Let’s Go Native by Guy Hessell

Guy Hessell has been a well-known landscape gardener for two decades. During that time, hundreds of his clients have asked about the basics of gardening and landscaping with native plants. This inspired him to write Let’s Go Native, a wonderful resource for gardeners in which he generously shares his knowledge.

Guy is passionate about our native plants and  how special they are because a large percentage of New Zealand’s indigenous plants are found nowhere else on earth, and ‘while native New Zealand plants generally don’t have flashy flowers, they do have incredible leaf colour, shape and size, which if combined well, will create a real asset to any property.’

Visually, Let’s Go Native is a beautiful book full of many-coloured photographs of our native plants by well-known NZ photographer Juliet Nicholas. And Guy Hessell has used his considerable talent as a watercolour artist to draw exquisite watercolour and pencil plans for four gardens: a small, medium, and large formal garden, and an informal garden.  Each shows how a combination of native plants can be used to great effect to create a stunning garden. He has included notes about each plant (including its appearance and the best growing conditions).

His four landscape design plans are not blueprints. He writes:

I have drawn the landscape plans in this book so you, the reader, become the client. Even though the plans are not specific to your own house, you will see options that can be adapted to your own needs. You can see if you would prefer a formal or informal native garden, what the differences are, and the ways you can achieve your own personal spin on it.”

Also included in the book are two case studies, written by the owners of two spectacular gardens, showing how much joy the planning, planting and working to maintain them has brought them.  One garden, with a mix of native and introduced plants, has reached a 6-star status through the New Zealand Gardens Trust (the highest grade achievable) and has become a garden of international significance; the other was featured on a TV1 garden show and has been included 17 times on various tours.

A sizeable part of  Let’s Go Native is devoted to ‘Advice around the garden’  in which he gives extensive practical advice on aspects such as soil conditioning, weed control, irrigation and pruning. This will be invaluable for those who are new to gardening and would like to establish a native garden, but experienced gardeners, too, may well benefit from his expertise and find there is more to learn.

Designing a garden can seem daunting, especially if you are starting from scratch, he says, but he shows how the best approach is to break it up into manageable stages. He cautions novice gardeners that a garden is always a work in progress and that there is always more that can be done to enhance or maintain it.

In the handy appendix at the end of the book are lists of plants he has used in each of his 4 garden designs, as well as ones for Mass Planting and Riparian Planting. Almost all the plants mentioned are available from wholesale plant nurseries in New Zealand.

Guy Hessell hopes that his book will inspire future gardeners, especially younger ones, to get involved in the design, planning, planting and maintenance of their own gardens. And for them, it would be an invaluable resource.

But it would also be a very useful book for those with an established garden who would like to add some native plants. They will be able to find out which native plants would be a good match for their garden.

In his afterword, Guy Hessell discusses  a question which many homeowners ask: ‘Does a Developed Garden add value to your garden?’He gives six good reasons why it can indeed significantly impact your property’s value and become one of your home’s strongest selling points. Another good reason to create your own striking native garden!

His practical, inspirational book would be a wonderful gift for both novice and experienced gardeners, and would undoubtedly encourage them to incorporate native plants into their gardens.

Reviewer: Lyn Potter

Bateman Books