Landscaping with Lucy Lawless

Hollywood star Lucy Lawless is returning to her roots. Born in the upscale Mount Albert area of Auckland, New Zealand, the spectacular 5-foot-11-television actress (35-25-36) is converting a large part of her tony estate into what has been described as a multi-dollar eco-friendly Garden of Eden. The Xena actress and Greenpeace climate change ambassador is converting two of her four consolidated properties – with a total worth of more than $7 million – into a 1600-square-metre garden. The cost of the garden design alone would probably exceed $10,000, and the final bill could run into hundreds of thousands, an award-winning landscape designer told New Zealand’s Herald on Sunday.

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The design will include a large raised stone vegetable garden, poultry house, rainwater tank and rolling lawns, according to architectural and landscape plans lodged with Auckland City Council. The garden will also feature a conservatory and courtyards from which she, husband, Robert Tapert, and their two sons, Julius and Judah, can enjoy their tranquil green surroundings. The Lawless’ home, complete with swimming pool, spans two front lots, which the couple have owned since the late ‘90s. The natural ash blonde’s father was mayor of Mount Albert, where little Lucille Francis Ryan was the fifth of seven children: five brothers and a single sister. She was married to Garth Lawless 1988-95 and since 1998 to producer Robert Tapert. Famed for her starring role in the Xena Warrior Princess television series 1995-2001, more recently she has portrayed Lucretia in television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010) and this season Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. All of which have yielded ample funds to create new landscapes.