nectaring       a black-eyed pansy      monarch butterfly

In spring rhododendrons and canna lilies line the bank beside the house. But in the sub-tropical summer the garden overflows with colour. Climbing roses festoon the entrance, while in the flower garden rambling roses cover the trellises and the verandah and grow over arches spanning the path. The roses are a constellation of colour with the blue, cloud-flecked sky behind them. Among the flower beds are mosaic birdbaths and sculptures of children reading. A stone koru catches a wisp of light. The garden ends and opens with a field bordered by ancient trees that leads to a pond where

a tui      drinks sweetness       from a sugar-water dropper

when leaftips turn silver      we search for cress      in the creek bed