LOOKING out over our sunburnt country - reminiscent right now of the Gobi Desert as I like to tell our disbelieving daughters - I thought nostalgically of a fortnight spent in New Zealand last November.
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I've no desire to live in the Shaky Isles and the weeding would certainly kill me if I had to look after a garden there.
But as I traipse around my own little paradise, wondering how I can get it through February, my memories of the green and bountiful Kiwi gardens inspire me to keep going.
They reassure us there's a place on the planet where it hasn't forgotten to rain, and with luck will do so here before long.
And, they're a reminder that green is a colour like any other and a garden composed of different shades of green, with a good contrast of shapes, can be just as satisfying as one that's a riot of colour.
Meanwhile, it's useful in a drought to take a cold hard look at the real survivors, our shrubs and perennials that might become the foundation of any future replanting and indeed are worth propagating now against that day.
Several of my evergreen shrubs are proving total stars despite weeks of hot weather and little water.
Tough old japonica (Chaenomeles speciosa), California lilac (Ceanothus "Blue Pacific"), mahonia (M. aquifolium), gum cistus (C. ladanifer) and that great ground cover, Cotoneaster horizontalis, all look amazing and even better, are contemptuously ignored by grasshoppers.
Combined with a good, scarlet berrying form of Sacred Bamboo (Nandina domestica) you have the foundation of an excellent, low maintenance border with the addition of some hardy bulbs such as species gladiolus, naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna) and nerines would be interesting from spring until autumn.
Add some winter flowering natives and you have colour all year.
Westringia (W. rosemarinifolia), a greenish flowering correa (C. glabra) and Hakea laurina, a small tree with crimson and cream flowers, are all beautiful, frost hardy and drought-resistant.
On the deciduous front, I'm impressed by the survival ability of the various forms of smokebush (Cotinus coggygria). They colour well after even the driest summer and are unbelievably hardy.
For country gardeners with space to fill they're a dream as they soar up and out to three metres, though you can prune them hard in winter if you want to restrain them.
Their only drawback is they aren't easy to propagate. Your best chance is with layers.
Pegged down now, they should root by autumn when you can pot them up for planting one year later.
February is a good time for propagating shrubs from semi-ripe cuttings, taken from this year's shoots which are woody at the base.
They must be kept perpetually damp, so are best stored in a reliably shady corner - a leafy shrub is cooler than the shade of a building - with a plastic bag over their containers.
This is also a good month to cut plants back to encourage them to flower again in autumn.
Catmint, tradescantia and gaura should all give you a second season, especially if urged on by a lucky fall of rain.
Cutting back has proved a good strategy, too, for helping shrubs to survive drought.
After a few nervous moments I pruned Ceratostigma willmottianum, Hebe hulkeana and deciduous Ceanothus "Gloire de Versailles" (pale blue) and "Marie Simon" (pink) almost to the ground and crossed my fingers. So far, so good.
Parkside Gardens, 37 Airdale Road, Weston, Oamaru, New Zealand, are open all year, admission $5. Visit www.retreatoamaru.com or contact Bob and Linda Wilson, (+64) 03 434 9786.
