Artist’s palette makes great combinations

Veronica Fisher sits under one of the hanging baskets she planted.Photos by Gillian Vine.
Veronica Fisher sits under one of the hanging baskets she planted.Photos by Gillian Vine.
Veronica Fisher’s artistic talents are evident in the co-ordinated colour scheme.
Veronica Fisher’s artistic talents are evident in the co-ordinated colour scheme.
An existing rose was trained over a new arch.
An existing rose was trained over a new arch.
Veronica was given this old chimney pot, which she plants with impatiens.
Veronica was given this old chimney pot, which she plants with impatiens.
Although it has a reputation for spreading, Alstroemeria pulchella (syn. Alstroemeria psittacina)...
Although it has a reputation for spreading, Alstroemeria pulchella (syn. Alstroemeria psittacina) is well-behaved here.
Veronica’s favourite flowers include campanulas.
Veronica’s favourite flowers include campanulas.
This smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) was one of a selection of shrubs Veronica won.
This smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) was one of a selection of shrubs Veronica won.
A recent addition to the garden is the floribunda rose Memory Lane.
A recent addition to the garden is the floribunda rose Memory Lane.
Honeysuckle is grown among roses on a northeastern fence.
Honeysuckle is grown among roses on a northeastern fence.

A small Milton garden catches Gillian Vine's attention.

It's astonishing what can be packed into a tiny garden while maintaining a stylish effect.

Veronica Fisher's Milton property beautifully demonstrates this principle.

A talented artist with an appreciation of colour combinations that work, she wanted a garden that reflected her English heritage.

It's nearly four years since she moved here, her fifth Milton property and the smallest.

"I've downsized each time,'' Veronica said.

Apart from climbing roses on two fences and hybrid teas by the house, there was not a great deal in the garden when she arrived.

The back was the first area to be revamped.

Cutting-grown roses and buddleias were added, an existing rose was encouraged to climb a new rustic arch and brushwood was attached to the back fence in stages, as "every time it was on special, I bought a couple of rolls'', Veronica said.

"A Dutch friend helped with fencing and so on.''

Apart from looking better than the existing board structure, the brushwood helped give privacy, as it is a little higher, with climbing roses rising above it.

"I don't like straight lines,'' she said, so the beds were reshaped with curves.

Pathways close to the back fence make borders easier to maintain, so when weeding there is no chance of breaking tall flowers like delphiniums.

Mauve and blue, as well as Veronica's favourite whites, are in the delphinium line-up, looking good alongside campanulas, a Japanese maple and smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria).

The two purple-leafed shrubs were among a selection Veronica won on a Milton Garden Club trip to Blue Mountain Nurseries, Tapanui.

"I won enough to fill the back seat, floor and boot of my car. Denis Hughes [nursery owner] insisted on packing them himself and there must have been 40 altogether,'' she said.

She gave away some and admits that some of those she kept went "in the wrong places as you just forget how big they will grow''.

The front garden presented some challenges.

Previous owners had a gravelled patch on which their caravan sat but Veronica had no use for it so recently she turned it into lawn.

"I took out the gravel, bucketful by bucketful, and made a gravelled area out the back, putting the grass sods I lifted from there in the front,'' she said.

Swapping grass and gravel was hard work but worth the effort, she said.

She has added some favourite flowers in a garden in front of the house, including hollyhocks and the cream climbing rose, Sir Edmund Hillary.

Two other recent additions are floribunda Memory Lane, commemorating a friend, and old climber Albertine.

Veronica had Albertine at her previous home and forgot to take cuttings before she moved, but a friend came to the rescue and gave her a plant.

Even in such a small property, edibles are not forgotten.

There is a tiny vegetable patch, tomatoes grow alongside flowers in a north-facing bed, while on the veranda above the tomatoes is a black grape, interspersed with another of her favourite flowers, sweet peas.

For the visitor approaching the front door, hanging baskets are an eye-catcher.

"It's my least favourite thing, planting them. They're wretched things to plant,'' Veronica said.

"But they're such good value, as they flower for months and months, often until the first frosts.''

She puts the baskets together about mid-spring, packing in as many plants as she can, with impatiens the backbone, supported by the likes of alyssum and lobelia.

Like every part of Veronica Fisher's garden, they are immaculately presented, another example of the colour co-ordination in this little Milton gem.

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