FLOWER THERAPY

Well-known photographic artist Emma Bass' Auckland garden is a vibrant sub-tropical haven that is a place of healing and joy, as well as being a little bit bonkers

-  Rachel Clare

Emma Bass knows more than most about the therapeutic power of nature. The former nurse's large photographic works of vases bursting with blooms brighten up homes, hospitals and clinicians' treatments and waiting rooms across the world and are soon to be part of an overseas study on the impact of flowers on wellbeing.

When Emma was awaiting a hysterectomy operation in 2023, she decided she needed to take a dose of her own floral medicine and create a garden that she could look out at from her living room while she was recuperating after surgery. "The front garden had never had flowers in it and it felt unresolved. So I decided to make a beautiful front garden that would heal me."

Although it meant a temporary loss of privacy, her first bold move was to remove a struggling griselinia hedge that separated the house from the street and replaced it with a hardy hedge of Ficus 'Tuffi', which she favours for its uplifting mid-green foliage.

Next came the foliage and flowers. Emma, a maximalist who adores colour went for a highly saturated palette of brilliant blue lobelias, fluorescent pink impatiens, fuzzy-faced 'Teddy Bear' sunflowers, and vibrant vireyas and zinnias. She also went flamboyant on foliage, opting for colour-splashed pink and green coleus and heucheras in various shades of lime green and plum.

Then to create sculptural interest, Emma got handy with her secateurs, clipping Pittosporum 'Little Kiwi' shrubs into balls and also a buxus into a heart shape. "It's all a bit bonkers and I love it," she says.

Round the back of the house the landscaping is what you would describe as Palm Springs meets subtropical Auckland.