Today we drove from Dunedin to Te Anau stopping at Wylde Willow Garden and Maple Glen.

SCENERY ON THE WAY

Highway landscaping

Planting of Monterey Pines for lumber.

The sign was installed in 1992 when Clinton and Gore were elected in the U. S. The sign reads “Presidential Highway “

Clinton was the name of the town we were in and Gore is the next town (44 km away) where we ate lunch.

WYLDE WILLOW GARDEN

The owner is speaking. They have 5 acres and only 2 workers – the husband and wife team.

Long Wisteria entry vine:

Rhododendron garden:

Creek, pathways and bridge:

Old rose garden:

Rock garden:

Herb garden:

Pond, ducks, geese:

Interesting Plants:

Large Rockrose

Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa caucasica)

Cecil Brunner Rose

Dianthus ‘Tiny Rubies’

Poppy variety

MAPLE GLEN

A very unobtrusive entry to a magnificent garden:

The owners tell us that they are the only workers. Bruce tells us that the garden is 100 acres:

The following pictures tell us that those figures just don’t fit. But the owners insist it is true:

Purple Wisteria growing on a 50′ Poplar:

Rhododendrons and deciduous Azaleas:

Conifers:

Ponds and views:

Acres of lawn:

Nursery – Many plants are grown here for sale to other nurseries:

How do they do it?

I have been a landscape contractor for 40 years and a gardener for 62 years and these are my ideas of how they maintain this 100 acre garden with only 2 people:

1. They don’t spend time telling others what to do; they do it themselves.

2. They don’t spend time doing payroll, paying payroll taxes, filling out government employer forms, environmental reports, unemployment reports and workmen’s compensation reports.

3. I assume that they have plenty of money so they don’t have to worry about getting loans or balancing their bank account.

4. They have all the expensive and modern equipment to do the job:

This excavator is very expensive but with it they can dig holes fast, dig out stumps and dig trenches. They don’t have to drive to a rental yard to get one or take it back.

5. They let the weeds grow in many places. You don’t notice that so much because the garden is so beautiful that you are looking at the flowers:

6. They don’t have to spread snail bait; they have ducks:

7. They don’t deadhead:

8. In areas where they want to weed they use chemicals then weedeat the results:

9. They don’t cut back the foliage of the bulbs:

10. They don’t rake very much. The falling leaves become the mulch.

11. They don’t water; it rains enough in the summer to keep things alive.

12. They don’t fertilize; the soil is good enough and there is no need to encourage growth that may have to be pruned later.

Tomorrow – Milford Sound, Queenstown