Ayrlies Garden

Ayrlies Garden is a country garden near Whitford, southeast of Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's best-known gardens,^[1] and has been described as the "quintessential New Zealand garden".^[2] The New Zealand Gardens Trust has rated it a six star garden, its highest rating.^[1]

The garden now covers some 12 acres (49,000 m²) of rolling terrain, with large lawns, ponds and waterways, and heavily planted informal borders which make strong use of colour, including a "lurid border" of 'hot' colours. Some areas feature roses, clematis and perennials; others contain lush, sub-tropical plants, such as Petrea, Alocasia, bromeliads, vireya rhododendrons and Ficus dammaropsis. It also includes many large trees - mostly liquidambar, swamp cypress and pin oak - which have grown rapidly in the warm and wet climate, with rare frosts and over 50 inches (1.3 m) of rain a year. It contains several structures around the main house, including a small 'sitooterie' - a low gazebo, to sit out in and admire the view. The large site is unified by a consistent planting and use of materials.

The garden was created by Beverly McConnell and her late husband Malcolm, co-founder of New Zealand engineering and construction company McConnell Dowell. It is named after Malcolm McConnell's grandfather's farm in Scotland.^[3] The garden began in 1964, when the McConnells moved to the site with their young family, starting with a 3-acre (12,000 m²) coastal site which was previously bare paddock with a heavy clay soil, and expanding to 12 acres (49,000 m²) in 1978, including the addition of three large ponds. From 2000, 35 acres (140,000 m²) of swamp flats below the homestead were transformed into a wetland area with an 8-acre (32,000 m²) lake, linking the garden to the Hauraki Gulf nearby.^[4]

The garden is open to the public on weekdays, for a fee.