Bali in the burbs: Photographer Gil Hanly's garden goes troppo in the rich volcanic soil of Auckland's Mt Eden

摘要

Renowned landscape architect Ted Smyth has been known to give the mountain cabbage tree in Gil Hanly's garden a swift kick or two at parties when he thinks no one's looking. This is not because he disapproves of this particular type of cordyline, which is notoriously difficult to grow, but because he can't believe she's fortunate enough to have this cool-climate customer thriving in Auckland's sweaty climes. What makes it all the more remarkable is that the sheltered garden is also host to a huge range of tropical treats, from a New Guinean fig tree with immense pleated leaves to a Brazilian tree fern that towers over the garden in exotic splendour. The tree fern is only a few years old, so how on earth has Gil managed to produce the plant equivalent of an adolescent's testosterone-fuelled growth spurt?