Today we’re visiting with Jill Hammond.

I very much enjoy getting your daily photos of gardens from around the world, most of which seem to be in the Northern Hemisphere. I thought I would share some photos of my garden in New Zealand.

My husband and I have lived on 7.5 hectares (18.5 acres) in rural Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, for 28 years. We moved our 100-year-old villa onto our bare piece of land, and I set about developing our garden from scratch. There was not one single tree or plant present, and at first I was a wee bit overwhelmed with how to start. Just getting stuck in was the answer, and now we have a garden which is gradually maturing. I love being able to underplant some of the areas where I now have some shade, allowing me to grow hostas, hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and other shade-loving plants, which for so long I have only been able to see in other people’s gardens.

Many of my plants have come from my mother’s garden as cuttings and divisions. Like so many gardeners, I love this sharing of plants and knowledge, and then passing them on to other lovely recipients.

We have mild winters with occasional frosts, mild springs and autumns, and hot, dry summers with frequent droughts. I water plants in the first season to get them going, but then let them fend for themselves following that, so I do plant to the conditions and don’t mollycoddle. Having said that, I do water my vegetable potager garden.

The last two years we have had unseasonally wet summers, and this has led to the partial demise of some of my Buxus (boxwood) hedging (which has been a large feature of my garden) due to boxwood blight. I have had to remove some areas of this, as I simply do not want to have to spray regularly to manage it. This year we are back to El Niño weather patterns, and so I am hopeful that the drier summer will allow my remaining Buxus hedging to recover and not look too patchy.

This year several parts of New Zealand suffered cyclones, involving massive flooding events, and many people lost homes, gardens, and businesses such as farms and orchards. We count ourselves incredibly grateful not to have lost our garden and home. As we are all learning to cope with climate change and the disruptive weather patterns we are seeing all over the world, I urge all fellow gardeners out there to take some time off from pulling weeds and mulching gardens, to take some photos of your garden so that you have these wonderful memories to look back on, should anything untoward happen.

Trees on the property include a maturing red horse chestnut (Aesculus × carnea, Zones 5–8), Cornus controversa ‘Variagata’ (Zones 5–8), and a weeping beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Pendula’, Zones 4–8).

One of the many Buxus hedges, this one close to the pool area

Mixed perennial/shrub border with Magnolia macrophylla (Zones 5–8) in the background and corkscrew topiaries, which I have had fun making over the years

The burgundy spires in this mixed border are Berberis ‘Helmond Pillar’ (Zones 4–8).

In this bank garden looking onto the house, perennials are a major feature in spring and summer.

Two espaliered double-grafted pear trees grow over the arbor. ‘Beurre Bosc’, ‘Taylor Gold’, and ‘Doyenne du Comice’ are very productive.

More of the potager: rosemary, borage, chives, and a mandarin orange tree in the background

A blue spruce tree (Picea pungens, Zones 1–7)

Jill shared so many great photos of her garden that we’ll be back tomorrow to see more!

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

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