Kimberly Andrews shares how her garden and lifestyle influenced her latest children’s book — Giraffe the Gardener.
For author and illustrator Kimberly Andrews, storytelling often begins not at the desk, but in the dirt. In Days Bay, New Zealand, Kimberly’s own garden is a living, evolving canvas — one that inspired her latest picture book, Giraffe the Gardener.
The whimsical tale of a green-hoofed giraffe and the daughter who steps in to save his beloved garden after an injury is a charming story of perseverance and permaculture — a love letter to the joy, mess and magic of gardening itself.
This book was born from a deep-rooted passion for nature, community and creativity. The character of Giraffe was directly inspired by Kimberly’s fondness for Monty Don and BBC Gardeners’ World — eagle-eyed readers may spot that Giraffe’s outfit pays homage to Monty’s iconic garden-chic look: white shirt, suspenders and trousers.
Below, Kimberly reflects on the role her garden plays in both her life and her latest book —
Kimberly, tell us a little about your own garden…
We live in a tiny home constructed from shipping containers, by the beach in Days Bay, Wellington. Four years ago, my husband and I converted our gravel car park into a compact, native-filled garden. The garden was cleverly designed by our friend and landscape architect to give us much needed outdoor living space as our family has grown.
The borders are planted out with natives, including muehlenbeckia, marble leaf (Carpodetus serratus), coprosma, native iris, astelia, hebes and more. I get great satisfaction in pruning our mixed species native hedge, shaping the muehlenbeckia columns, and attempting to cloud prune the corokia.
Four macrocarpa steps separate the garden into distinct zones. We planted native Lobelia angulata ground cover at the edges and have been pleased with how it has lined these steps. We installed an old chairlift from the Whakapapa ski area as a swing seat, which is a kid favourite.
How did your garden influence your new children’s book?
The inspiration for Giraffe the Gardener came from our garden, and I was also influenced by gardens I’ve explored across the globe. My visit to the Ryōan-ji garden in Kyoto inspired me to feature a zen garden (tended by a tortoise!). The rainforest adventure garden in the book comes from the months I lived in Borneo as a conservation biologist.
This book is my attempt at showcasing aspects of gardening that I’m passionate about — such as food forests, wildlife gardening, naturhus (homes within greenhouse gardens) and, more generally, permaculture principles. I also wanted to highlight the many benefits of gardening, not only growing produce, but also the physical and mental health impacts.
How do you incorporate permaculture principals and ‘food forest’ thinking into your garden?
I hadn’t managed to visit a food forest until last year. We had a wonderful guided tour around Tinui Food Forest, near Castlepoint. I have begun to incorporate food forest principles in my own gardening, and now “weed like a cow!” I am now trying to use all the layers in my garden, tucking tomatoes and veggies in amongst the native planting. I am getting so much more yield and fitting more plants into an otherwise small, urban garden.
At the back of our garden there is a sunny fenced driveway, with only a slither of soil, but we have now established espalier apple and pear trees, and in between them, we plant broad beans, tomatoes and squash and zucchini, which we train/tie up on the supports of the fruit trees. We get an incredible yield from what would otherwise be a fence line.
We are surrounded by lovely neighbours and have a shared driveway, so the garden works both as our private family retreat and equally as well as a communal, open social space. We often have informal pizza parties with the neighbours.
