Maple Glen is a beautiful 45-acre private garden in the rural countryside of Southland, about a 30-minute drive from where we live in Gore. Its a huge, multi-featured garden that’s open all year and personally developed and maintained by the owners. Muriel Davison created the garden from a bare paddock and at their website she’s credited as “still the main inspiration behind the place”. In addition there’s her husband Bob and son Rob. On Monday I suggested to Nigel that we head out there as we haven’t visited for a couple of years. Part One is my photos, Part Two will be Nigel’s photos.
A reminder that in New Zealand its still winter but Maple Glen is a treat at any time and we knew that, at the very least, we could expect to see lots of snowdrops in flower.
I love the squiggly reflections in this pond. ** Click on the photo to enlarge **
Tame female Paradise Shelduck poking around in the Maple Glen Nursery area.
Flaky tree trunk backlit by the late afternoon sunshine. Ground cover of snowdrops.
Maple Glen is situated on a steep hillside with an extensive network of ponds in lower areas. Ponds are an ongoing project with more being developed. The ponds support black swans, geese and an array of ducks.
** Click on the photo to enlarge **
Snowdrops; view through to conifer arboretum
Tree with flaky bark; snowdrops flowering
Muriel Davison, tame Paradise Shelduck, and Rob Davison. These days Rob is heavily involved with the continuing development and construction of the gardens and extension of the pond areas, and he regularly shares photos on the Maple Glen Facebook Page (link below).
Links: Maple Glen Gardens Website | Maple Glen Facebook
Whatever you do, if you’re in Southland don’t miss visiting Maple Glen because its a real treat. Open every day of the year from 9am until 5pm. Entry by donation.
Text and Photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2018)
Exploring Colour 
Great to see these Liz. In my early gardening days I used to devour photos of prestigious gardens like Maple Glen and try to emulate them in my own garden. I bet they’ve inspired many amateur gardeners like me.
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I’m sure they have Wendy. Especially because the three family members have achieved all this on their own, which is pretty mind-blowing!
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What a lovely spot to have close to home! I love the snow drops and those flakey barked trees are a great winter-time visual treat.
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The flaky bark trees really come into their own in the winter!
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Beautiful ….. even in winter time.
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We really enjoyed the few hours we had there and hopefully we can keep on going regularly now that we’re only 30mins drive away!
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I was there when I was a kid. It’s probably changed a bit since then.
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It would have changed enormously since you saw it last! I imagine there’d be some parts that are just as you remember though. I hope you can visit again soon and see how beautiful its looking. In spring. It’ll be awesome in spring with all the blossom!
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The pond reflections are certainly lovely, and wow, what about those snowdrops! They’re really impressive!
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Maple Glen has so many snowdrops! They sell various kinds through their nursery. Out in the gardens you come across snowdrops all over the place!
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They’d look a lot better than my humble offering on SoS!
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