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- A well-loved garden full of flowers in Mosgiel.

STORY: MARY LOVELL-SMITH • PHOTOS: FIONA TOMLINSON

Creating a traditional cottage garden to complement their 120-year-old wooden cottage on the outskirts of Mosgiel would have been perfectly acceptable for many people, but Jo and Craig Inch’s description of the said garden – the outcome of their vision and hard work – is perhaps a tad modest.

Yes, they have, in keeping with cottage gardens, planted loads of roses – more than 100 in fact – and all old or David Austins for they are “not huge fans” of modern ones.

And yes, they have planted lots of perennials – in a bewildering number and variety. Craig is a selfconfessed plantaholic and, as a horticulturalist from way back, is adept at propagation.

“With a garden this size, you really have to,” he explains. For despite the couple’s best intentions, the garden proper, now about 800 square metres, is still growing. Their latest incursion into the 2.8-hectare block is less than a year old.

As well, they have added dozens of trees and shrubs – rhododendrons, camellias, maples, gleditsia, cedars, dogwoods, liquidambars, crabapples, to name just a few – to the mere handful that existed when they bought the block of land bordering the Taieri Gorge railway line 11 years ago, and which they named Hawthorn Cottage for the hawthorn hedgerows along two boundaries.

Arguably, what Jo and Craig have created is far too extensive, varied and dramatic, grand and glorious, to be described as a cottage garden. From the long leafy drive lined with a mix of exotic trees underplanted with smaller shrubs and roses and a long holly hedge to the rose-clad pergolas and charming dovecotes, to the wide herbaceous borders astride a long sweep of lawn to the softly mounding shrubs, lavenders and hebes among them, spilling over the bricked patio, this is the handiwork of experience and inspiration.

Perhaps because until they bought Hawthorn Cottage, the two had been living in a townhouse right in Mosgiel, their passion for gardening burst forth here with great vigour.

Jo, born and bred on a farm in Waikaka near Gore, says being outdoors was the background to her life. Craig says he has worked all his life in horticulture, having been brought up on a market garden not too far down the road, in Outram. Before taking on his current role with local firm, Design and Garden, he was the assistant manager at Nichol’s Garden Centre in Dunedin.

The garden was designed by Craig. Taking the old

They have added dozens of trees and shrubs – rhododendrons, camellias, maples, gleditsia, cedars, dogwoods, liquidambars, crabapples, to name just a few – to the mere handful that existed when they bought the block of land.

cottage as inspiration, he started to lay it out on paper before moving on site, changing his mind and adapting his plans as he went along. The result is a beautiful, often deceptive but always interesting garden.

“There are a lot of lawn paths,” he says. “Along which you might think you’ve got to the end of the garden, but then you realise there is more. This is because of the number of different rooms, each is different – some are gravel areas, some in full sun, others in shade.”

A sizeable orchard and berry cage was planted with the aim of being self-sufficient. And with apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, raspberries, gooseberries, goji berries, boysenberries, blueberries, and black and red currants, as well as a substantial vegetable garden, they pretty much are, says Jo.

The climate tends to the extreme here 15km west of Dunedin, with temperatures liable to drop to -8°C in winter and up to 30-plus in summer. On the early December day the NZ Gardener photographer visited, it was cold and wet. “It usually warm from Christmas on,” assures Craig.

Irrigating the property is never a problem with water being drawn from their own bore.

The soil, says Craig, “is not too bad” although not as good as your classic alluvial Taieri soil. “We are higher here, so the soil is heavier. After a spade depth, you’re into clay.”

Hundreds of trailerloads of cow and horse manure

over the years, supplemented by their own compost and peastraw, “and whatever we can get our hands on”, has been used to lighten the clay.

And it has helped. “People think all those roses would be a lot of work, but they are not. We don’t spray a lot.

If you have healthy soil, you have healthy plants,” says Craig.

He does most of the planting and designs, and Jo does most of the maintenance. But with both working four days a weeks, days off are spent pottering around.

“Everybody says it must be a lot of work,” says Jo. “But not really if you keep on top of it,” Craig chimes in. “There are a lot of groundcovers… well, a lot of plants,” he quickly amends.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Craig’s background, he cannot recall any real failures in the garden, or think with hindsight of anything they might have done differently. Although he does confess to often shifting plants around. “If I think a rose or a bush might look better somewhere else, for example. I’ll shift it,” he says. The garden is not yet mature enough to have created new conditions or problems with shade, he adds.

The couple are unanimous as to their favourite place in the garden. “The summerhouse,” they say almost simultaneously. Craig likes to sit in it and look at the wedding cake dogwood and all the roses.

“People think all those roses would be a lot of work, but they are not. We don’t spray a lot. If you have healthy soil, you have healthy plants,” says Craig Inch.

“Yes, we spend a lot of time here, having lunch, relaxing.” adds Jo. “Craig built it himself, like all the structures on the property. He makes amazing things from bits and pieces, lots of interesting things about to look at.”

She points to the curious garden shed, constructed from three doors. “Everything Craig builds, he makes from bits of wood that no-one else would consider. He’s a scrounger!”

“Yes, I am,” Craig agrees, laughing.

You can be pretty sure that the ghost of the unnamed stonemason who first inhabited the site would also be smiling in agreement. For he too was good with his hands, building the cottage, washhouse and stables (now a toolshed and storerooms) in the early 1900s. He lived there well into his 90s after spending a good part of his working life building the Taieri Gorge railway tunnels in the 1880s.

Eleven years into the garden the couple are far from sitting back and relaxing, but they do concede to a breather now and then.

“We have got it to the stage now where we want to show it to other people, show what’s been done. It’s lovely getting lots of positive feedback,” Jo says.

Craig agrees. “We just think the garden is a garden,” he adds modestly. “So to get all the lovely feedback is great.”

“We have got the garden to the stage now where we want to show it to other people, show what’s been done. It’s lovely getting lots of positive feedback.”

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2022-01-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

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