Te Kainga Marire
Native New Zealand Garden
In 1972, Valda Poletti and Dave Clarkson began their battle with 1/2 an acre of clay, kikuyu grass, gorse, fennel and blackberry. In an area of old pa sites they built their own home - a 'posh hut' - designed to blend into the landscape they would soon craft.
Keen outdoors adventurers, they wanted a bird-friendly garden designed around the ecological groupings they had observed in the wild. Grasses, climbers, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees have been deftly nurtured around rustic fences, a pond, a colonial bush hut and a cool, fern-filled whare. Shy tui now regularly fly in to the garden to feed. Visitors find the whole experience uplifting.
Te Kainga Marire speaks for all the New Zealand landscape, with much spirit and joy.
