The first thing visitors say when they see the pretty , inviting courtyard beyond Barbara Matthews Wellington sitting room is, “Oh, you’ve got a garden!”

But it wasn’t always that way. When Ray and Barbara Matthews downsized to their ground-floor apartment in Thorndon six years ago, they were faced with a windswept, barren space. Their courtyard garden was overlooked by a large block of flats to the north and open to the complex’s communal gardens. The only notable feature was a trio of neglected weeping cherries in huge immovable tubs.

It was not a place in which to linger. But it did mean that Barbara and her daughter-in-law, Rachael Matthews of HEDGE Garden Design & Nursery (hedge.co.nz), could embark on a project together. Rachael is an ex-lawyer whose passion for plants and desire for family-friendly hours led to a career change nine years ago. And Barbara is no gardening novice, having developed gardens of her own, including the gardens surrounding a Gray Young-designed house in Wadestown, where the Matthews lived for 32 years, and another contemporary design on an exposed hill in the same suburb, her maiden effort in the gardening line.

“Our first garden was on a sunny but windy site. When we moved in I planted polyanthus and pansies and the wind had blown them out of the ground by the following morning, “recalls Barbara. After a bit of trial and error, she settled on hardy proteas, leucadendrons and ceanothus, along with flaxes and manuka.

The neo-Georgian Gray Young house required a very different kind of garden.”My dream was an English walled garden: formal but informal,” says Barbara. She and Raymond built brick wallsand planted statement trees, including Magnolia grandiflora and Malus ioensis “Plena” ; roses were underplanted with cottage garden flowers in a palette of soft pinks, blue and creamy yellows. A buxus hedge curved right around the garden.

Remembering the garden she created over 20 years ago, Barbara reels off botanical names, describing three separate courtyards. “I did miss my old garden for at least a year,” she says. “But it’s been wonderful creating a new garden with Rachael’s help. Life moves on!”

Says Rachael: “Barbara wanted something different from what she’d had – something more formal – and she rather bravely gave me free rein. I think we have completely followed through on the original plan and Barbara has enriched and filled it with favourite plants and decorative details. She has a very good eye.”

Adds Barbara: “We talked about the things we liked and then Rachael did a drawing; she knew my aesthetic. I love the formal look and wanted a touch of pink to bring the inside colours out (the lounge is in soft beige and pink tones).

They began with two roughly rectangular courtyards of 165sqm in total: the larger facing north and accessible from the living room, the other a narrow area along the east side of the building. Rachael’s first step was to fence the garden and plant a hedge for privacy. This neatly clipped screen is actually in four tiers: Corokia“Geenty’s Green”, Vibernum tinus “Eve Price”, the manuka Leptospermum “Wiri Kerry” and Azalea “Mrs Kint”, which has pink and white flowers.

“I like to create gardens that people get a feeling from, that give them pleasure and make them feel relaxed – it’s about structure plus ambience,” says Rachael. Her award-winning company grows topiary, buxus and other hedging plants which have been put to good use in Barbara’s new garden.

The old uneven paving was relaid in a new pattern and existing planters all painted black to provide unity. Even the cherry trees have been given a fresh look, with dwarf Alstroemeria “White Buttons” around the trunks and black mondo grass edging.