Pleasure Gardens

Karl Maughan has been painting gardens for 20 years, an entirely natural progression, he says, having had a landscape designer mother who took him to her workplaces.

He has painted everything from the Alhambra to Sissinghurst, by way of Taihape. NZ Gardener editor Lynda Hallinan, meanwhile, has recently returned from a tour of European garden festivals that took in Chelsea and Barcelona. They compare notes on what triggers enjoyment of a garden and how to pursue paradise in our own backyards.