It’s the gorgeous jacaranda that wows you, but there’s a whole lot more to this resort-style garden.
She may have been bereft and uncertain but Annie Dow finished this award-winning garden to honour her husband
Annie Dow’s home is also a tribute. The renovation of the large Herne Bay, Auckland property was well underway when her husband Greg died 11 years ago. Despite numerous approaches from real estate agents, Annie decided to finish the project. The result is a grand house and a garden that won New Zealand’s top landscaping award, the PSP Landscape of the Year, last year.
After years of successive property developments, Annie has decided this will be her last. The house has become her sanctuary while the neighbourhood has provided tremendous support.
“We were well known in the area and Greg was the first father in the neighbourhood to die. It was very unexpected. He just caught a virus [myocarditis]. The local families used to love to get together for Halloween and Guy Fawkes, so it made sense to stay. I knew in my heart of hearts I wouldn’t do another house. This is my Taj Mahal.”
Although not strictly a property developer, Greg had already done at least eight houses in the area and was also developing properties in Bali. But for Annie, this was new territory. She was busy enough running her design company Dow Goodfolk, where Greg also worked.
At first the prospect of taking over the renovations was traumatic. “I didn’t know ordinary things like what a smart home was, for instance, but I had to learn.” >
Nevertheless she didn’t adhere strictly to Greg’s plans. The glass prism over the deck never happened (“We would have cooked”), nor did the gym downstairs (now a media room), nor the tennis court nor the front yard full of palms. Instead trees were removed and others like the cherry blossoms were shifted around the side of the house, leaving just a large original Phoenix palm in the front. In place of the palms, jacarandas were planted, affording shade in summer and light in winter.
“I like the jacarandas in Sydney and the story behind them. Apparently in the 1950s a midwife gave a seedling to every mother whose child she’d helped bring into the world.”
Annie also added a vegetable garden at the back, growing a range of vegetables and herbs such as tomatoes, lettuces, broccolini, cucumbers, thyme, coriander and mint, which she harvests regularly.
When the Dows bought the site, it needed substantial work. The slightly sloping east-to-west land required levelling, retaining walls were built as was a driveway leading to a new garage under the house. They also moved the house back a metre, extended the rear of the house, remodelled the interior and redid the garden.
The garden is modelled on resort-style tropical gardens the couple enjoyed on overseas holidays. Indeed, the Palaman stone tiles were imported from Bali. But the garden also needed to be private and proportional to the size of the 2010sqm section.
To achieve this, Scott Humphreys of Humphreys Landscaping opted for a structured, minimal approach with a restricted number of species. Scott has worked with the couple for more than 20 years and says structured simplicity is the signature style of a Dow property. The extensive hedging consists mainly of eugenia and Podocarpus gracilior with a few rows of buxus and even gardenia hedging in places.
The location of the pool was also critical. Pools sited too far away from the house never work, says Scott. The Dow pool is linked to the house with a loggia and the roof extends over the deck. The pool’s location gives sun, privacy and easy access. The pool and generous lawns front and back add to the luxurious resort feel of the property. >