Ayrlies Garden
.jpg)
Ayrlies Garden is a country garden near
The garden now covers some 12 acres (49,000 m2) 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
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.[3] The garden began in 1964, when the McConnells moved to the site with their young family, starting with a 3-acre (12,000 m2) coastal site which was previously bare paddock with a heavy clay soil, and expanding to 12 acres (49,000 m2) in 1978, including the addition of three large ponds. From 2000, 35 acres (140,000 m2) of swamp flats below the homestead were transformed into a wetland area with an 8-acre (32,000 m2) lake, linking the garden to the Hauraki Gulf nearby.[4]
The garden is open to the public on weekdays, for a fee.
References
- ^ a b "New Zealand Gardens Trust - Auckland". www.gardens.org.nz. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
- ISBN 0-9582509-2-8, p.52
- ^ New Zealand Listener, March 31-April 6 2007, Vol.208, No.3490[permanent dead link]
- ^ Wetlands Archived October 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Sharp Gardening, Christopher Holliday and Jerry Harpur, frances lincoln ltd, 2005, ISBN 0-7112-2433-1, p. 72-75
External links
