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Rosa’s plant list

Here is what she plants to entice monarchs, New Zealand red and yellow admirals, and New Zealand coppers as well as bees and other beneficial insect companions. • Echinacea, sedum and helenium • Verbena bonariensis

• Phacelia, tithonia and montanoa • Valerian and exotic grasses • Single-flowered dahlias • Common stinging nettle • Plus as many New Zealand herbaceous natives as possible, says Rosa. “Monarchs also love hebes, hoheria and Parsonsia flowers in particular.”

• Swan plants

In summer, Paripuma hosts about four generations of butterflies, “and the last ones to emerge miraculously live for six months and now overwinter in the gum trees,” Rosa says. “I have now erected an asclepia-filled tunnelhouse in the hope that I will be able to release hundreds more butterflies this summer. This wild garden has become a magical place to wander.”

See this garden for yourself!

You can tour this amazing garden during the Garden Marlborough Festival, November 3-6, 2022. More info: gardenmarlborough.co.nz.