Tikorangi The Jury Garden

Email: jury@jury.co.nz | Tel & Fax: +64 6 754 6671 | After hours: +64 6 754 6603

The current homestead is the third on the property and was constructed around 1950. The first burnt down, as was often the case with early wooden farm buildings. The second, a modest single bay villa, was relocated across the farm when Felix and Mimosa built their two storied home. At the time of construction, Felix was a sheep farmer and New Zealand wool producers received two legendary large wool cheques when the Korean War lifted the value of wool to levels never seen before.

Felix and Mimosa’s brief to the architect was that they wanted a house which would be “timeless”. The result is in fact closely modelled on an English 1920s style but with larger windows. There are strong Art Deco influences inside the house. The external construction of brick and roughcast with a concrete tile gabled roof is relatively uncommon for a New Zealand farmhouse.

The house commands splendid views of the garden from every window and stands as the centrepiece. It is now home to the fourth and fifth generation of the Jury family.

Tikorangi could be described as an adventure in plants, reflecting the passion of both Felix and Mark to collect and showcase a very wide a range of plant material in different environments. Massed plantings of single species do not feature at all. The temperate climate and favourable growing conditions permit a very wide range of plants to be grown and there are ongoing efforts to push the boundaries further to tropical and alpine plants which are at either end of the spectrum. From orange trees which fruit all year round to New Zealand’s mountain daisy the celmisia, from bromeliads and vireya rhododendrons to cardiocrinum giganteum and meconopsis – the challenge is to find places in the garden where these plants will thrive.

While it is a relatively large garden at around seven acres, there are many different areas which allow different styles of gardening and the range of plants.

Tikorangi The Jury Garden park

The park behind the house is over 4 acres of open plantings of trees and shrubs, a number of which are notable specimens. Michelia doltsopa Rusty is a huge specimen which drips with flowers in winter. Magnolia nitida has achieved splendid proportions, as has the Schima khasiana. The tetracentron sinensis is the largest specimen in the country, imported by Felix in the early 1950s. The Magnolia Lanarth is also a fine, large example of this cultivar which is a picture in flower in mid August.

There are many deciduous magnolias, michelias, deciduous azaleas, rhododendrons, prunus and specimen conifers. The Waiau Stream meanders its way through the park area. Mark has deliberately left the park and stream banks open, resisting the temptation to plant densely as in the house gardens. It is the open feel and the vistas of surrounding rural countryside which provide a pleasing contrast to the colour, scent, form and interest of the trees and shrubs.

The park also provides a cool south facing bank and it is this area where Mark indulges his love of plants which prefer colder conditions – hellebores, meconopsis, cardiocrinum, the Chatham Island forget-me-not, ferns and more.

The rockery is immediately in front of the house and was one of the first areas developed by Felix and Mimosa. Described by a visiting garden historian as a fine example of a 1950s rock garden, the raised beds and small compartments lend themselves to housing some of the extensive bulb collection. While permanent plants such as dwarf conifers and cycads act as features in the rockery, the bulbs are an ever changing source of interest throughout the year. The spectacular nerine hybrids in autumn show a remarkable colour range and are the result of many years of nerine breeding by Felix. The miniature narcissi in winter and spring also include a number of Felix’s hybrids. There are large collections of different lachenalias and ornatmental oxalis along with galanthus (English snowdrops), colchicums, urceolina peruviana, species cyclamen, moraeas and more.

The sunken garden and rose garden area to the west of the house is a charming feature with extensive stonework built by Felix in the early 1950s. A stone millwheel makes an attractive table. In spring and summer roses and perennials provide the colour while in winter, topiaried camellias are an unusual feature. The very large sculpted kurume azaleas create a backdrop to this pretty area of the garden.

The rimu trees planted in 1870 by Thomas Jury provide the framework for one of the most unusual areas of the garden, the subtropical woodland. Originally planted by Felix, this area has since been doubled by Mark with a repeat of the themed planting featuring may bromeliads. Ponga logs have been used to raise different layers in this garden. The plantings of hippeastrum aulicum feature in spring while scadoxus puniceus and katherinae also thrive in this frost free area. Vireyas, evergreen azaleas and hostas also feature heavily in this unique area of the garden.

The avenue gardens stretch beneath the grandfather pines also planted by Thomas Jury around 1870. These huge Monterey pines (pinus radiata) tower around 45 to 50 metres high and while not seen as trees of great merit in New Zealand where they are grown solely for timber, the gnarled and leaning trunks provide a vertical structure to the gardens below. While Mark describes this area as cool woodland, it is only relatively so and vireya rhododendrons and orchids feature heavily in this area. Dendrobiums, cymbidiums, masdevilleas and pleiones are all examples of orchids which are grown in this garden. Ariseamas also thrive in this area, the A. sikkokianum being particularly interesting en masse.

The swimming pool garden is a recent addition and still under construction, with an emphasis on tropical and subtropical plantings. The banana palms and tropical cordylines suffer at times from even minor frosts but appear to be capable of growing away and providing a lush backdrop to the family pool.

Mark is of the opinion that no garden is complete without a vegetable or kitchen garden. For him, growing vegetables is a leisure activity. The vegetable garden is suffering increasingly from shade, the result of the original Magnolia Iolanthe which was heeled in temporarily but remained. After 40 years, this magnificent tree is a feature alongside the driveway and Mark would prefer to relocate his vegetable garden to a different area than to sacrifice this historic tree.