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Virtual trip: gardening in New Zealand
Dreaming of travel and holiday’s? Well, so are we!
During these last few months, we have been reminiscing about past travels and some of the amazing plants that we have seen. Whilst of a trip of a lifetime on a break from Tony Benger landscaping, we learnt that you can take the garden designer out of Tony Benger Landscaping but you clearly can’t take the Tony Benger Landscaping out of the designer! So we decided to invite you on a virtual return trip to New Zealand and share some native species that can beautifully adapt in our gardens at home.
Whilst there, it was truly hard not to look back at all the vegetation that fascinate and absorb you whilst on the other end of the world. There are some super rare plants that originate in New Zealand. For example, not all of us are lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the native Kauri trees in person. Indigenous to New Zealand, it is an endangered tree with a lifespan of a 1000 years and more and it pays an important part of the northern island’s tropical bush-lands.
Despite all the beautiful new species that there were to see, much of the interest can be found in the species that you recognise. Verbena growing wild in grasslands area. Agapanthus growing on the side of the road like a weed. And phormiums growing everywhere. The flax shape of leaf and flower can be seen everywhere in design and architecture of the area as well as traditional mauri patterns and materials. The gate built by a local New Zealand company is pictured as an example of the pride they have for there native fauna and flora.
Many of the plants that are indigenous to New Zealand where brought back to the UK by such common names as Abel Tasman and Captain James Cook. Over the years a huge range of plants that we know and use frequently in our gardens today have travelled from New Zealand to our shores. A key example that can be found in nearly every garden and public landscape in the UK is the evergreen, resilient and aesthetic Hebe.
Our Head Garden Design Penny Pritchard’s design of this driveway bed in Devon is a fantastic mix of tall grass structure and round hebe balls. It blends in so naturally, that it is hard to believe that this versatile plant originating from the other side of the world! For more inspiration for your back garden, we listed some other examples of New Zealand's native plants that adapt well.