Beechwoods, a first-time entry into the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, is a story of second-time love after loss. The one-hectare country garden has a woodland with a stream spanned by three bridges, a Japanese garden, vege patch, and esplanade along the road front.

Words Virginia Winder  Photos Jane Dove Juneau

 

Sitting at their dining table looking out on clipped balls of Pittosporum ‘Golf Ball’, Yvonne King and Adrian McLeod talk of those bridges, first dates and a bit of magic. Both had lost their spouses – Adrian’s wife Cherry to a brain aneurysm in 2014 and Yvonne’s husband Dennis to cancer of the eye in 2016 – and were introduced properly by friend and musician Marion Rivers in 2019.

Not long before they got together, Yvonne says a newspaper story on Adrian and his garden described him as ‘wizard-like’ because of his white hair and long beard. ‘It piqued my interest,’ she says.

Adrian has more than 52 years’ experience in horticulture, and has been the owner of successful New Plymouth business Fairfields Garden Centre for close to 20 years. During that time, Yvonne and her husband developed a garden on Mangorei Road, ‘a hop, skip and a jump from the gate’ to the garden centre, so became regular customers. ‘Yvonne used to come on her quad bike and travel across the road to buy plants. So, we knew of each other, but we didn’t know each other well,’ he recalls.

They needed a passport for their first date. ‘I invited her out to the Whangamōmona Republic Day,’ says Adrian. The annual event, involving sheep races, gumboot throwing, woodchopping and a presidential election – the second leader was a goat – is steeped in humour and obviously romance. They were easy in each other’s company, had a shared love of gardening and some history.

Shortly after, Yvonne helped clear out Adrian’s New Plymouth property, which sold at the end of 2019. He was then booked in for shoulder surgery. ‘And, so to recuperate from the operation, he came to my place and never left.’

‘My place’ is Beechwoods, which had been her family’s farm where they bred German Holsteiner and New Zealand thoroughbred horses. Yvonne grew up in Christchurch, competing in low-level equestrian events and, while she wasn’t a star rider, she loved horses. Her daughter and son both competed, with son Fraser going on to be a top-class eventer.

The Tariki farm has been horse-free for two years now, but the eventing arena is still there.

A few months back, Adrian jokingly told a group of garden visitors it was going to be a Japanese garden. ‘They believed me,’ says Adrian with a smile.

The garden has mass plantings everywhere, including swathes of ligularias, candelabra primulas, hellebores of many colours and is flush with rushes (Lomandra ‘White Sands’).

‘I think the old established woodland end is an ideal site for hostas, astilbes, and we’ve sort of got a bog garden along the edge of a stream, and it’s just got a real nice relaxing feel to it,’ he says.

There are also rare treasures that plant sleuth Adrian enjoys hunting down on the internet; and trees of significance reflecting passions from the past.

The old part of the garden was first developed with some input from Sir Victor Davies in the 1960s. Standing tall are a large pink-bloomed Magnolia campbellii, which the renowned plantsman was fond of, and the early flowering Rhododendron arboreum Tomentosum ssp Delavayi which he also favoured.

In 2014, the second part of the garden was developed – with input from a few people. One of Yvonne’s dear friends, Karen Carter, who had multiple sclerosis and passed away in 2023, helped inspire a figure 8 part of the garden, which was easily accessible by wheelchair.

 

Another friend, Diane Phillips, a woman with a fine eye for design, has been as enthusiastic as a cheerleader for Yvonne, and the garden plan for Beechwoods was created by New Plymouth landscape designer Chris Paul.

Another prized plant is Prunus ‘Jim’s Delight’, like a small version of ‘Awanui’, which was developed by Taranaki man and gardening friend Jim Rumbal. It’s planted near a miniature Te Rewa Rewa Bridge. The full-size version crosses the Waiwhakaiho River on the Coastal Walkway of New Plymouth.

Yvonne discovered the replica on the side of the road with a big ‘for sale’ sign, learnt it had been built as a fundraiser for the children’s ward at Taranaki Base Hospital, so made an offer. The original frames Taranaki Maunga but that picturesque placing wasn’t possible with the Beechwoods’ version, although there are plenty of grand views of the mountain from around the garden.

In fact, for many years the Tariki property used to have its own model mountain that was a marker for people driving past on the main road. It was gone by the time Yvonne took over the property in 2010, and they have no intention of resurrecting it. ‘No, we’ve got such beautiful views from all over our garden. And look at this from the lounge,’ says Adrian, looking out at the maunga, fringed with cloud and slightly dusted with snow.

Two other bridges cross the unnamed stream that adds movement and percussion to the garden, already swirling with birdsong. The second bridge is a concrete culvert, which is more pedestrian than its counterparts. The third crossing, styled in a Japanese design, is red and reminiscent of The Poet’s Bridge in Pukekura Park, named after a racehorse. This bridge links the woodland garden with the Japanese garden area, which Adrian developed in winter 2023, creating a serene spot between the house and road. ‘That’s become quite a favourite of mine,’ says Yvonne. ‘What I really like about this is that we planted those maples in this garden when we first came here, and so they’re quite special, and the pieris was here.’

From Adrian’s own garden, he brought a Japanese umbrella pine and a 20-year-old wisteria; he cloud-clipped the pieris and has also planted Korean buxus.

Another of Yvonne’s favourite areas is the most public. ‘We’ve developed an area along the road and on the inside of the fence of course, and we call it ‘the esplanade’ and that’s really taking my fancy too now as that’s developing,’ she says. This long strip of garden is guarded by monster-like Beschorneria yuccoides (Mexican lilies), which Adrian describes as ‘like triffids’.

The variety of plants in the esplanade is as wide as the garden is long. Of note are the many magnolias, pyracanthas, lavender, hebes, fiery Azalea mollis, watsonias and Japanese anemones.

Yvonne, 69, and Adrian, 76, enjoy working in the garden together – outside with their hands in soil and inside planning and dreaming. ‘Because he knows plants so well, he comes up with suggestions and ideas of plants, but it is collaborative,’ says Yvonne.

They do get help. ‘We have two ladies that come every second Monday for four to five hours. When we’ve got any major projects on, they help us with those plus just keeping the weeds under control,’ says Adrian.

They’ve also had woofers from overseas staying with them and working on projects, and they have even had Misfits in the garden. The latter was the name of an Inglewood women’s netball team whose players helped spread a huge load of compost on the garden.

The garden is well fed and also feeds Yvonne and Adrian, with an orchard of Bramley apples, espaliered plums and citrus, plus a vegetable garden shaped by old railway sleepers. ‘We have rhubarb and beans and kale and endive, lettuce, broccoli, leeks, parsley, chives,’ says Adrian, listing off some of the produce, which he says Yvonne uses to cook delicious meals.

 

 

Beechwoods also nourishes them in other ways. In the evening, they often wander the garden, each with a glass in hand – Pinot Gris for him and Pinot Noir for her – or they sit in nature.

To ensure there’s plenty of resting spots for visitors, they have added seats, seven in total placed in strategic spots for people to enjoy views of the stream, maunga and garden. ‘One of the nicest things about having a garden is sharing,’ says Adrian. They do that with like-minded people on a regular basis, with Yvonne Chair of the Taranaki Rhododendron and Garden Group and Adrian the horticultural advisor. The garden group members enjoy sharing plants and tips, visiting other properties, and a few members also have their gardens in the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, on from 1–10 November this year.

Looking to the future, Adrian and Yvonne still have dreams for Beechwoods – but not expansive ones. ‘[I want] to have it as maintenance-free as possible,’ says Adrian, ever the optimist!

‘We’re trying to balance the dream with the reality of our age, I guess,’ says Yvonne. ‘We’re very much tempered by what we can realistically do. But that’s not to say that we’re not always looking for new and innovative ways of doing things or trying to do some things better. And I think we’ll continue to do that, but we certainly don’t intend to expand it beyond what it is.’

But whatever the future, they will continue to open their hearts and gates for people to enjoy this bridged beauty made from love, toil and a touch of wizardry.