Joining forces
Sue Linn finds out what happens when a
gifted garden designer marries a nurseryman.
Bold ligularia leaves echo the rounded
forms of clipped buxus balls and an elegant water feature.
12 go gardening summer
real gardener
T
rina Tully is well known for her
garden design prowess. But this
summer she’s taking time out
from her design practice to devote
more time to her favourite pastime.
During daylight hours Trina is almost
always in her garden.
It’s hard to imagine anyone being
more fully immersed in gardening
than Trina is. When she’s not tending
her own garden she’s helping clients to
create theirs. As a judge for the Young
Horticulturist of the Year, she helps
in the nursery industry, encouraging
young horticulturists to further
develop their skills.
Trina has gardened since she was
a little girl and went on to establish
a string of her own gardens from
scratch, before training in landscape
design. Her design business led her
to the exciting world of exhibition
gardens and resounding success at the
Ellerslie Flower Show. With boundless
energy for all things horticultural,
Trina also ventured into retail for a
while and opened her own boutique
garden shop.
To cap it all off, a few years ago
she married a nurseryman. Trina’s
husband, Malcolm Woolmore, has
enjoyed an entire career in the plant
growing business. His nursery,
Lyndale Nurseries, now Australasia’s
largest propagation nursery, is not
far from the couple’s home in West
Auckland.
Trina appreciates how lucky she
is to be able to call and ask for a tray
of plants to be brought home at the
end of the day. It’s enough to send
any keen gardener into a fit of envy!
Not to mention the bags of Tully’s
planting mix - the same top quality
mix they use at the nursery (more
about this at www.tullys.co.nz).
“If I regret anything it’s not
appreciating when I was in my
early twenties how you can
have such a wonderful career
in horticulture.”
Having a smorgasbord of
fabulous plants at your fingertips,
it seems, is not without hitches.
“I have told my clients off in the
past for buying plants from a garden
centre without a space in mind,
bringing them home only to
‘stuff’ them into the garden.
Hmmm seems that is what I do,”
Trina laughs.
gogardening.co.nz
13
real gardener
GARDENING ON
A SLOPE
Over the past four years, Trina
and Malcolm have been renovating
their home and developing their
garden on half an acre of sloping
ground with expansive views
towards the city.
Left from top: Podocarpus
henkelii; Ligularias and sedum
with echeverias in a pot; a hybrid
clematis.
Below: The stairway leads through
the prairie garden from the lower
vege garden up to the patio.
Opposite page: Yellow clivias and
Buxus balls with Acacia ‘Limelight’
and tulips in pots.
14 go gardening summer
“We are really lucky, we have
fabulous views from most areas of the
garden, but this space has presented
me with some real challenges.” Not
only was it an existing garden that she
wanted to change, but she was also
faced with lots of different levels. Trina
now concedes that a beautiful view
is not the only advantage of a sloping
site. “Building retaining walls and
steps takes a lot of work and expense,
but it makes a garden so much more
interesting than a flat site.”
WORKING WITH
WHAT’S THERE
Trina says she has fallen in love
with her garden and while starting with
a clean slate might have been easier,
the distinctive style she has ended up
with owes much to the constraints
of working with an existing garden and catering to the
different tastes of two plant lovers. Trina’s innate style
could be described as formal ‘English Country’. The garden
she inherited four years ago was the antithesis of that
style. Malcolm leans more towards an informal ‘Pacifica’
style, with palm trees and subtropical foliage.
Cleverly, Trina has come up with a unique merging
of styles. Her formal clipped buxus sit comfortably
beneath the tall palm trees; their strong geometric forms
contrasting beautifully with leafy subtropical plants.
“It’s part of the challenge, making it all work”, says Trina,
“Our garden has evolved from its original subtropical
style into an edible, subtropical, prairie, structured, flower
fusion. Sounds like a dog’s breakfast doesn’t it!” she laughs,
adding “My style has become a lot more relaxed and
interesting since being married to a nurseryman.”
Trina is taking full advantage of the wide range of
plants she is constantly being introduced to. Thriving in the
dappled shade of palm trees, a massed planting of fragrant
Gardenia ‘Crown Jewels’ flanks the steps next to the outdoor
dining area where the couple spend the most time when
relaxing outdoors.
Mini Blast
Raspberry Blast
Petunia
Raspberry Blast
and
NEW
Mini Blast
The PeRFeCT
PeReNNIALS
Perform to perfection
Tolerant of extreme heat
Prolific flowering
Use in hanging baskets, pots
and gardens
“Building retaining walls and steps takes a lot of
work and expense, but it makes a garden so much
more interesting than a flat site.”
Raspberry Blast
Mini Blast
www.gardeningsolutionz.co.nz
Available from garden
centres
nationwide
Available
from garden
www.gardeningsolutionz.co.nz
centres nationwide
n,
nte
a
Z
n
l Va
oya rope.
R
y
u
b
In E
red
s, b olorita
d
n
sC
erla
eth eted a
N
k
e
r
h
m t lso ma
Fro
a
velylours
o
l
twomas co
,
d
ase hrist
e
l
e
y r es in C
l
w
Ne ss Lili
ce
Prin
DWARF ALSTROMERIA
The ‘ Princess Lily Range’
Newly released, two lovely Princess Lilies
in Christmas colours
Ariane
Claire
Eliane
‘Princess Claire’ (White) produces masses of lime green buds, opening to a glorious crystal white and
will bloom continuously, starting in spring through autumn. The clusters are pickable for posies.
40cm tall x 30cm wide. Available mid November onwards.
‘Princess Kate’ (Red) produces masses of large, striking red flowers and will bloom continuously,
starting in spring through autumn. The clusters of flowers are pickable for posies. 40cm tall x 30cm
wide. Available mid November onwards.
Fabiana
Ivana
Letizia
Kate
Leyla
Louise
Mathilde
Sara
Theresa
Princess Lilies are much tougher than they look. Drought hardy and light frost tolerant, they can
flower prolifically for up to nine months of the year. Princess Lilies prefer a full sun to part shade
position in well drained soil. In cold frosty climates, insulate the ryzomes with a dense layer of
garden mulch, such as pea straw, during winter. In spring, remove and feed with slow release
fertiliser. Water well. Suitable for large pots or containers, garden beds and borders. The Princess
Lilies are grown & marketed exclusively by Wallis’s Nurseries Mosgiel, Dunedin and Seaview
Nurseries 2010 Auckland. Available at all leading garden retailers nationwide.
DUNEDIN
AUCKLAND
Just outside the kitchen, the
cosy patio area is sheltered to the
southeast by the house and to the
northwest by a lavishly planted slope,
with tiers of established and new
plantings forming a lush oasis effect.
In October when I visited, the garden
was a picture of serene green-ongreen, the clipped buxus balls radiant
in their bright green flush of new
growth with a mass planting of yellow
Clivia as striking floral accent. A huge
Acacia ‘Limelight’ is a real statement
piece resplendent in lime green, while
echoing the colour and texture of a
young Podocarpus henkelii, one of Trina
and Malcolm’s favourite trees with
elegant weeping foliage.
EDIBLE ABUNDANCE
Above the patio, a wide curving
stairway leads up the slope to another
much loved garden room, the new
potager garden. More evidence of her
boundless gardening energy, Trina has
not one but two large kitchen gardens
to look after. She confesses that at
this time of year her time spent in the
vege gardens far outweighs the time
she spends in the rest of the garden.
“I am learning not to waste time
planting edibles we don’t eat”, she
says, “It does keep the chooks
happy though!”
More stairs lead down from
the patio through Trina’s prairie
inspired flower garden to the second
potager, and a picture perfect
potting shed – something else to
turn a visiting gardener green with
envy. Here she spends many happy
hours growing veges and flowers
from seed. “I think I have as many
seed packets as cook books, and
that’s a lot!”
PLANTAHOLIC
Lawn is all-but absent in this
garden, not only because lawns
on slopes are impractical; Trina’s
passion for planting needs every
available space. “I am in awe of
plants and I am passionate about
how we use them in the garden.
Sometimes I think it must be like
being a painter.”
Every spring Trina’s plants
are treated to a blanket of organic
mulch, to keep weeds out and
conserve moisture. “Mulching is
number one on the priority list
right now,” she stresses, “It’s really
important to get it done before
summer.” Before the mulch goes on,
she always applies controlled-release
fertiliser and makes sure the soil is
thoroughly watered.
Trina says she would spend all day
every day in the garden if she could.
Plants don’t always get to stay where
they are first planted. “Malcolm makes
plenty of jokes about my ‘musical’
plants. They get shifted around the
garden until I am happy with their
placement. I am coming to grips
with the fact I may not ever get it to
look perfect.”
Driving away feeling utterly
inspired, I know I’ll be pretty happy if
I get just one small corner of my garden
to Trina’s level of imperfection.
real gardener
OUTDOOR LIVING
Below: Raised beds in the potager
Right: Trina’s potting shed, Baxter and Lily
gogardening.co.nz
17
real gardener
What is your greatest
gardening success?
What first sparked your
interest in gardening?
My mum is a mad keen gardener.
She had over an acre of garden on
our farm in Hawke’s Bay. My first
garden was a cactus garden!
What are some of the
favourite plants in your
garden?
Today I love Acacia ‘Limelight’
- so magnificent in its big pot.
And tulips! I am currently mad on
bulbs as they add another whole
dimension to the garden when not
a lot else is happening.
What is it about gardening
that you find most
rewarding?
Beauty.
Above: Tulips in a copper pot.
Top: Looking down through
the prairie garden to the
potting shed.
18 go gardening summer
What would you consider
to be the biggest challenge
in a garden?
Staying out of it.
I would say the Ellerslie Flower
Show 2006 Blooms of Bressingham
garden I did for Lyndale Nurseries.
I learnt so much about so many
different plants. It extended my
plant combination skills to the max
and I met so many fabulous people,
including my future husband!
What do you love most
about being a garden
designer?
Meeting wonderful people and
learning something new every day.
What advice would you
give a beginner gardener?
Stick to something you are
interested in. For example, if you
love the thought of producing your
own food, start with an edible
garden (even if it’s only pots on
the balcony). If you love creating
gorgeous rooms, make an outdoor
room for you and your family to
enjoy, and grow flowers for picking
to make your home feel more
beautiful. Make it work for you in
the time you have and you will get
an immense amount of pleasure
from your garden.