Remote work – and a talent for making over house and garden – allow couple to thrive in tiny Otago town

Once upon a time, from what was otherwise a garden that had been “left to rewild”, three paeonies rose and showed their radiant faces to the early summer sun in Central Otago.

“They seemed too good to let go,” recalls Craig Sherson, who had just the week prior taken ownership of the property with partner Paul O’Sullivan.

With a sense of urgency to protect these beauties, and enlisting the help of their close friend, Julie Ashton, the trio set to task and cleared the specimens from the strangling weeds and grass, giving them the space and light to shine their magic.

During that 2014 spring, other treasures also popped up out of the weedy mess from the winter-dormant garden. And that was how the great garden comeback began.

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Dunedin residents at the time, Craig and Paul had stumbled across the Naseby cottage that opened the possibility for them to achieve their goal of a more spacious lifestyle and working remotely.

They are no strangers to renovation projects, and the cottage – in its dilapidated state – ticked all their boxes. It also had an old wisteria lying in a big clump on the lawn, and a matted mass of conifers growing at the front of the house which had reached a maddening, sun-blocking height.

Those conifers were abruptly removed, and the wisteria respectfully reclaimed its place under the veranda to protect it from the region’s hard frosts.

In addition to the paeonies, other plants which virtually disappear during the harsh cold Central Otago months arose from the winter garden. Orange poppies, Canterbury bells, and iris were additional signs of a once-loved garden. “I work with what grows easily and is abundant,” Craig says.

He set forth breaking up the clumps and spreading them around the house perimeter. Catnip started as one such (small) clump and is now widespread.

Other plants were transported the 150km from Craig and Paul’s previous Dunedin garden. The duo also welcomed other castaway plants, including the recent bonus of paeonies in the way of a local’s building project.

Dotted around the gardens of Naseby and small neighbouring towns, there’s a distinct feeling this is the true home of paeonies, evidenced by the presence of a few local niche growers. As a plant that’s partial to the dry and dislikes damp feet, the paeonies here also benefit from the absence of damaging northwest winds and late seasonal snows that can play havoc on the new spring growth.

But precious these paeonies are not, especially under the practical hands of head gardener Craig, whose mantra is to treat all plants the same and not lavish any with special attention. The garden’s paeony population is on the increase following the gifting of freebies from locals, and in time the garden will be awash with varieties covering a myriad of colour spectrums including reds, corals, pinks and deep purples.

In a place where summers and winters are harsh in equal measure, the seasonal selection of plants is paramount. While the veranda-framing wisteria is clearly a standout, Craig lists other reliable staples in the garden: photinia, roses, poppies, lavender, and red and yellow pokers that shout out at the end of the summer season. In autumn, maples steal the show with their vivid changing hues.

“During winter, the colour gets washed out of everything, even the grass,” Craig say. To alleviate barren winter landscape, yellow conifers and dogwoods with their red stems have been planted to add the much needed and appreciated colour. It’s these winter months, however, which contain crisp blue days and a dry cold that Craig relishes.

“It’s a welcome break from gardening as a huge portion of the garden disappears below ground to hibernate.

“Oddly, during the winter it’s amazing to even imagine a garden exists at all, and sometimes I dig photos out to see where and if a plant actually exists.”

Craig’s penchant for gardening harks back to the large farm gardens of his upbringing in the King Country.

“It’s a learned behaviour from childhood,” he reflects. “I always think I can make something look a little bit nicer and if I have an idea, I just go for it. I can’t get too far ahead of myself with big ideas though, so tend to concentrate on just one small bit at a time.”

While the house inside has experienced an almighty makeover, the greater outdoor space has allowed them to add to their wider family some eaters-of-scraps and providers-of-eggs. Kunekune pigs and chickens live side by side, and share the property with two dogs, two resident alpacas and a handful of sheep thrown in for good measure.

The most recent project has seen the creation of a new entrance to the property through a front paddock.

The new drive is bordered by a sweeping bank planted with red tussock and dotted with yellow conifer that Craig uses for their structure and colour. Pencil conifers line one side of the drive, with plantings of ‘Mount Fuji’ weeping cheery, corokia and pittosporum on the other.

Wildflower seeds have also been scattered widely to keep the colours alive when the harshness of the Central Otago summer can wash out the vibrancy of flowers in the main garden. A small, elevated strip of fruit trees comprising cherry, nectarine, peach and apricot has also been planted.

In the time since Craig and Paul have moved their lives to Naseby, they have become well ensconced in the small community, including now co-owning the Naseby General Store.

Their gardening connections have also blossomed with the garden listed on open day tours and is used for local fundraising initiatives. They have also become a top choice for hosting the annual Maniototo Garden Club Christmas party, for which Craig dusts off his Santa suit and dishes out the presents, worthy of a dedicated story in itself.

This closeness of community does come with several advantages for the garden. Locals have delivered rotting baleage that’s welcomed with open arms, and while we sit on the veranda, a lawn mowing contractor delivers another load of fresh clippings for help to build up the soil in this area that was well worked over for gold. Truckloads of locally sourced pine peelings also arrive for a fraction of the cost that urban dwellers would pay for a small trailerload of commercial compost.

Craig maintains that he doesn’t have big ideas. However, as we sat in the humid warmth of a November day discussing the garden, he points to the hill behind the house and casually mentions “seeing” it covered with snow tussock and the odd-coloured conifer dotted round the slope.

There would also be a hot tub at the top which would take in the panorama of the folding Hawkdun Range and Naseby Forest blanketing the foreground.

And as for those wildflower seeds scattered either side of the new driveway onto the property, when the invoice arrived for them, and much to Paul’s surprise, the head gardener had ordered enough seeds to cover four hectares. So, if I were on the jury deliberating as to whether Craig is guilty of nurturing big ideas for the garden, I know which way I’d be leaning.