Fifteen years ago, as Angie Alexander began transforming her large overgrown property, she never imagined how profoundly her future garden would shape her life and touch others.
Angie’s fondness for all things botanical began early. “I had lots of pot plants in my younger days. I was always putting little bits of plants in my pocket to take home and grow.”
Throughout her diverse and varied career (graphic artist, marketer, nurse, mother and business partner), she says gardening has always been her way of burning excess energy while satisfying her creative impulse.
Her gardening never stopped, even during a decade of moving around the world with her scientist husband, Dr Alan Alexander. Angie's outdoor pursuits included a major
transformation of a garden in Scotland and another satisfying project while living in Australia.
Returning to New Zealand in 2009, she and Alan decided sunny Hawke’s Bay would suit them perfectly. They found their ideal retirement spot, a gently sloping lifestyle property looking out to Te Mata Peak and the Heretaunga Plains, although the views were hidden by overgrown vegetation at the time.
At first Angie was overwhelmed but the site and the location were perfect and the old house could be moved. Within the space of a few years, they had cleared the overgrowth, planted lots of trees, waved goodbye to the old house on a truck and built a new one in its place. It all happened on weekends while they commuted back and forth from Massey University, where Alan’s work was still based.
A tractor was put to use to clear and shape the foundation for the new garden. Once the all-important trees were planted (they invested in large ones), Angie made a plan on paper to help share her vision with Alan, then set to work building her own paths, retaining walls and a grand stairway made of timber sleepers.
Wanting to pay homage to the old garden, she repurposed old fence posts as a new fence at the border of the main lawn. “I wanted to put back some of the charm of the place as it was when we first found it. I also needed somewhere to tie my roses up.”
There were twelve years of commuting before they settled in Hawke’s Bay full time. It was early 2020, just in time for lockdown, and Angie relished the chance to indulge in her passion. It was also a great time to get to know other gardeners in the neighbourhood, swapping plants and ideas via online connections.
During those surreal Covid times the seeds of a new fundraising venture were sown. When a gardening friend commented that it was about time Hawke’s Bay had its own garden festival, can-do Angie shared his enthusiasm. “My attitude is think big - of course we can do it!” she says. “But you must do it properly, with a well organised committee, or it’s not worth starting.”
Meanwhile, as a volunteer for Riding for the Disabled, she’d been helping with the charity’s fundraising efforts. Rosé and Roses, an annual spring garden party hosted in Angie's garden, will next year make way for something bigger. The inaugural Hawke's bay Garden Affair is set for 7-9 November, 2025.
In support of Riding for the Disabled, visitors will be able to enjoy at least 25 beautiful gardens, including Angie’s. We were treated to a preview on a bright November day last year.
A rosy walkway ushers us in, soft green lawn underfoot and masses of fragrant roses either side. The warm welcoming tones of Angie’s favourite oranges and yellows, make a dazzling contrast with a sparkling aqua blue pool. Bees buzz gleefully from bloom to bloom, intoxicated by the scents.
Around the corner, leafy limbs casting dappled shade over an expansive green lawn cool the senses. It’s an enchanting scene with trees draped in rambling roses, rustic swings and whimsical fairy houses strategically placed with grandchildren in mind.
“I always envisioned a shady wilderness area with lots of trees, but we needed to look after our views so we were careful where we planted,” says Angie. Closer to the house deciduous trees are more widely spaced, framing views while allowing for plenty of sun.
A curve of steps beckons us towards the bottom of the garden. Half way down a touch of garden theatre reveals itself. Angie’s bromeliad collection brightens the shade under a huge evergreen magnolia.
“This sort of just happened,” she reveals. “I went to stay with a friend in Kerikeri who has a beautiful tropical garden. I didn't really know much about bromeliads or if they would grow here but I brought some back to try. They’re amazing really. They don't have to be in soil, although they do grow roots. I just pull off the pups (side growths) and grow them on. Nothing else grows as well under here, because of all the magnolia leaves.”
She waters every couple of weeks, filling the bromeliads' cups while marvelling at their shapes and colours. An old bench seat completes the scene. A lovely little place to take a break and listen to the birds perhaps? “No, it’s all an illusion. That’s not very safe to sit on!” she laughs. “I just love making pictures.” You sense she’s not really a sitter.
Next to catch the eye is a majestic cabbage tree in full bloom. This corner of the lower garden also houses a mouthwatering collection of large spring flowering shrubs. A magnificent Chinese Snowball tree (Viburnum macrocephalum) is a rare gem amid fragrant rhododendrons and dazzling deciduous azaleas.
Further along we stop to look back at the cabbage tree through an avenue of elegant paper birch trees with white flakey bark. It's a tranquil space filled with the sound of wildlife.
Angie thinks it’s funny that everyone comments on the beautiful lawns, when she spends so much more time in the garden. The lawns are Alan’s specialty, with the help of the local enterprise, Pimp My Lawn. Angie doesn’t care for rigid lawn edges because she likes to be able to change her mind. “In the beginning I would often lift pieces of turf and relay it somewhere else.”
Trees get moved too, until she is satisfied. As well as hundreds of ornamentals, there are lots of fruit trees, including figs, citrus, cape gooseberries, persimmon and a pomegranate tree. Angie doesn’t think it’s quite hot enough for pomegranates here, noting that the seeds are too hard, but she enjoys the flowers and the colour of the fruit alongside the luminous orange rose, Christchurch. Bright tangerine alstroemerias and royal blue delphiniums complete the picture.
Here at the top of the garden, the new house sits on the footprint of the old one. It features many aspects of the old home that they liked, including a patio in the shade of an ornamental grapevine. Angie loves how its autumn colours radiate in the evening light. It grows fast so she keeps it manageable with frequent summer pruning.
For winter she cuts it right back to let the sun in, then it grows back fast in spring. She also cuts the flowers off so they don’t drop all over the deck and in your drinks.
It’s a nice place to sit and smell the roses that fill wide planting beds below the house. Sunshine yellow is the dominant hue, both here and along Angie’s rustic fence where Diamonds Are Forever, Elina, Glorious and Absolutely Fabulous bloom in vibrant profusion.
Angie says she doesn’t really do pink but she’s happy to let nature have its way. “Some things happen by accident and then you just accept them.” She doesn’t mind that her hydrangeas can be stubbornly pink or that her white viburnum flowers take on pink tones in autumn.
A prolific painter in oils and acrylics, Angie sees her garden as another canvas. It has got bigger than they imagined, she confesses. “But, I need to keep moving and creating, so it suits me. And Alan gets so busy, he doesn't stop. I figure when I can't move around anymore I can always start painting again. One day I'll be in a townhouse and then I can paint as much as I like!” Unlike most people entering their 70's and 80's, this pair is not ready to downsize quite yet.
July is pruning time for Angie’s roses. Since Cyclone Gabrielle there has been a build-up of damp-related diseases and she’s found she has needed to spray more during the lead up to spring. “But really I’m not too pedantic. I believe if you’ve got healthy soil you’ve got healthy plants and they’ll be fine without too much fussing. We are lucky that our soil hasn’t been mucked around with too much, and it’s got clay which holds on to water.”
“I planted all the trees into the clay soil with a bit of gypsum added, and they grew well. I think being away during the week when the trees were young really worked in our favour. Everything got a good soaking on weekends, but not for the five days in between, so they just had to put their roots down.”
She doesn’t believe in bare soil. “You’ve got to put some cover over it to keep it cool and moist and so the insects, worms and microbes have something to live on. Everything is part of an ecosystem. If the ground is so bad that no weeds grow on it, then nothing's going to grow. If it gets too hot in summer no insect or microorganism is going to want to there!”
“So that’s why I mulch. I’m also a great one for chopping and dropping. Especially in a big garden, you don’t want to be carting all that stuff! I cut everything into small bits and shove it behind the shrubs to keep the soil covered.”
