perspective on using indigenous plants.
That’s been an ongoing point of discussion in New
Zealand. I think gardening is a bit like fashion, so it
goes through phases. I would say even as far back as
thirty or forty years ago people started talking about
using native plants in a garden setting, and certainly
the last two decades it’s been somewhat in vogue and
really pushed by local councils and nurseries that
have started producing a lot more of them. But having
been away for eleven years, what was great about
coming back to New Zealand was [seeing] just how
much the diversity, in terms of the production of
native plant species, has increased. The nurseries are
growing a greater variety and knowing the different
forms as they occur throughout the country. People
are using natives with much more subtlety and
sophistication now. I’m absolutely all for it – I think
our native plants are very sculptural and striking in
their form but also quite unique. But it’s not to say
that I wouldn’t use exotic plants and this is where the
debate comes in. There are a lot of New Zealanders
divided, and there are some people in the profession
who have what I feel is a xenophobic view about using
plants that are not native. I think that’s a bit mad.
We have these nurseries that grow perennials, and if
we don’t use them they will stop producing them and
potentially lose their stock plants and we’ll be left
with such a limited availability of plants.This leads to my next question about the New
Zealand landscape more broadly: How do you use
the New Zealand landscape as a material in your
work? How does it feature and what do you take
from it?
I spent a lot of my spare time as a kid and as a student
camping and tramping in these quite varied land-
scapes across the country that are generally very
atmospheric. It’s quite a big country for four million
people and obviously very young; I mean, human
habitation of New Zealand only dates back seven or
eight hundred years. So you do encounter these
landscapes where humans feel pretty insignificant,
and I like to distil the atmosphere of this if I can,
particularly in rural projects, whether by plant
associations that you might see naturally occurring
or just borrowing a bit from the landscape. I don’t
think I could design a garden in a rural setting that
completely turned its back on its surrounding context.Andy Hamilton is a speaker at the 2017 Landscape
Australia Conference.- The private garden Kittisford in
Somerset, UK, designed by Andy
Hamilton involved the recasting
of an existing eighteenth century
walled garden into a series of more
useable spaces that explore various
horticultural approaches.
Photo: Andy Hamilton - The Keralan garden in southern
India plays host to a collection of
buildings, connecting them with
their relatively wild surroundings.
This project was designed by Tom
Stuart-Smith in collaboration with
Studio Mumbai, with Andy Hamilton
as the lead landscape architect.
Photo: Andy Hamilton - The Le Jardin Secret garden in
Marrakech, Morocco consists of two
large courtyards. Pictured here is the
exotic courtyard, characterized by
a mix of Perovskia atriplicifolia, Aloe
barbadensis, Kalanchoe beharensis
and Eragrostis trichodes.
Photo: Andy Hamilton
INTERVIEW
4LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AUSTRALIA MAY 2017 59