Garden Festival…

Each year about this time we have a regional Garden Festival, it’s one of my favourite times of the year… the festival started yesterday and goes until next Sunday and I aim to get around as many as I can this year… This afternoon I managed to get to three gardens… would you like to take a stroll with me?… The first garden I visited was in the Hawera township, I have lived in this area all my life and didn’t even know it was here, Lol

First here is a brief description from the Festival Book…

GRAVETYE

This five acre property, once ‘The Woolshed Paddock’ is now in it’s sixth year of development, with formal gardens, deciduous trees and room to graze stock. Several features radiate from the house, which include a lime walk, laburnum arch, reflection pool and enclosed vegetable garden interspersed with sweeping lawns. Hedges define each garden which contain topiary and plantings of iris, lavender and roses.

A lot of symmetry in this garden and lots and lots of lawn, even with a ride on it would take hours to mow!  But I liked the overall effect. The second garden I visited was…

PUKETARATA

Natives, rhodos, roses, hydrangeas, shrubs, herbs, perennial's and fruit trees under planted with daffodils, box hedging, and an abundance of bird life gives Puketarata diversity and charm. This is a large country garden set into the landscape adjacent to the 400 year old Puketarata Pa. Views of a borrowed landscape from a haha across a planted gully, and the mountain.

Can you see a wooden door built into the side of the hill? Any ideas what it might be? I’ll let you know at the end of this post… The last garden was…

OLIVER GARDEN

Two acres of immaculate garden, designed around mature trees and incorporating many rhododendrons , azaleas and wisterias. Sunken garden, maples and lakeside areas add interest to this well maintained garden…

Unfortunately I didn’t get many photo’s of this garden as my camera battery decided it would be a good time to go flat and the sky started to cloud over with big black rain clouds! The trees were stunning though and the garden was very peaceful to wander through. I really liked the way they have fenced the property, it would have taken a lot of work but the results were amazing. It was a good opportunity to play with my camera a wee bit, I am slowly(very slowly) learning everything it can do, this is my favourite shot of the day…

Even though I cut the top of the stem off…

For the next week or so I will be blogging about my garden rambles so if you are not really a garden person or not that interested please feel free to pass on through…

Did you come up with any ideas about what might be behind that door? Curiosity got the better of me last year when I visited and I just had to ask…

It’s a wine cellar! Did you guess correctly?

Michelle