ABSTRACT
In this chapter we introduce the gardens that might reasonably be called Smyth’s canon. These are the gardens in which he made the innovations that single his work out as unique, and special. They are what brought garden writers and design enthusiasts from Europe and the UK to New Zealand to view, analyse and discuss. Since the international reputation that accrued is based largely on the gardens he designed and built between 1986 and 2000, we focus here on Smyth’s residential work during this period. In the first section we explain the development of the Ted Smyth Archive, which holds all his outputs that survive, including the public work from the latter stages of his career. The very concept of an archive is somewhat troubled. On the one hand it describes a boundary that may be arbitrary, and on the other subjects excluded elements to the status of the forgotten, or neglected, or unimportant. In the case of Smyth we find these issues – as we will see – at its heart.
