Do you need some garden inspiration?

From garden tours to sculpture exhibitions, take some time out and explore some of Canterbury's most beautiful gardens and gardening attractions.

Christchurch our Garden City is well named, we are lucky to have some of the country's best open gardens and most stunning parks. We wanted to highlight a couple of events coming up over the next month or so. There are local garden tours, sculpture exhibitions and we have also attached a great guide of 20 gardens and gardening attractions around our gorgeous city for you to explore.

 

Event		Dates
Art in a Garden, North Canterbury		October 26th - 29th, Thurs 11am-2pm, Fri 11am-3pm, Sat 11-3pm, Sun 11am-3pm
Sculptures on the Peninsula, Loudon Farm, Banks Peninsula		November 10th-12th, Fri 5-8:30pm, Sat 9:30am-5:30pm, Sun 9:30am-5pm
Charity Garden Tour, around Christchurch and Canterbury		November 25th-26th, 10am-4pm
Governors Bay House and Garden Tour, Governors Bay		November 26th, 10am-4pm

Art in a Garden has been held in Penny Zino's North Canterbury garden, Flaxmere for the past 13 years. Artists' and sculptors' work from around New Zealand is on display (and for sale). This year it runs from Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th October. You can visit this stunning garden by appointment at other times too: visit flaxmeregarden.co.nz for more info.

The Sculptures on the Peninsula Exhibition is a contemporary sculpture exhibition held every two years. It is the largest sculptural exhibition in the South Island and attracts both leading and emerging sculptors. It is running over three days 10th-12th November and being held in the grounds of historic Loudon Farm, Banks Peninsula. Tickets are available from Sculptures on the Peninsula and proceeds from the event will be donated to Cholmondeley Children’s Centre in Governors Bay.

On November 25 and 26th there is the Charity Garden Tour, sponsored by the Wigram Lions Club Christchurch. You can enjoy 11 gardens in a wide range of themes and sizes, open to view over the two days. Charities supported this year are the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and Child Cancer Foundation. For more information and to purchase tickets go to Charity Garden Tour. The Canterbury Horticulture Society are running a bus tour to view the gardens. For further information please visit Canterbury Horticultural Society.

Governors Bay School PTA invite you to join their self-guided House and Garden Tour of 13 properties in “The Bay” on Sunday 26th November, 10am-4pm. Included is Ohinetahi Gardens, a garden of international significance owned by Sir Miles Warren; Waitahuna, the original Dyer Homestead and many other private homes and gardens. They are supporting the enhancement of the Governors Bay School playground. To book a ticket head to Governors Bay House and Garden Tour.

Here is a link to a great article by Jo McCarroll at the New Zealand Gardener magazine highlighting her favourite places in Christchurch and its fringes. She has been impressed by some of the inspiring ways clever local people have employed their horticultural skills in the rebuild, after the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.

It is the perfect time of year to see nature at its best, so enjoy the wonderful events that are on and we hope you'll find something that will inspire you to get creative in your landscaping.

Bringing the inside out

Create another room to your property by bringing your interior design style out into your garden.

Garden design has evolved and become extremely popular. Gone are the days where the garden or terrace was an after thought. Houses are designed and renovated to take full advantage of the sun and utilise the section area, as is now the landscaping. People are thinking more creatively about how they use their exterior spaces, recognising the importance of kerb appeal and the value it can add to their property. Whether you own a lifestyle block or an apartment it doesn't matter the lines are being blurred between the interior design and the exterior spaces. People are expanding on the concept of indoor, outdoor flow creating outdoor spaces into extra living spaces, comfortable outdoor rooms with style and personality. 

Whether it is scandi-sleek or modern rustic the interior concepts, materials, colours and textures are being translated into exterior designs. It could be as simple as using a mixture of plants to create different visual textures and laying them cleverly to create a relatively low-maintenance but highly dramatic outdoor space. By adding areas of concrete, paving or decking to define an area, which adds contrast and enhancing the design trend you are going for. For example, a modern rustic influenced garden may use recycled unique slabs of timber where as teak and pine may work well in a retro-relaxed style garden. You might introduce pops of colour like teals and mustard yellows into a scandi-sleek design, or contrasting and contemporary colours into a retro-relaxed style which will create a sense of drama. No matter how big your exterior space is you are only limited by your imagination. A vertical or multi-level garden are clever space-saving ideas for smaller spaces.

To find out about the top five latest interior trends influencing garden designs in 2017 follow this link to NZ Gardener.