A Christchurch garden of roses, stories, food & fantastical creatures -Guy Frederick
Betty (a lilac point ragdoll) enjoys the summer sun. Of the five resident cats in Tangleby Gardens, three appear as characters in Sue Heazlewood’s books.
Stepping into Tangleby Gardens, on the northern outskirts of Christchurch, is to enter a creative and fantastical world. It’s the home of the Tangleby Gardens Family and the book series that captures the adventures of an eclectic group of animals who also love to cook. Their genesis is in the mind of garden owner Sue Heazlewood, and their physical home exists in the playhouse in a back corner of the garden.
The garden threads together Heazlewood’s love for food and family, and creates the platform for her storytelling that takes its inspiration from the layout and seasonally changing ambience of the property.
The garden’s style, described by Heazlewood as formal but rustic, matches her need for formality and creating a variety of distinct zones within which connection, cooking and creativity can flourish.
Ever since Heazlewood became an avid fan of NZ Gardener 30 years ago, she longed for a large garden, and the opportunity finally presented itself a decade ago.
Don Auckram and Sue Heazlewood
She recalls that her friends considered her slightly mad to be buying a house on a section measuring 6000 square metres by herself, but Heazlewood’s future story was already taking shape in her head.
Eager to fast track the garden’s development, Heazlewood enlisted the help of local garden designer Debbie Rimmer.
Along with 16 truckloads of soil and the planting of established trees, including oaks and ornamental pears, the garden’s foundation was laid in 18 months. Large lawn sections were bordered with flowering hedges of Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’ and striking combinations such as spring flowering chestnuts and Solomon’s seal.
As the garden was taking shape, Heazlewood spotted the garden-seat arch while on holiday in Arrowtown. “I always love something whimsical for climbers to cascade over,” she says. The white rose is ‘Avalanche’.
Photo: Guy Frederick
Heazlewood’s focus was to ensure the connection between the garden and the home was exactly how she wanted.
Walking down the hallway, there’s a long line of sight to the outdoor dining area at the north end of the section where her children gather for Christmas. From the kitchen, there’s a long view to a second outdoor area with a backdrop of a Boston ivy-covered wall that puts on a spectacular display of changing colour. Pots, urns and statues positioned around the garden add to the formality while providing permanent visual reference points.
But if the garden had its own screenplay, then roses would play the leading role. Tangleby is home to three roses for which Heazlewood has purchased the naming rights.
Set against a hedge of Portuguese laurel, ‘Tangleby’ and ‘Auckwood’ roses underline the feminine qualities of the statue.
The idea arose from her desire to do something special for her daughter Emma, who was born and died on Christmas Day in 1991. Having established her own permanent garden, Heazlewood could finally bring her wish to life. As a tribute to Emma, a Floribunda with clusters of coral-coloured multi-petal blooms was named ‘Emma Heazlewood’. An avenue of the rose now fittingly borders the path that leads to the children's playhouse.
A second rose of rich purple magenta blooms was named ‘Tangleby’ – and is now the trademark symbol of the property and its business operations, including the book series.
Heazlewood’s partner Don Auckram was responsible for choosing the third rose, named ‘Auckwood’ to consolidate their surnames in celebration of their relationship.
This intimate garden, located at the back of the home, is their “blanket of serenity,” Heazlewood says. “We love to sit here with a coffee and maybe a Tangleby scone in the morning sun.”
The abundance of these roses through the garden mingle with Heazlewood’s love for foxglove, hollyhock, iris, delphinium and climbers such as sweet peas, and the enchanting old world ambience they create. She likes plants that have their own personality, as a “perfect garden” would, in her own words, drive her crazy.
For that reason, she’s also a big fan of self-seeders such as the fairy-like viscaria that provides a clever visual display amongst a bed of dahlia.
Heazlewood also likes to play with changing colour schemes which she achieves by growing annuals including gypsophila, lobelia, cosmos, calendula and dianthus.
The water feature pot creates a tranquil space under shade; it is also a popular bathing spot for birds.
She estimates that some 5000 annual and vegetable seedlings are grown each year in the glasshouse.
Producing and cooking food have always played a key role in Heazlewood’s life, with her children the fortunate recipients of elaborate meals and baking experiments during their upbringing. Introducing others to the joy of food and cooking is a key driver, and she’s followed that passion through publishing several cookbooks.
The flower garden also contributes to this vision by providing edible flowers including calendula, nasturtiums, pansies, violas and roses that are picked for presentation and photo shoots.
A border planting of flowering chestnut trees.
An extensive array of raised vegetable beds supplies ingredients for these recipes, together with an espaliered ‘Jazz’ apple that produces 20kg of fruit a year. Last autumn, the branches of a fig tree lay on the ground, so laden was it with its juicy crop. Auckram takes particular pride in growing watermelons, suggesting the surrounding hard surfaces likely help with absorbing and reflecting the essentials of light and heat.
The garden’s produce is also part of the children’s story and cookbook series, Tails of Tangleby, an idea that popped into Heazlewood's restless head while on holiday attempting to rest.
When she developed the garden, Heazlewood also built an elaborate playhouse for future grandkids. Several years passed and the grandchildren weren’t materialising as quickly as anticipated, so she decided to bring the playhouse to life as the home of a menagerie of talking cats, dogs, hedgehogs, rabbits and frogs.
The extensive array of raised vegetable beds provide endless recipe inspiration for Heazlewood.
The animals take adventures around the Tangleby Gardens and cook recipes en route. The books have gathered momentum and so have their fans, and school groups who visit Tangleby are visibly awed when they recognise locations in the garden that feature in the stories.
Connecting the next generations to the joy of food and cooking makes Heazlewood’s heart sing. “Teachers and their students come here to picnic and connect and engage with the stories and food. I feel like I’m making a difference.”
The playhouse is now well used by her own grandchildren, and right now, the animals have headed further afield to Europe on new adventures for the books.
Back at Tangleby, and never one to sit still, Heazlewood is about to embark on her own new gardening adventure. She’s cleverly snapped up a neighbour’s section, and plans are coming together for the garden extension that will double the size of the current footprint to 12,000m2.
There will be long plant-lined avenues for running and a 3m high central fountain. There will be plenty of blue hydrangeas, a climbing passionfruit, a secret door and hobbit house with a slide. Indeed, those animals are going to create a racket of delight when they return from their overseas adventures to Tangleby and discover a whole new garden to explore.
Leftover seedlings are homed in the wildflower garden.
Photo: Guy Frederick
-NZ Gardener
