Expert tips

Ross Palmer’s garden design ideas •

Plant closely to cover the ground rapidly, easing erosion issues and thereby keeping your top soil.

• Let our native plants become the structure and keep the exotic for seasonal bling. This has the additional advantage of feeding native fauna. Pāpā, our local forest gecko, loves thick twiggy growth of pōhuehue and the like.

• Let summer be summer: Local grasses such as Pentapogon inaequiglumis turn tawny during summer matching the hills.

• Make the effort to put seedlings of serendipitous volunteers such as tī kōuka, taupata and ngaio in the right place. Groundcovers may turn up too, such as native Dichondra repens.

Ross’ best performers •

Kohekohe (Didymocheton spectabilis)

• Northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta)

• Cook Strait kōwhai (Sophora molloyi)

• Kiekie (Freycinetia banksii)

• Poa anceps

• Spoon-leaved strelitzia (Strelitzia parvifolia)

• Blood lily (Haemanthus coccineus)

• Huruhuru whenua (Asplenium oblongifolium)

• Sand coprosma (Coprosma acerosa ‘Orange Roughy’)

• Kawakawa (Piper excelsum)