Our work / projects.

Our Landscape and Orchard projects range from the urban backyard orchardists and small block owners right up to commercial orchardists and artisan growers and producers. Based out of the Kaiwaka/Mangawhai area in Northland we service areas as far north as Whangarei. We also have projects to the south of us including Pakari, Titarangi, Leigh, and Snells Beach.

Our approach is to design integrated landscapes that produce and thrive and to create long-lasting, low-care beautifully aesthetic gardens.

Our emphasis is on natives which are hardy and reliable and to establish orchards that focus on heritage fruit trees which are time tested, high yielding and more pest and disease resistant.

Our clients love what we do and we love to build long-lasting relationships with them. We are not ones for blowing our own trumpet, so we will let others do that for us. Here is what some of them they have to say about us. Testimonials ➔

Scroll down to have a look at some of our more recent projects. Make sure you check out our flicker feed for some more photos and connect with us on Facebook to see what we have been up to.

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Forgotten Fruits on flicker ⬆︎

Design brief and overview:

Over the past 4 years we have been developing and experimenting with our block of land. It has been an ongoing process and has been invaluable to how we continue to learn and approach our philosophy the best methods for sustainability and being able to grow as much of our food as possible, extending the seasons and being able to manage this amount of garden myself..

This is where I can play with all the ideas I have. We have owned the block of land for 5 years now and what you see is in that time. It was a farm block with fencers and water pipe and you name it when we arrived. the first step was to take down the fences and get digger to do the water management and then plant a boundary with a native shelter belt around the entire property. We then terraced the gardens and continue with the addition of three ponds for irrigation.

It is a long and evolving project which has been an amazing and exciting venture. Forever learning.

Overview

Clients wanted to get away from busy lives in Auckland and plan to permanently live here in 4 years.  Food production is vital as both are restaurant owners and enjoy growing the produce they cook with in their kitchen.  They also have a business plan to host weddings on their property in the near future. This has been a rewarding and ongoing project that has evolved as it has gone along. 

A place that is incredibly peaceful and hard to leave. 

Our clients have given us free rein of their property and the orchard landscape has flourished beyond all of our expectations. What started out as a backyard with some totaras and a fence surrounding the entire living space place has changed into a food and structural paradise with very low maintenance. 

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“Right from the first meeting with Benji we knew he was the man for us. He just 'got' our vision and how to integrate it into the property. Step by step, month by month we have watched our dream turn into a very beautiful reality”.

Jonny & Nigel - Paparoa

Overview

With beautiful views of farm land out to the sand dunes and sea including an established Totara block and sheltered lower area.

Client wanted a large private garden that she would be able to enjoy for the next 30 years. She wanted a low maintenance property with an emphasis towards orchards, avenues and specimen trees. She wanted to create a park like feel.  She is an avid gardener, loves her roses and perennials and watching things grow. It has all happened very quickly with growth from the natives up to head height in 1 year. This is an ongoing project with many more exciting ideas to come.

To have a look at more photos and continue reading further details on the project makes sure to click below

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“From my first meeting with Benji I felt he understood what I wanted to achieve and he and his team have been beside me every step of the way planning the whole 4 acre landscape and enthusiastically turning those plans into reality.”

Di Partington - Mangawhai

Design brief.

Our client plans to build and live on his land permanently.  The orchard site was chosen pretty quickly due to the exposure of the rest of the land. It has a beautiful ampitheatre feel when you first arrive. The plan was to build a pond in the middle for water and plant fruit trees and as many as possible.  We were to provide fruit trees that were of different varieties that produced at different times throughout the year and somewhere he could bring the children to forage and picnic under the fruit trees.

continue reading ➔

“The orchard is now 1 year old and it looks great. The trees are thriving and Benji thinks we will have fruit this summer. We don’t use any pesticide or insecticide treatments (in fact we have not had to spray them at all).”

Chris & Jo Hunt - Mangawhai

Design brief.

Our client had a paddock that she wanted to garden & maintain herself. It was an ex-farm full of kikuyu, she wanted as much food as possible & as much native planting as possible. After consultation work began creating terraced pathways that suited the layout of her land.

Design Brief:

Client disliked the view from her balcony onto her garden where there were some remains of a spindly olive grove. She wanted to have heaps of kai and heaps of natives.

Design brief: Steep hillsides are most often problematic. Clients had not had a property such as this before & gave me complete authority to design & implement. An emphasis on low maintenance and fruit trees. A dream job.

Client was wanting a walk in the park feel with fruit trees and natives everywhere. Less mowing and access throughout whole property for harvesting and maintenance. One day you will feel like you are walking in the bush and picking fruit along the way.