GARDENLIGHT: Flaxmere

I first visited Flaxmere in 2017, when my passion for gardening was only in its fledgling state.

I had driven there for a sculpture exhibition, but my pale green thumbs had just enough influence over me to start examining the environment the art sat in. That initial experience, and the many following at Flaxmere, opened my eyes to gardens as “spaces”, rather than just places.

Any pre-conceived ideas I had around them being delicate or quaint were rapidly unraveled.

Flaxmere is a realm. Oaks, redwoods, eucalypts, beech, poplars and other huge creatures I can’t name, stand protectively over visitors to the garden, stepping sideways to usher you down a secret leafy path, channel you to one of many bridges or dramatically reveal the view of Mt Te Koa.

This isn’t a singular space, but many that are artfully linked together, transitioning you to distinctly different atmospheres as you explore. And what will strike you is the scale. As a six-star garden of international significance, Flaxmere is a class act to kick-start your own appreciation of the power of planting.

Over 54 years, owner Penny Zino has conjured her gardenscapes into existence on top of 3.5 hectares of farmland. Bordered by the foothills of the Southern Alps, a braided river and flats that the nor’west loves to rip across, it certainly couldn’t be claimed to be a friendly growing zone.
Unseasonal snow and frosts, droughts and livestock break-ins all come part and parcel with the location, causing great frustration and often, great devastation of Flaxmere’s plant population!

The outcome of creating such an expansive garden over decades is that you see Zino’s progression in tastes and horticultural interest.

Threading between trees are many spaces with beautiful, site-specific planting flowing out into the larger areas of light. Within the landscape there are “rooms” focusing on woodland, waters edge and native planting. Sumptuous rhododendrons and azaleas sprinkle colour during springtime, while huge, sculptural clipped topiary balls march you down to the pool area and adjacent rose garden. A striking “whirlpool” of grasses swirl within a driftwood ring, before you pick your way along the hidden pond path in the company of Mrs Swan and friends.

This is a garden for the seasons, a moving ode to Mother Nature’s annual cycle. A plantsperson would feast in this place, a beginner will find the fire to learn more.

The world of garden design, just like any other, ebbs and flows with changing times and perspectives on putting spaces together. Zino has not been one to stand idle on the edges and watch this happen. In 2012, she, with great friend and gardener Robyn Kilty, flew to the Netherlands to attend a workshop with world- renowned designer Piet Oudolf.

The women were fascinated by his “new perennial” movement, mixing herbaceous perennials with textural grasses to achieve a curated but soft, naturalistic look. This whimsical, borderless planting based on changing palettes and form throughout the seasons was in huge contrast to the structured ideals of the New Zealand gardens in the years previous.

Penny returned home with a plan of attack and, just a few years later, the result is a truly magical area of Flaxmere that is under constant review and tweaking as she tailors this concept to her harsh environment. For those, like me, really attracted to this style of planting it is an incredible treat to be able to visit this homegrown example over the year.

Wandering the garden with Penny, I am constantly reminded that creating spaces and working with plants has no end point. I listen intently as she tells me about all the new challenges that have cropped up in the last year, which trees are in need to come out and her valuable snippets around what is and isn’t working in her naturalistic garden.

To put some context around this, not many people get to discuss the eventual need to pull out trees they planted due to their size and instability! By beginning her planting in 1967, Zino has essentially witnessed the full maturity of her earlier vision, something that I won’t get to see myself on the same scale.

But more than anything, I listen to her new ideas, changing plans and the unending passion that it all rests on. Flaxmere is Zino’s paint palette that she can mix, shift and apply differently as a way to flex her curiosity and creativity, no matter the season. If inspiration (in all parts of your life) is what you are after, I’d suggest a trip.

Flaxmere garden in North Canterbury is open by appointment throughout the year.

This article and film was first featured in my Stuff ‘Homed’ gardening column for beginners and The Press on Feb 25th, 2021
All words and images are my own, shot in my garden in Christchurch, New Zealand.