Flickr - brewbooks - Waterfall at Ayrlies (4)

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Ayrlies Garden is a country garden near Whitford, southeast of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is one of New Zealand's best-known gardens, and has been described as the "quintessential New Zealand garden". The

New Zealand Gardens Trust The Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (RNZIH) is a horticultural society in New Zealand. History According to its website, the RNZIH was founded in 1923. New Zealand's National Library holds minute books from the Institute dating back ...

has rated it a six star garden, its highest rating. The garden now covers some of rolling terrain, with large lawns, ponds and waterways, and heavily planted informal borders which make strong use of colour, including a "lurid border" of 'hot' colours. Some areas feature

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

clematis ''Clematis'' is a genus of about 300 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids have been popular among gardeners, beginning with ''Clematis'' × ''jackmanii'', a garden standby since 1862; more hybrid cultivars ...

and

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s; others contain lush,

sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

plants, such as

Petrea ''Petrea'' is a genus of evergreen flowering vines native to tropical Americas. The genus was named in honour of Robert James Petre, an English patron of botany. Species The following species are currently recognized: *'' Petrea blanchetiana ...

Alocasia ''Alocasia'' is a genus of rhizomatous or tuberous, broad-leaved, perennial, flowering plants from the family Araceae. There are about 90 accepted species native to tropical and subtropical Asia and eastern Australia. Around the world, many growe ...

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

vireya ''Vireya'' rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' section ''Vireya'' (vireyas) is a tropical group of ''Rhododendron'' species, numbering about 300 in all. Vireyas are native to southeastern Asia and range from Thailand to Australia. Description ''Vire ...

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

s and

Ficus dammaropsis ''Ficus dammaropsis'', called ''kapiak'' in Tok Pisin, is a tropical fig tree with huge pleated leaves across and up to 90 cm (3 feet) in length. It is native to the highlands and highlands fringe of New Guinea. It generally grows at altitudes ...

. It also includes many large trees - mostly

liquidambar ''Liquidambar'', commonly called sweetgum (star gum in the UK), gum, redgum, satin-walnut, or American storax, is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated in Hamamelidaceae ...

swamp cypress Swamp cypress is a common name for more than one species of plants in the family Cupressaceae (cypresses): * Species of the genus '' Taxodium'' ** ''Taxodium distichum'', native to the Southeastern and Gulf Coastal Plains of the United States * '' G ...

and

pin oak ''Quercus palustris'', the pin oak or swamp Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section (''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae'') of the genus ''Quercus''. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of ...

- which have grown rapidly in the warm and wet climate, with rare frosts and over of rain a year. It contains several structures around the main house, including a small 'sitooterie' - a low

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. Etymology The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries (website), Oxford D ...

, to sit out in and admire the view. The large site is unified by a consistent planting and use of materials. The garden was created by Beverly McConnell and her late husband Malcolm, co-founder of New Zealand engineering and construction company

McConnell Dowell McConnell Dowell is a major infrastructure construction company founded in New Zealand in 1961. In 2003 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Aveng, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa. History McConnell Dowell was ...

. It is named after Malcolm McConnell's grandfather's farm in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The garden began in 1964, when the McConnells moved to the site with their young family, starting with a coastal site which was previously bare paddock with a heavy clay soil, and expanding to in 1978, including the addition of three large ponds. From 2000, of swamp flats below the homestead were transformed into a wetland area with an lake, linking the garden to the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Wetlands
The garden is open to the public on weekdays, for a fee.

References

External links

Ayrlies Garden
{{coord, 36.92, S, 174.97, E, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Gardens in the Auckland Region Tourist attractions in the Auckland Region