Photography: Sally Tagg.
For award-winning landscape designer Jules Moore, creating a garden has never just been about how it looks – but also how it makes people feel. It’s a philosophy that’s seen her become an international grandmaster with five gold medals. This March, Jules took out gold again at China’s Shenzhen Flower Show, where her immersive coastal design introduced 2.1 million visitors to her uniquely Kiwi way of storytelling through nature.
“It’s crazy when I think about 2.1 million people – that’s a phenomenal amount who have seen the garden,” says Jules, 63, who’s still coming to terms with the scale of what she has achieved.
“It’s a highly competitive, international field, so I’m very proud of my win.”
The idea for the garden, titled Ocean’s Edge, came to Jules in a late-night burst of inspiration.
“I remember clearly thinking, ‘I have to get out of bed.’ It was like a complete download,” recalls Jules, who leapt up to sketch the design.
One of just seven international grandmasters invited to exhibit at the prestigious show, Jules’ garden featured more than 2500 plants surrounding a paua shell path that led to a giant bamboo conch shell centrepiece.
Bringing the design to life
Staying in China with her colleague Ru Zhang for 15 days, Jules oversaw every element of the design, including individually beading the rattan kina and hand-sculpting a two-metre platter of oyster shells with chicken wire and plaster.
“We found these beautiful teal beads and I ended up buying the shop out of them,” she laughs.
“It took so many hours, but it looked so good.”
A tribute to Aotearoa’s coastline
The design, Jules explains, was a tribute to New Zealanders’ profound connection with the coastline and ocean. Growing up on a remote Taranaki sheep farm, holidays weren’t a thing, but Jules remembers rare days off at the beach and how much joy it brought the whole family.
“Dad loved to go fishing, so I have really fond memories trailing along, walking in his footprints in the sand,” she smiles.
From an early age, it was clear Jules would be green-fingered. She grew up identifying native plants in the bush with her dad Anthony and gardening with her mum Melva.
“That’s where I get my very strong work ethic from.”
Where it all began
At 14, her parents gave her an acre of sloped land on the family farm to practise her landscape designs.
“I remember asking Dad to cut up some punga for me to make a wall. He said, ‘No, I don’t think I’ll have time today.’ But I couldn’t wait any longer, so I did it myself and from there it blossomed.”
At 15, she landed her first job at a garden centre, biking 30km each way for weekend shifts, and at 18 started a horticulture apprenticeship. Never afraid to tackle hard work, after moving to Auckland in 1998, Jules taught herself to build while renovating her house. It’s a skill that later proved vital to her gardens.
Sharing the skills she learned
She explains, “I was so inspired by what I had achieved that I started classes teaching other women to build and called it Jool Time. It was back when Tool Time [a fictional DIY segment on Tim Allen’s hit TV show Home Improvement] was all the go. I was landscaping in the summer and building in the winter.”
Combining her love of landscape and hands-on skills, Jules remembers how transformative it felt when she first discovered competitive show gardens.
“I just had a sixth sense about it – 2005 was the start of my gold-winning awards,” tells Jules, who combines audio and lighting with planting and landscape features to create full sensory experiences.
When gardens move people to tears
It’s not uncommon, she says, for people to be moved to tears.
“When you put sound into a garden, it becomes alive.”
For Ocean’s Edge in China, Jules is beyond proud to have collaborated with her children. Her son James, 35, a musician and vocal coach, helped record the custom audio track, which played in the garden. James and Jules’ vocals feature, as well as whale song, and traditional Māori and Chinese instruments.
“It just gives me warm fuzzies – I get really emotional about it,” smiles Jules, who’s other son Adam, 24, works with her at their Whenuapai-based family garden centre, A Touch of the Tropics.
Meanwhile, her daughter Alayna, 25, was also integral to the international showcase, acting as Jules’ co-designer.
“Alayna took it to the next level and made it really special,” Jules enthuses.
Now back home in Auckland, Jules shares there are exciting plans in the works, including more international appearances. For now, she can’t share more, but it feels like all of her hard work is starting to pay off.
She shares, “The words I live by are, ‘Never ever give up, keep striving and you’ll get there.’”
