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The Garden

The Garden Photography: Gabrielle McKone

The Beauchamp family built the house at 25 Tinakori Road in 1887 and lived there until 1893. When they first moved in the site had been cleared for the construction of the house and there was nothing in the way of a garden. At the back of the house they planted a lawn next to the boundary gully of native bush. At the front of the house there may have been a small lawn with pea-gravel paths and flower borders such as you see today.

Mansfield recollected the garden at 25 Tinakori Road as being:

small and square with flower beds on either side. All down one side big clumps of arum lilies aired their rich beauty, on the other side there was nothing but a straggle of what the children called, grandmothers pincushions. 

The development of the current garden was begun by volunteers Kerry Carman, Ron Flook, Wendy Tolly and James Beard in 1988. Their intention was to create a period garden of 1880-1900 which included plants that were available to the early settlers and those mentioned in Mansfield's writing. The late Victorian garden that evolved contained flowers such as old roses, Queen Anne's lace, larkspur, snow drops, hellebores, violets, lily of the valley, mignonette, wall flowers and foxgloves. 

In 2008 a group of four friends took over the management of the garden. These enthusiastic plantswomen have placed greater emphasis on creating a garden of Mansfield's lifetime which reflects her personality and writing. The garden also gives the visitor an insight into a garden of early Wellington as it combines imported favourites with native species such as the 'cabbage trees' that were popular with the settlers.

Period gardens are always challenging to create and maintain as many early plant varieties have been lost or superseded by better strains. At the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace garden we collect seeds, take cuttings and build up plant stock in our own gardens in the hope of never losing our treasures.

Oh how I love flowers! It's strange we should all of us Beauchamps have this passion for flowers ... I have a bunch of good old fashioned marigolds on my table, buds, leaves and all.                    Katherine Mansfield to her sister Charlotte