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Tips for first time home buyers
My gut feeling is that most first home buyers are probably not experienced gardeners. As a renter, the prospect of ploughing time and money into an outdoor space that will eventually be left very often...
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The good vibes of blossom
I feel so greedy in early spring, sucking up every tiny offering that my garden and surrounds have to offer. By October I am spoilt again with so much eye candy that I don’t ever pay quite the same...
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The New Zealand Gardens Trust
The one sure thing I have learned in my gardening adventure is that my most valuable sources of information and inspiration have been found in other people’s gardens. I’ve keenly investigated planted...
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The sentimentality of plants
Even though I didn’t stay up to watch the Queen’s funeral this week, it wasn’t long before I caught the chatter about the beautiful flowers that adorned her coffin. To gardeners, her funeral wreath was...
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Celebrating and lamenting the eager self seeders
Finally, we have returned to the time of year when the garden begs for multiple visits a day. If the sun is out, and I leave my desk or studio for a drink /lunch/loo, my normal track through the house...
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The zesty world of euphorbia
I have noticed more than once in this gardening adventure that I can be thoroughly blind to a plant, and then whammo – I tune in, and it’s everywhere!After four days spent roaming the gardens of the...
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Food or flowers? Why gardeners should be planting both
My ‘vege’ garden which has seen mostly flowers until this year. My pathway into gardening was very much visual. My interest was lured away from interiors by the potential of creating beautiful,...
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Aquilegia - low fuss flowers that will grow in tough spots!
By late November, we have all enjoyed a month or so of the fantastical display of aquilegia, nodding their pretty heads above the green mounds of summer plants just getting into gear.This was the first...
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A Garden in Progress - Part Two
Earlier in the year, I shared the story of my garden and I so far, reflecting on the changes made over 5 years and its admirable tolerance of my learning curves. My Linwood backyard has taken me on a...
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The Christmas Garden
While beloved gardens have a knack of meeting many emotional and practical needs throughout the year, I hadn’t really considered the potential of my planted patch when it came to the festive...
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Planning for and watering in the dry
With the projected shift to an El Niño cycle on the horizon, spelling hot dry winds for my own garden, I have been thinking a lot about the make-up and position of my planting, considering ideas to...
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Gardening - a true creative pursuit
Late last year I held an open day in my urban Christchurch garden. This was less about presenting a pristine example of an ornamental planting (something that is virtually out of reach as I am too good...
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How to take cuttings
I have notebooks stacked on my desk packed with ideas to investigate for this column, at least five have been filled up over the last few years. Once the pages are full, I transfer to a new one,...
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Introducing Sanguisorba
Sanguisorba officinalis with echinacea and penstemon I am in constant review of my planting. Assuming daily positions in my garden where I gaze at my beds, mentally comparing my vision to the outcome...
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A Garden in Progress - Part Three
My new garden beds took to summer with a vigour I had only dreamed of, and now, with the cooler nights arriving I am noticing the beginning of the soft fade. The strong echinacea cones are taking...
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GARDENLIGHT: Ohinetahi
It felt secret and special to be to creeping around the edges of Ōhinetahi amid the glow of an early March dawn. And creep I did, as even the crunch of my heels on the gravel path felt jarring against...
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Resilient gardens and native plants at the New Zealand Gardens Trust Conference
In early April I braved a bucking southerly to touch down in Wellington and, for the second time, join the New Zealand Gardens Trust Conference. After skipping a year due to Covid, 80 attendees were...
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Seedheads and how they disperse
Last week I visited the Christchurch Botanic Gardens just on sunrise and headed toward the long herbaceous border. This awesome planting is my ongoing reference library of grasses, perennials, shrubs...
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Interesting plants on my wishlist!
It’s at this time of year as my garden crisps up, that I start thinking about what tweaks and additions I might like to make for the next. Ground space is at a bit of a premium in my urban Christchurch...
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Penstemons - the long-lasting star of the show
Amid the emerging crackle and tangle of my fading autumnal garden, there are still a few plants that have retained their vigour and even blooms. While it’s hard to tear my eyes away from the delightful...
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