Garden designer Carolyn Campbell transformed a once-overgrown Tawa hillside into a layered, living artwork — blending colour, creativity and practicality to shape a garden that has evolved with its family.
A story brought to you in partnership with Resene.
In hilly Tawa, a northern suburb of Wellington, a family of five live amongst the masterfully crafted terrace garden depicted by their mother, and garden designer, Carolyn Campbell. The layered wonderland wasn’t inevitable by any stretch — Carolyn had initially refused to enter the derelict property under the impression that its back garden would reflect the extremely steep driveway next door. It took loads of optimism to see beyond the sloped terrain (not to mention the patience of someone willing to watch trees grow) for Carolyn and her husband Rob to cultivate the overgrown landscape into the colourful oasis it is today.
Garden designer, Carolyn Campbell, in her mini meadow
The couple worked by hand. The scale and slope of the property meant that machinery couldn’t get access to the back yard, so they shovelled trailer loads of weeds to landfill and moved soil into different parts of the property until the sloping terraces became level. The rest of their days were filled with the removal of dead trees strangled by Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba), hacking away at the one-metre depth of Tradescantia inhibiting the boundary line, and removing ivy, which had been painted over and almost glued to the house.
Oh, and caring for their three energetic small children, of course: Liam, Luke and Caitlin, who are all grown up now. In many ways, it was the children who inspired the design of the garden. Today, the deck of the old wooden pirate ship is used as a seating area for contemplation and tea drinking. Perhaps the garden matured as they did.
Purple petunias line the steps to the terraces
Carolyn’s modus operandi for garden design is to combine aesthetic preference with practicality. She considers her client’s specific needs for the space, what level of maintenance they’re willing to take on, all while ensuring the ornamental reflects the desired effect.
Turning someone’s landscaping brief into reality is what she does best. In saying this, it was something else entirely to design her own garden. When considering the 633m2 section across hilly terrain, Carolyn embraced the opportunity to cultivate playfulness, bringing together several different garden styles by repeating plants in each section to emphasise theme. The effect has been a landscape boasting numerous and diverse schemes.
Walking through the large French style courtyard lined by terracotta potted citrus trees, you’ll be led to a strip of succulents inspired by a coral reef. The neighbouring ‘mini meadow’ accompanies the subtle, though calming, effect of the blue and white spring container gardens. Around the back of the house further down the steps is the ‘Moonlight Topiary’ garden. On the other side of the property, wide sweeping sleeper steps built by Rob on the Mediterranean slope lead you to the terrace, also featuring potted citrus. The shady side of the slope is planted with woodland plants, which are a real feature in early spring with crocus, snowdrops, primroses and miniature daffodils. As the warmth arrives in the woodland garden, purple cranesbill geranium “Rozanne” fills the area all summer and into autumn.
Apricot tones against the Resene Half Blanc house exterior
Potted petunias hide a rustic mirror painted in Resene Wavelength
The terraces are a museum of colour. “I love colour theming,” says Carolyn, a passion she inherited from her late mother. When deciding how to colour each section of the terraces, Carolyn ensures she matches certain parts of a flower with a surrounding plant. “Colour can make you notice small details you may have otherwise overlooked. The centre of one flower may perfectly match the stems or petals of another nearby. You may not initially realise it, but subconsciously your eyes will be drawn to the same colour in another plant, be it petals, stems, or foliage.” Carolyn herself doesn’t have a favourite colour, instead she takes notice of the mood she finds herself in on a particular day and runs with it. She changes the colours in her own garden from season to season, utilising her many pots to effect reform.
Landscapes are altered, for better or worse, by the buildings they contain. Carolyn and Rob had their house, the front walls, and fences all painted with Resene Half Blanc and Double Blanc to provide a neutral background for the vibrant grounds. Along the side and down the back of the house, the fences have been painted black. When boundaries are painted with a dark neutral colour, they recede into the distance behind plants and flowers, allowing the foliage to stand out, and ultimately giving the illusion of a greater expanse.
The palette of plants | In this collaboration between Sage Journal and Resene, we’re excited to explore how colour transforms outdoor spaces. This curated colour palette draws inspiration from the garden, its surroundings, and the personality of the gardeners who tend it. Just as the colours inside a home reflect its occupants, the shades chosen for a garden can reveal the gardener’s unique journey, extending creativity from indoors to out. We hope this story inspires you to see your own garden as a living work of art, shaped by both painted and planted colours throughout.
For Carolyn, colour has always been a way to manipulate space. Amongst the terraces she’s played with warm and cool colours to create or shorten distances. Hot reds against greens might make plants leap into the foreground, whereas blues tend to recede into the distance. One year, she played with the notion of creating a sense of surprise in the garden by adding orange flowers amongst a bunch of hot pink. “Thankfully many people surprised themselves by loving the lift it gave to the scheme,” says Carolyn. As a professional garden designer, one of her go-to tips is to encourage clients to keep pastels and bright foliage and flowers separate, as they tend to appear jarring when placed side by side.
With her wealth of knowledge, it is no wonder that Carolyn comes from a long line of green thumbs, having learnt about plants from a very young age. Her father fed their family with the fruits and vegetables he grew in their backyard, and Carolyn’s grandparents (on both sides) immersed her into the tradition of nurturing the land, playing amongst the trees, and taking a pair of scissors into the flower beds. Her mother worked in textiles and often used some of the plants from her flower beds for vegetable dyes to colour her homespun wool, which she wove into throws, cushions and wall hangings. In 1997, her father sold a seed strain of Rainbow Beet (Brights Lights Beet) to Jonnys Seeds USA before he passed away. From her rich heritage in gardening, she is now able to sell plant stock from their Tawa residence during their spring and summer open days.
A combination of plants, giving an English garden feel
A unique climate see Carolyn growing banana, mountain pawpaw, tamarillo and nikau
Perhaps it is her deep respect for working the land that has led to her pet-peeve of throwing plants out, but Carolyn claims there is no reason to discard a plant when you can move it and cultivate an environment that will make it thrive. “Right plant, right place is an oft-repeated phrase in gardening circles,” says Carolyn. Though, she goes on to warn, “It is sage advice, but don’t be too rigid. If you fall in love with something, give it a go, create the environment it wants.”
It is this rule-breaking mentality that enabled Carolyn to grow a lush jungle at the very bottom of the terraces. With its uniquely sheltered microclimate, and the rain that drains down from the upper slopes to be held by the clay base soil, she has been able to grow bananas — which fruit every few years instead of annually — mountain pawpaw, Tamarillo, Nikau and Trachycarpus palms, not usually suited to Wellington’s cool, damp climate. There is a sense of wonder walking through the terraces.
Everywhere you look, a section of the original derelict property has been tamed, though there is also an inkling here that perhaps you can still find a space for new life.
Tropical leaf
The garden contains an old children’s pirate ship with a a climbing wall
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Resene tips:
— Painting terracotta pots
Painting terracotta pots is an easy way to add colour and personality to your garden — just like Carolyn, who has hand-painted pots in complementary patterns and colours.
Whether you’re upcycling an old pot or starting fresh with a new one, a little Resene paint can make a big difference!
What you’ll need:
- Terracotta pot
- Resene Aquapel & Terracotta Sealer
- Resene testpot(s) in your chosen colour
- Resene Clearcoat UVS (for extra gloss and durability)
- Paintbrush
- Masking tape (if creating a pattern)
Steps to painting your pot:
- Prep the pot – If you’re upcycling an old pot, give it a good clean and let it dry completely.
- Seal it – Apply one coat of Resene Aquapel & Terracotta Sealer to both the inside and outside of the pot. (On the inside, this helps the soil retain moisture.) Let it dry.
- Paint – Apply your first coat of Resene paint in your chosen colour(s). Resene testpots are ideal for this. Let it dry for two hours.
- Second coat – Apply a second coat for an even finish. Let dry for another two hours.
- Add a protective finish – For extra gloss and to make cleaning easier, apply one coat of Resene Clearcoat UVS and allow it to dry.
That’s it! Go and get creative with patterns, and mixing and matching colours.
Carolyn Campbell
A plant combination of asters, zinnia and cosmos
