9 September 2022
If you love the idea of unwinding in a tropical garden paradise but don’t have an island holiday booked anytime soon, you might like to do this instead…
Matakana Palms owners Bruce and Raewyn Whistler are opening their private garden to the public on Saturday September 24 for a Clivia Open Day & Garden Tour, with all proceeds going to Harbour Hospice.
The one-hectare garden, set on a sweeping stretch of lawn with a picturesque pond, is a lush mix of palms, hibiscus, bromeliads, hydrangeas, xanadu, gardenias, cycads, azaleas and clivias. The couple is especially excited to be celebrating some new varieties of clivia, which are in flower.
Raewyn says she and Bruce, both horticulturalists, have built the garden up from empty paddocks over the last five years and it has cost them only about $1000 in plants because they’ve grown most of the garden from cuttings or seeds. They were inspired to create their own tropical paradise because they couldn’t afford to go on holiday at the time, Raewyn laughs. “So we created our own, and we just love it. It hasn’t been as much work as people might think, either,” she adds. “I wouldn’t spend more than a day a month maintaining it.”
The Whistlers chose Harbour Hospice as the beneficiary of this generous fundraiser because they’re long-time supporters of hospice. “It’s the one charity that affects everybody,” Raewyn explains. Raewyn volunteered for hospice for about five years as a community visitor and her mum Joy Greenwood has volunteered at the Wellsford Hospice Shop for an incredible 25 years. “She’s out the back of the shop every Monday sorting stock and she absolutely loves it,” Raewyn says.
If the Garden Tour goes well they’ll do it again, Raewyn promises. “We’ve learned from having garden club tours come through that people like to come back and see the development and the progress we’ve made.”
The Matakana Palms Clivia Open Day & Garden Tour is on 24 September, with tours at 10am, 12pm and 2pm, at Matakana Palms, 102 Omaha Flats Rd, Matakana. Entry by gold coin donation.
Photo credit: Amy Jenkins, Glasshouse Photography
