Harmony, colour and rhythmic lines come together in a Canterbury garden. For an artist with a botany degree, creating a garden from scratch on a bare flat paddock presented both a rare opportunity and a challenge. “It was the biggest blank canvas I had ever worked on,” says Margie Waters. Margie and her husband, Owen, a now-retired pilot, moved from Auckland to North Canterbury in 2006 with their two teenage sons, lured by family in Christchurch and the opportunity to buy a block of land in Ohoka, just 25 minutes’ drive from the city. Juliet Nicholas/NZ House & Garden Margie and Owen Waters. At right, buxus balls dot a lime-chip path flanked with four Malus âRed Topâ crab apple trees underplanted with Lavandula âGrossoâ and white creeping thyme; pyramid-shaped Malus âBallerina Polkaâ apples grow behind a Malus âJack Hummâ crab apple at the far end with a feijoa hedge linking to the potager beyond.