Ayrlies Garden

Ayrlies Garden is a country garden near Whitford, southeast of Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's best-known gardens, [ [http://www.gardens.org.nz/garden_finder/search_results/garden_listing/index.html?lid=25 gardens.co.nz] ] and has been described as the "quintessential New Zealand garden". [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Zo7gEsRjQMwC&pg=PA52&dq=ayrlies+garden&sig=ACfU3U1RakcoSnN7MQIq46IiwbxOLiWKZA "Best: A New Zealand Compendium", Ella Griffiths, Awa Press, 2004, ISBN 0958250928, p.52] ]

The garden now covers some 12 acres of rolling terrain, with large lawns, ponds and waterways, and heavily planted informal borders which make strong use of colour, including a "lurid border" of 'hot' colours. Some areas feature roses, clematis and perennials; others contain lush, sub-tropical plants, such as Petrea, Alocasia, bromeliads, vireya rhododendrons and Ficus dammaropsis. It also includes many large trees - mostly liquid amber, swamp cypress and pin oak - which have grown rapidly in the warm and wet climate, with rare frosts and over 50 inches of rain a year. It contains several structures around the main house, including a small 'sitooterie' - a low gazebo, to sit out in and admire the view. The large site is unified by a consistent planting and use of materials.

The garden was created by Beverly McConnell and her late husband Malcolm, co-founder of New Zealand engineering and construction company McConnell Dowell. It is named after Malcolm McConnell's grandfather's farm in Scotland. [ [http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3490/features/8505/growth_industry.html;jsessionid=654196D56179BFDECC47D75E2A7F442F "New Zealand Listener", March 31-April 6 2007, Vol.208, No.3490] ] The garden began in 1964, when the McConnells moved to the site with their young family, starting with a 3-acre coastal site which was previously bare paddock with a heavy clay soil, and expanding to 12 acres in 1978, including the addition of three large ponds. From 2000, 35 acres of swamp flats below the homestead were transformed into a wetland area with an 8-acre lake, linking the garden to the Hauraki Gulf nearby. [ [http://www.ayrlies.co.nz/wetlands/ Wetlands] ]

The garden is open to the public, by appointment.

References

* [http://www.ayrlies.co.nz/ Website]
* [http://www.aadirections.co.nz/Issues/March2002/Stories/Lifestyle/garden.htm AA Directions, March 2002]
* [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UlJ3aGVF4CIC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=sitooterie+ayrlies&source=web&ots=csMyniZIJP&sig=-G3fKAvp_d3av3qF0xwllzDBKBQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA72,M1 "sharp gardening", Christopher Holliday and Jerry Harpur, frances lincoln ltd, 2005, ISBN 0711224331, p.72-75]