Jo Wakelin: The Dry garden
Keynote speaker at NZ Garden Trust’s April 2024 conference
It's difficult to capture all the gems from Jo’s address at the April conference because there was so much information, all of it interesting. Jo speaks with authority backed by knowledge and experience and unfortunately did not have ‘speech notes’ from which to summarise her talk!
Fortunately, much has been written about Jo’s sustainable garden in Central Otago. Her vision has caught international attention, and the garden appears in the acclaimed book ‘Wild: The Naturalistic Garden’ by Noel Kingsbury, with photographs by Claire Takacs. There is now a new book featuring her garden called ‘Visionary – Gardens and Landscapes for our Future’ by Claire Takacs with Giacomo Guzzon and two more are in the pipeline from Australian and UK authors. The magazine ‘Gardens Illustrated’ had her garden on its March 2024 Cover – a first for a New Zealand garden. Besides, there have been several articles in New Zealand magazines and online. Her’s is a much-admired garden which can be visited by appointment in November if you want to experience the magic she has created in the vast, dry Central Otago landscape.
The key to the garden’s success is Jo’s understanding of the environment and her knowledge of the plants which suit those conditions. It’s so very dry there, with the yearly average rainfall just 400mm, although in some years it’s been as low as 275mm. Temperatures can range from +30 deg C in summer and -10 deg C in winter. It’s therefore necessary to consider only plants which are ‘right’ for place, that is, dry tolerant and sustainable without any irrigation.
Back in 2005, Jo visited the dry garden in Essex created by the renowned British gardener, Beth Chatto. Jo was immediately struck by what could be achieved by following Beth’s maxim of ‘the right plant in the right place’. Inspired by Beth’s philosophy, she decided that if she could create a successful dry garden in Central Otago, such a garden could be created anywhere where water is scarce. So, when she arrived at her bare patch of land just outside Cromwell in 2005, she knew instinctively, what she needed to do to achieve that aim.
It helped that she had a degree in ecology (and used to lecture in the subject at Otago’s Polytechnic) and that she knew about plant propagation. She also reads widely about dry gardens and scours the locale to source ‘thrivers’ in the wild. As with any garden, its trial an error: if a plant doesn’t thrive in these dry conditions, it’s removed. If a plant becomes too comfortable spreading seeds in unwanted places, the interlopers are removed. As with any garden, changes are constant, and planting is not confined to hardy New Zealand natives (although these are predominant). She also enjoys and grows attractive hardy exotic shrubs/plants which seem to do well in the low-nutrient soil and relentless wind. If Beth Chatto was alive today, she’d be so impressed with what Jo has achieved in an environment a lot more challenging that Essex!
Jo explained to conference delegates that the trick to dry gardening is to dig a good-sized hole, plant carefully selected specimens which are hardened-off (slightly dried off and therefore acclimatised to the conditions) and once in, mulched with whatever is available locally. Mostly for Jo, this is gravel, creatively sourced from a local quarry (a cake for a lorry load of waste gravel did the trick when she was getting the garden going). As well as being a natural mulch, gravel functions as a pleasing space between and stunning foil to the drifts of plants, which for most of the year are in all colours depending on their seasonal strengths and performance.
Lawn is neither viable nor sustainable in a dry garden. Some of the perimeter trees receive water in severe drought if they are showing signs of stress, and the vegetable patch gets necessary water to grow and feed the household. However, the rest is left to its own devices and because it has been so carefully thought through, the garden thrives whatever the weather.
Claire Takacs’ stunning photographs in ‘Wild’ do not exaggerate the drama of Jo’s garden. She’s a talented gardener who has managed the blend of science and artistry – the garden is nothing short of a miracle and sheer pleasure in one of New Zealand’s driest environments. It’s also an inspiration for those of us wanting to water less (or not at all). NZ Gardens Trust is grateful to Jo for sharing her garden and expertise at the Blenheim conference in April.
Jo Wakelin is holding two workshops at the Garden Marlborough Festival on 8 and 9 November 2024. If you are lucky enough to be going to that Festival, we thoroughly recommend attending one of the workshops.
