A small garden with an ever-growing collection of ideas

Herbst Garden is a compact suburban garden in central Auckland, New Zealand.

Herbst Garden is created and written by Nick, a home gardener documenting the development of the garden and the plants grown within it.

It began as an attempt to make better use of a modest outdoor space and has gradually developed into a layered garden of flowering perennials, shrubs, small trees, productive plants and continually changing borders.

This website records the process: what grows well, what struggles, what I change my mind about and how the garden develops from one season to the next.

A lush backyard garden with various plants, a raised flower bed with vegetables, a black plastic container, bamboo stakes, and a hedge in the background.
A backyard garden with various plants, a tall palm tree, and a two-story house with black and white siding. There is a cat sitting on a cinder block step in front of a low brick wall.

The garden

The garden is shaped by Auckland’s mild winters, humid summers and long growing season, as well as the particular limitations of a suburban site.

Some areas receive strong sun, while others sit beneath mature neighbouring trees or in the shade of established hedges. The soil, light and available space vary considerably from one part of the property to another.

Rather than following a fixed master plan, the garden is being developed border by border. Each area has its own character, planting palette and practical constraints.

The Cotton border is the principal mixed perennial border, planted for a long season of flower and an informal, abundant character.

Other areas include productive beds, fruit trees, hydrangeas, citrus, a shaded Japanese-inspired border and new borders still being planned.

Why Herbst Garden exists

Gardening advice often presents the finished result. I am more interested in the decisions that lead to it: why a plant was selected, how it performs after several seasons, what happens when a combination fails and when a garden plan needs to be reconsidered.

Herbst Garden is therefore both a garden journal and a practical record. The stories are based on direct experience in this particular garden rather than an attempt to provide universal rules.

Over time, I hope it becomes a useful reference for other gardeners working with limited space, Auckland conditions or a similar interest in layered, seasonal planting.

White hydrangea flowers with green sepals and leaves in a garden setting.
Purple and pink hydrangea flowers in a black pot next to a brick house with a window, green leaves, and a sidewalk.
A garden scene with pink peony flowers, lavender flowers, and green foliage, including a bamboo stake for support.

Growing plants at Herbst

Propagation has become a natural extension of the garden.

Over the coming months, I will be growing and trialling a limited collection of perennials and annuals, with the intention of offering small-grade plants in 2027.

The collection will remain deliberately small. Plants will be selected for garden value, suitability for layered planting and their performance under the conditions in which I have grown them.

The journal will document this process, including propagation, plant trials and the development of the first releases.