The picturesque has been compared to a language. This paper extends the metaphor to pidgins and creoles to make observations about the intermixing of design languages, namely between the conventions of the picturesque and the indigenous environment of New Zealand. Within the context of landscape architecture, pidgin variations are evident in relation to architecture, topography and plants. The native New Zealand environment, with its unique evergreen flora, colonial adaptations of architecture, and challenging topography, has placed new demands on the picturesque. The campus of Lincoln University demonstrates some of the potential of the pidgin picturesque, and some of the tensions that persist within it. The future of New Zealand landscape design identity lies in the ability to understand both imported and indigenous languages. Only then can a unique language develop, which moves beyond the transitory stage of a pidgin into the 'mother tongue' of a creole.