On The Edge of The World

Situated against the rugged and dramatic backdrop of the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand, Fishermans Bay Garden is a garden like no other. Sandra talks to owner, Jill Simpson to uncover her inspirations for this extraordinary landscape.

A short twenty-minute drive from the historic French settlement of Akaroa, lies Fishermans Bay Garden. The 100-hectare site island scaped with a mix of native and exotic plants and integrates old farm buildings like a woolshed to create a truly unique New Zealand ambiance. But it’s the backdrop of the Banks Peninsula that takes your breath away and is the perfect setting for Jill and Richard Simpson’s garden.

 

Spring brings a verdant glow to the naturalistic planting in this garden that is married to its location with expansive views along the coastline. It's a skillful, harmonius blend that makes a brilliant foreground to the stunning view.

You say the farm came first, then the garden. How did you find this place?

Coming to Fishermans Bay was a time of new beginnings for Richard and me. Both of us were transitioning away from previous lives as a dairy farmer (Richard) and landscape designer (mine), and from previous marriages.



We decided to farm here together and helped found the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust. The farm has regenerating native forest which we are protecting with covenants. We love this place for its beautiful views, connection to wild remnant vegetation, and the populations of seals and penguins in the bays below the house.

 

Where did the process start?

At the beginning, being time poor with commitments, I gave no thought to creating a garden. But as time passed and children grew up, I couldn’t resist, and the garden has continued to expand over the last 20 years.

 

There are many influences that have determined the design of this garden. Which influence was the strongest?

I have always loved perennial plants and have read many books, mostly by English garden designers about planting borders. But when a friend mentioned Designing with Plants by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury, and The Self-Sustaining Garden: A Gardener's Guide to Matrix Planting by Pete Thompson, my thinking was transformed.



It was not just the combination of plants but the idea of creating long-lasting plantings of equally competitive long-lived plants in combinations that were in themselves beautiful and natural. These plants need little care and yet evoke so much emotion in our response to them. I began to learn as much as I could about the plants Piet uses and his way of combining them.

 

Plumes of soft grasses contrast with intense colour of summer flowering perennials

What are the main challenges in such an exposed site?

The main constraints here are the really strong winds, and in some places, very steep contours. The great advantage is the view. Each garden area has been planted accordingly, in response to these things. To move between garden areas has meant excavation and building many stone walls.

 

You started by using only NZ native plants. Why did you decide to include exotics?

When we came here, we were really involved with conservation initiatives on farmland. It was natural to bring this to the garden even though I had been using the full range of native and exotic plants in my designs. I sourced most of my plants from the remnants of old forest on the farm. These plantings now provide the main structure of the garden.



I’ve loved perennials right from early days working in a retail nursery. This has meant that while the garden was formed using native trees and shrubs, exotic plantings were included to provide interest and complexity throughout the seasons. I love the native plants for their familiarity, for their sense of place, and for being quintessential New Zealand. But I also love the idea of taking good plants from the world and blending them into infinite combinations, providing interest throughout the seasons in a way that can’t be done with our endemic plants.

There’s a comment on your website I love, where you state, “I have a happy obsession with the garden that I cannot imagine not continuing to modify it and improve it, always imagining a better more beautiful version in the future.” How do you imagine you can improve it?

There is no end to the possibilities of a garden. When I was a designing, I drew alternative designs in different styles for each client. I loved to explore all possibilities for a site. Now having gardened here, I can see so much potential. Over time, just as we do with the clothes we wear, we become interested in different colours and different combinations. This is one of the joys of gardening; the possibilities are infinite when it comes to plants, which are not static. They cast shade where once there was sun; they grow old and woody. So, a garden is always just a moment in time; an ephemeral thing, different year to year, and more the joy for being so.