It’s a very imperfect courtyard garden. It’s small. It’s a thoroughfare. And the actual garden (the thin strip along the fence) gets a measly amount of sun).

Way before we bought the house someone had a great idea of covering the courtyard in white shells. They look amazing. The hundreds of weeds growing amongst the shells don’t. The problem is in the construction. A wooden frame was built to hold in the shells, but it’s too shallow. Weed matting was laid on top of an imperfect sandy surface. The weed matting was laid in strips and it didn’t overlap well enough. Shells were poured on top of the weed matting, but they were spread too thinly.

Everything moved around. The sand moved around because that’s what sand does, it’s slippery. The shells are smooth and they moved around too, making that wonderful tinkling sound. The weed matting was ‘piggy-in-the-middle’ and was pulled every which way - it’s smooth and slippery too. Weeds, the winners of the plant world, easily snuck through all the gaps opening up in the weed matting.

One day I’ll collect up all the shells, tear up the weed matting and dig a very deep hole in the frame. I’ll make sure the bottom is flat. I’ll fill one-third of the hole with base coarse, which I’ll compact with one of those machines. Then I’ll buy a whole lot more shells and fill the remaining two-thirds of the hole with them. There’ll still be weeds. There always are. But at least I won’t be pulling up large sections of black plastic matting every time I pull a weed out of the shells.

You can’t see it in the photo above (because it was rubbish day) but you can see it in the photo above the photo above. The rubbish and recycling bins. They sit behind the white planter. If you look carefully you’ll see the garden hose (behind the white table)…Don’t get me started on hoses! I’ve never had a perfect hose (or hose reel) and this one is no exception. The plastic hose is too thin and the it won’t lie flat and it forms kinks, and these stop the water flowing and I have to keep straightening out the kinks, and then I move the hose and it kinks up again, and then I pull it and the hose comes away from the hose reel and the water stops all together. Then I end up swearing.

The bins and the hose are very useful bits of equipment but they take up space and they’re bloody ugly.

Despite its many failings, I love this courtyard. I find myself ending up here if I need to pot up plants or finish a cup of tea. It gets great sun. It’s sheltered. It’s private from the street (although people can peer through the gaps in the fence if they choose to).

I like to imagine all the possibilities, the different plants I could grow here and how I could improve the layout. It’s the gateway to the front garden (which is a weedy mess until the fencing guy comes - if he ever comes). It’s become my nana’s garden. It’s where I’ve put her outdoor table and remaining chair. I even have one or two of her plants. I have her teapot and a number of garden tools she used. One day I’d like this courtyard to be abundant with plants at every height. They’ll be so many plants that it will be become a room.

My nana’s pot with shells from Waihi Beach and a lavender seedling.

This little garden is dedicated to my nana. It even has a bit of fence from Waihi Beach (where she lived). The fence was washed away by the sea years ago and then it washed back up on the beach when I happened to be visiting. I put it in the back of the car and drove it down to Wellington. It might even be the same section of fence I used to build sandcastle beside as a kid.

This is my nana’s epiphyllum, which she gave to my cousin Catherine, which she, in turn, gave to me. Our nana grew up in Mid Wales. She never would’ve been able to grow one of these outside all year round. No wonder she loved her garden at Waihi Beach.

The brown blur in the bottom left is one of the best plants in my courtyard. It’s a corokia (don’t know which variety). Some past gardener has planted it all over the garden and clipped it into beautiful hedges (which I’ve neglected).

When we bought the house in September 2021 this long thin garden was filled with various lavender plants. I moved them into the back garden and planted them in a big group. I’ve been trying out all sorts of different plants ever since. The only original plant is a leucadenron, which I moved from one end of this garden bed to the other.

I underestimated this plant. This little leucadendron. I’m ashamed to admit, but I first thought that this plant was dull. I was so used to seeing beauty in only cottage garden plants that I over looked this shrub. It has so much going for it. It’s suited to living in a coastal garden and is undemanding of time, resources and space. And you know what else? It’s beautiful. I’m designing this garden around it. It’s companions will enhance it not hide it.

As I said earlier, this garden is long and narrow and gets terrible sun. Its soil is very sandy and it’s full of weeds. I can’t change the size of the garden. I can’t bring in more sun (unless I knock down the fence) and I can’t change the soil. What I’m doing is planting plants that I think will thrive in these conditions. Here are some of the ones that survived summer (and one or two that struggled).

I had a few bromeliads in pots from the old house. I put them up against the fence and water them regularly. They’re still alive. They were only here temporarily, but I’m thinking of keeping them. There’s enough shade for them - and as other plants grow they’ll be more protected.

I found some old steel reinforcing lying around and have tied it to the fence. I’m growing a native clematis up it. It’s doing ok. The leaves above the top of the fence get burnt off by the salty winds. I’m going to move it to the back garden. I’m going to buy lots of steel reinforcing. It makes a great climbing frame for plants. I plan on covering this fence with the reinforcing and planting more star jasmine. I planted 2 bushes in January and they’ve grown a lot and never once shown signs of distress.

Star Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides.

This week I put my bay tree into a bigger pot. It’s a cutting from my other grandmothers tree, that grew in her garden in Warkworth (and probably still does). I like its dark red stems.

This Euphorbia wulfenii is a seedling from my plant in Wellington. It’s done really well in this garden. It will end up being an enormous plant - maybe it will be too big for this space, maybe not.

This is an agave from my friend Sal at Mount Manuganui. This is one of the most versatile plants I’ve grown. It’s happy in shade or sun and looks especially beautiful in a beach setting.

I’ve always been a fan of succulents and this is a beauty. It’s Aloe plicatilis, it prefers full sun, but seems to be happy enough without it.

I do love echeverias. I’ve planted them along the edge of the garden with white gazanias. The two of them can fight it out.

This is the only tree in the courtyard (the only one not contained in a pot). It’s a Karo, Pittosporum crassifolium. It has beautiful flowers in spring and loves growing by the sea.

Notice the makeshift fencing on the left? It’s chicken wire covered in old brush fencing. Every couple of weeks the dogs find a weakness in it and bust out. Then I have to scramble around finding old bits of board or broken chairs or dead branches to patch it up.