Listing last updated on 27 Apr 2024.

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Okaihau, Northland 0475
New Zealand

A rather grand name, but the little old villa on the site was originally home to a blacksmith around the early 1910s (ish), followed by a pharmacy — we dig horseshoes and old bottles out of the garden regularly. I live in what was the dispensary (expanded haphazardly a into a neat little house — my folks have the main cottage), surrounded by decades of layers of gardens and a patch of native bush at the back.

Lovely mild climate, good rainfall, better soil, and UV strong enough to burn the skin even when overcast. Subtropical climate where almost everything grows that doesn’t require actual sleet! (Don't talk to me about peonies.) We have uncovered an old citrus grove, which we've added to, and have made and are expanding a mini traditional orchard and bits of a subtropical orchard, working both out along 'forest garden' lines (very loosely, admittedly).

One year in and we've had a very wet winter, an unusually wet spring, and then a summer which had 3 months of rainfall in a day! Unlike many, we escaped the worst of the cyclone, but sadly lost a glorious ancient taraire tree full of epiphytes; it even had a Peter rabbit burrow underneath! Still, it's allowed us to open up the orchard further. 

I put in 2 dozen roses of many types and classes the year we moved in (not including Mum's half — we've not finished!) and together we're attempting to rehabilitate and add to this gorgeous if sadly neglected old garden.