ (self-seeded).
Ornamental carrot (self seeded).
Heuchera ‘Marmalade Lime’ ( I had 2 but one’s missing in action).
Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Phyllis Smith’.
Another Leucanthemum (tag lost) but a simple one.
Geranium pratense alba.
Anemone x hybrida - white.
Veronicastrum virginicum album (I have a horrible feeling the dogs dug this up but I’m too scared to look).
Penstemon - white (x2)
Achillea ageratum ‘W. B. Childs’. (supposed to be poisonous to dogs so I might have to move it).
Primula - white.

To my surprise there are quite a few roses that grow in semi-shade. I’m going to use two kinds: Rugosa Roses and Hybrid Musks. Remember in my last blog I couldn’t work out where to plant my new rose ‘Pax’? Well I planted it in the meadow garden this afternoon. I’m ignoring the fact that Pax has long sharp thorns, which could catch on flapping sheets.

Here’s a list of the new plants I’m either going to buy or grow (from seed or cuttings) for the meadow garden:

Rugosa Rose ‘Blanc Double de Courbet.
Rugosa Rose ‘White Grootendorst’.
White lupins (if they aren’t poisonous to dogs).
Bishops Flower
Moonlight or another white flowered Hybrid Musk.
Agapanthus -small white ones.
Hydrangeas - white (have to research which kind would be best).

Because I’m trying to toilet train our puppy I spend a lot of time in the kitchen (it’s the closest room in the house to the back garden). I’ve done a lot of baking and I even cleaned the oven! I also made these plant tags out of empty craft beer cans. I want to keep track of all the different roses and salvias and geraniums and other plants. I like to remember the names of plants and I’m not very good at this. Now I have no excuse.

I took part in a Secret Santa Seed Swap organised by @canterbury.gardener.nz. on Instagram. It’s the second year it’s been running and a superb idea. Thanks Claire. This is what I received last week from my Secret Seed Santa. It’s a real treat receiving something other than a bank statement or junk mail in the post. What an inspired selection: trees, vegetables, herbs and edible flower!s I can’t wait to sow the seeds in spring.

Spring is just over 4 weeks away. My daffodils have started to flower. The paper whites and hyacinths aren’t far away either. I had to replant a whole lot of paper whites from the back garden (where the dogs live) to the front garden (where they’re only allowed under close supervision). I also had to relocate a Bird of Paradise and a Brugmansia too. All three plants are poisonous if eaten by dogs.

A selection of Dwarf Conifers for sale at Bunnings.

Here are a few other things that have caught my interest this week.

Bunnings Hardware, in Petone, had an entire stand of Dwarf Conifers for sale. These were very popular in gardens when I was a child. I’ve got nothing against Dwarf Conifers, a clever gardener could make them look like the perfect plant, but I’m surprised there’s a such a large market for them.

I discovered Species Camellias when I was researching plants for the meadow garden. They’re a woodland plant and like semi-shade. This is how Waiere Nursery describes them, ‘ Species Camellias offer you an incredibly hardy plant with graceful foliage, dainty blooms which are almost always fragrant and a growth structure which is very natural. They make excellent evergreen trees when left to their own devices; equally they adapt well to any creative trimming you may wish to do.’ They are not toxic to dogs. I’d like to grow them in the back garden somewhere.

Hoses. I have two. One in the front garden and one in the back. Neither was cheap. One hose is better than the other but both of them are far from perfect. I’d pay really good money for a decent hose. I’m sick of shitty connecting bits that don’t connect properly and fall off leaving me staring into the open end of a fast running hose. I’m sick of hoses that keep getting knots and twists and kinks in them and stop working. I’m sick of hoses that don’t roll back up nicely. I’m sick of always ending up with a wet face, wet clothes and wet sneakers.

Never again will I have technical difficulties when it comes to putting photos on my blog. Last week my husband bought me an iPad as a present. He’s wonderful.