b'A dreadful Christchurch garden is remodeled into a soothing sanctuary.Having spent several years living in a second-oor central Christchurch apartment, Vance and Cathy Stewart dont take gardens for granted. Now after extensive garden remodeling, they nd it incredible to think that last winter, their outside reality involved little more than mud and cold temperatures.Despite the fact this garden looks fabulously established already, professional landscaper Ross Marriott of Artworks Landscape Ltd is thinking even further ahead. You have to imagine how this will look in, say, three years, he says. Hes as qualied as anyone to say he knows the lie of the land here.The Stewart house is a gracious homestead characterised by mellow oaty-coloured stucco cladding, and harks back to a gentler era. It once stood as proud mistress of a large corner sitepossessing a typical ad-hoc garden of the type baby-boomers recall from childhood, with some grass here, uneven paving there, and eclectic plantings to no particular plan or logic.Cathy, who now describes the garden as her baby, knew when she bought the property two-and-a-half years ago that renovation work would be extensive. But shes no stranger to hard work. She and Vance raised six children in another big old houseone possessing copious outdoor space, before their stint of apartment living near central city schools. For most of that time they escaped to a beautiful house and garden in Akaroa at weekends. LeftA path winds between a huge urn and standard iceberg roses.Far leftAn old rhododendronwith its twisted trunk was the sole survivor from the original garden. words Liesl Johnstonepictures Juliet Nicholas85'