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House and Garden Tour

The house gardens are built around the two tiled patios and the morning decking. These are definitely good places for a cat to snooze, or a gardener to relax apres gardening. Cushions, books and old cups of tea are often left out here overnight. Gumboots and gardening tools are often discarded here.

Housey

The patios on the west side of the house are surrounded by roses, and the patios are sun traps from midday on. Here you can admire the house garden and lawns, or settle comfortably with a coffee and a book by the fragrant rose Compassion. Then there are the patio steps, cluttered with pots and containers. This is the traditional cat muster station, the place where gardeners often sit and think, 'What shall I do first?'

One of our lounges has a bay window which looks out to Stephen's border. It gets very dry and hot, baked with mid-day and afternoon summer sun. This is an area where cerinthe suicidally insists on self-seeding. When we arrived it was covered with bark chips, with a few misplaced pittosporums. They went. Stephen's border started off with a silver Astelia, a large colony of Phlomis, and some cool bluey-leaved Euphorbias, all keeping the bright pink Flower Carpet Rose company. It keeps changing...

The gravel driveway separates the house borders from the gardens and lawns beyond. By the small car lay-by is Jeremy's Border. Jeremy, a black and white fluffy cat, is quietly composting under the newest rose planting. Each year there are new additions - a tall, well-behaved striped grass (spring 1998), a cool sedum (autumn 1999), some species tulips and stachys limelight (spring 1999), a subtley variegated Corokia (summer 2001)...

The piano lounge has a bay window where Mary Rose and perennial friends are planted. Nicotianas self-seed in between the roses, and in spring the forget-me-nots run riot. Then on the east side of the house there is a wooden decking. Cats are fed here, surrounded by pots. We have two resident bellbirds who visit the nearby bronze flax in summer to drink the flower nectar.

Catmint... Sun 14th Jan 2007: I am not supposed to show any cat-favouritism to my beautiful, photogenic, white cat called B-Puss. But I thought I'd get away with popping this beautiful photograph into the Moosey Garden Tour.
Wisteria on the Pergola... Fri 18th Feb 2005: The new Wisteria which now covers the house pergola is in its second summer. How much should I prune it? When will it flower? Will it grow into a monster and be another of my gardening disasters?
Wooden Patio Chair... Tue 8th Feb 2005: Sheer and shimmering summer style - how else can I describe this special home-made wooden patio chair? Particularly as I would like at least two more, to go with the stylish outdoors table.
Pink Flax... Wed 7th Jul 2004: Every Moosey garden border has at least one small coloured flax. This cream and pink hybrid is a colourful feature growing in the corner of the patio garden.
Statue of a Piglet... Sun 30th May 2004: There are few statues in the Moosey garden, apart from this mass produced piglet who stands guard in the centre of the path to the house patio. He has considerable sentimental value, and provides visitors with an interesting obstacle to step over.
Rose Golden Tribute... Fri 28th May 2004: In New Zealand we often feel isolated from world events and news. Not so in the year 2001, when I planted this rose called Golden Tribute to make my small statement for world peace.
Head Gardener... Thu 27th May 2004: The head gardener can often be found relaxing on the house patio. This is the perfect spot to read a gardening magazine in the sun, or just snooze and enjoy the ambience.
Fairy Rose and Flax... Fri 30th Apr 2004: The patio gardens are a source of wonderment in Autumn and early winter when the Fairy Rose flowers alongside this pink leaved flax.
Outdoor Garden Light... Sat 20th Mar 2004: The lamp which sits in the corner of the garden by the car lay-by is the only outdoor light in the garden. It's never cleaned because of its resident spiders.
Big Gum Tree... Tue 11th Feb 2003: Standing in the car lay-by by the house entrance there are sweeping views looking over the lawn towards the BIG GUM. These lawns are mowed regularly with a ride on mower.
Garden Patio... Mon 3rd Feb 2003: The patio steps are such a nice place to sit with a cup of coffee and some cats for sompany. Each year the pots here get filled with my latest favourites. The climbing rose Compassion on the pergola at the side of the steps is very fragrant.
Westerland Fragrant Rose... Sun 19th Jan 2003: I call the garden outside the side bay window Stephen's border. I am training the rose Westerland up the drainpipe. This part of the driveway gets baked in the afternoon summer sun, and plants in this border have to be tough.
Patio Roses... Tue 14th Jan 2003: As you walk around the lawn past the big bay window, the many roses in the patio borders can be appreciated. The plantings sprawl over the edge, and I've encouraged Angelica to self-seed in behind.
Mixed Plantings In Jeremy's Border... Sat 11th Jan 2003: Around the corner from Stephen's border is a small garden in which Jeremy the cat has her final resting place. I have planted some of my favourite foliage plants in Jeremy's Garden, like variegated Miscanthus. There are also many roses.
Garden Fence Roses... Sat 3rd Feb 2001: This shows the view from the parking lay-by across the fence to the Stables. Dublin Bay and Iceberg roses cover the fence, and the tree to the left by the roses is a ginko. This is a beautifully compact, well designed tree.
Sedum & Bumble Bee... Mon 19th Jun 2000: I've planted a sedum which has creamy white flowers on the edge of Jeremy's border. Its leaves are clear light green and fit well with the underplantings of Stachys Limelight in here.
Succulents In Pots... Mon 19th Jun 2000: There is another collection of pots just by the sliding doors. These are filled with several varieties of succulents. The largest pot contains a warm red flax which is squashed in and still seems very happy. Strange plant.
New Dawn Rose... Sun 11th Jun 2000: I've forgotten to tie this new cane of New dawn in to the pergola post. Its flowers are the palest prettiest pink.
House Rose Arch... Fri 2nd Jun 2000: This photo from the archives shows the New Dawn climbing rose forming a beautiful archway and gently dropping its pale pink petals on the patio beneath.
Garden Table Cat... Thu 1st Jun 2000: There is an outdoor table on the top patio, put here specifically for cats to enjoy the late afternoon summer sun. It's hard work being a cat at Moosey's. You have to ask some pretty important questions - for example, where is the sun? where is my food? when is my food?
House & Garden Patio... Thu 1st Jun 2000: I've planted a lot of catmint around the patio edges, so Stumpy and the other cats spend a lot of time here, rolling in this aromatic plant. This is also Stumpy's favourite spot to wait for the gardener to enter the house and open the fridge.
Garden Patio Cat... Wed 3rd May 2000: Jerome, pensive, sits on the front patio. The heavy plastic garden chair provides security in case of over-boistrous dog arrivals. I bought these chairs really cheaply and they have been most comfortable and sensible.
Stumpy Cat Claws... Tue 2nd May 2000: Stumpy has just climbed up the pergola on the house patio, and looks like she is trying to get back down. The speed she climbs through the New Dawn rose wrapped around the post is amazing.
Garden Castle... Mon 1st May 2000: In the car lay-by garden, partly hidden by some hostas and forget-me-nots, is a small castle. Sometimes when I am feeling totally childlike I try and imagine which room I would live in.
Garden Angel... Tue 18th Apr 2000: My garden angel is a present from a student, and lives by the morning decking near the big brown flax. She gets submerged in Honesty (spring) and Catmint (summer), and often is covered in gum tree leaves.
Flax And Coprosma... Sat 15th Apr 2000: In the small garden between the decking and the house I've planted a big browny red flax, with a Mutabilis rose climbing up the house wall behind. The various pots which sit in front are changed according to the seasons.
David Austin Mary Rose... Thu 13th Apr 2000: The small garden immediately outside the big bay window features Mary Rose, one of David Austin's famous English roses. There are also white flower carpets planted in here.
Rose Compassion... Sat 1st Apr 2000: The strong climbing roses Compassion are a delight growing on the house patio pergola. They are beautifully fragrant, and flower from late spring well into the beginning of winter.
Cat and Mouse... Sat 1st Apr 2000: This is an almost daily drama conducted on the house patio. Looking like symbols of David and Goliath, Stumpy faces up to rodent number 154. The outcome of this particular encounter does not make good family viewing, however.....Goliath won.
Autumn Sedum Plant... Wed 29th Mar 2000: Here is a close up detail of one of the smaller sedums which has come to live in a pot on the steps. In autumn its leaves turns red before it gets trimmed back.
Rose Arch... Mon 15th Nov 1999: The New Dawn roses on the house pergola used to start flowering in November, and their soft pale pink flowers created a very pretty rose archway. Unfortunately the roses had to be removed for health reasons, and the rose arch is consigned to the archives.