Tea in My Garden

The Gardens

• More details about Claire & Shaun Maloney :: Broadoak Gardens

  Claire & Shaun Maloney :: Broadoak Gardens

  Just 20 minutes north of Christchurch, Broadoak is a labour of love created by owners Claire and Shaun. A bare block has been transformed into a beautifully structured lifestyle property inspired by classic English gardens. The two-acre formal garden features three “garden rooms” with traditional borders, knot gardens, a sunken native garden, life-sized chessboard and peacock sculptures. A 100-year-old teak “Narnia door” opens onto the wedding lawn and open-front chapel. Beyond the formal gardens, Broadoak is a working lifestyle block with orchards, vegetable beds, hazelnuts, beehives and chickens — a charming glimpse of country living.

  • Claire & Shaun Maloney :: Broadoak Gardens 's website
  • Claire & Shaun Maloney :: Broadoak Gardens 's facebook
  • Claire & Shaun Maloney :: Broadoak Gardens 's instagram
• More details about Philippa Drayton :: Shining Waters | Secret Gardens

  Philippa Drayton :: Shining Waters | Secret Gardens

  Shining Waters is a 5,000 square metre coastal property in Charteris Bay, where ecological restoration meets creative garden design. What began as an effort to stabilise a weedy, overgrown hillside has evolved into a major habitat regeneration project. With help from enthusiastic ‘Wwoofers’, Philippa has cleared invasive species and replanted with hardy natives including Corokia, Muehlenbeckia astonii and Tī Kōuka, helping control erosion while creating habitat for birdlife. The garden connects with the public Head-to-Head Walkway and features a ‘Sea Garden’ inspired by the colours of the harbour, alongside an architectural folly — an ‘abandoned wharf’ built from reclaimed Lyttelton Port timbers. A wonderful example of how native biodiversity, structural integrity and creative design can transform a challenging site.

  • Philippa Drayton :: Shining Waters | Secret Gardens's website
  • Philippa Drayton :: Shining Waters | Secret Gardens's facebook
  • Philippa Drayton :: Shining Waters | Secret Gardens's instagram
• More details about Jane Mahoney :: Kaikōmako | Secret Gardens

  Jane Mahoney :: Kaikōmako | Secret Gardens

  Shining Waters is a 5,000 square metre coastal property in Charteris Bay, where ecological restoration meets creative garden design. What began as an effort to stabilise a weedy, overgrown hillside has evolved into a major habitat regeneration project. With help from enthusiastic ‘Wwoofers’, Philippa has cleared invasive species and replanted with hardy natives including Corokia, Muehlenbeckia astonii and Tī Kōuka, helping control erosion while creating habitat for birdlife. The garden connects with the public Head-to-Head Walkway and features a ‘Sea Garden’ inspired by the colours of the harbour, alongside an architectural folly — an ‘abandoned wharf’ built from reclaimed Lyttelton Port timbers. A wonderful example of how native biodiversity, structural integrity and creative design can transform a challenging site. Over the past ten years, Jane and her partner Jo have transformed their Lyttelton Harbour property, Kaikōmako, into a native hillside garden focused on restoring habitat and biodiversity. Corsair Bay’s Māori name, Motu-kauati-iti — ‘little fire-making tree grove’ — reflects the abundance of kaikōmako (Pennantia corymbosa) that once grew here. Its hard wood was used for fire-making, while its berries provided food for bellbirds. Although many native trees where planted when the house was built in the 1980s, years of neglect left the garden overrun with blackberry, convolvulus, thorny plum and invasive Muehlenbeckia. Jane and Jo began clearing immediately, investing in a chipper and planting a kaikōmako beside the letterbox. Their goal has been to reintroduce locally appropriate native plants, learning how they support birds, lizards and insects. Most planting is eco-sourced locally, alongside a vegetable garden and permaculture orchard. Kaikōmako continues to be a work in progress, reflecting years of learning, and Jane’s hope of encouraging others to plant more of Aotearoa’s native trees and plants.

• More details about Steve Marcham :: Otahuna

  Steve Marcham :: Otahuna

  Step into Otahuna and into another place and time. Explore manicured lawns, wild woodlands, winding paths and hidden garden rooms across 130 years of history. Laid out under the direction of A.E. Lowe, who trained at Kew Gardens in London, the grounds blend sweeping British landscape-style vistas with intimate gardens introduced over the 20th and 21st centuries. Join head gardener Steve Marcham and discover the century-old vegetable garden, orchard, cutting garden and historic greenhouses — still producing organic flowers and fresh produce for the house today.

  • Steve Marcham :: Otahuna 's website
  • Steve Marcham :: Otahuna 's facebook
  • Steve Marcham :: Otahuna 's instagram