I haven’t covered all of the roses we have in our garden yet.  I thought it might be nice to share some photos of the different varieties we have and make a few comments about each.  I only have standard roses in our garden.  My aunt, who incidentally lives across the road, has a row of standard roses next to their carport.  They look very elegant planted in a row.  I have always admired them, so that’s why I decided to plant those too. It’s a shame because having only standard roses limits you.  There are so many more varieties that are sold as bush roses, especi ..read more

Today is the last day of Labour Weekend, a long weekend in New Zealand which falls towards the end of October.  It is significant for gardeners as it marks the time of the year when people start planting their summer garden.  The seasons have shifted due to climate change, so I’m a bit cautious about planting my seedlings outdoors just yet.  But there is plenty to do outside and I have been very busy harvesting our remaining winter veggies in order to create space for our summer garden. ​ Reflecting on Anita’s Garden Put it down to middle age, but I have been feeling quite nosta ..read more

Unfortunately I still have the virus with the annoying cough that never goes away, that has been going around during winter.  I don’t know about other countries but it has been going around Australia as I’m doing Weight Watchers to try and help me maintain a healthy weight and look after my health.  My personal coach is in Sydney and when I asked, she said it was going around there, too.   I’ve had it for six weeks now. For the first four weeks, I remained in bed all day because I was so determined to recover completely so I could get back into the garden. But that didn’t h ..read more

Some freshly dug new potatoes and freesias from our garden which I gave to my GP and his reception staff yesterday To be perfectly honest, I’ve had enough of flower farming.  As I mentioned in my previous blog post, this summer I will focus on growing edibles.  Part of the reason is the astronomically high price of fresh produce in New Zealand these days.  Buying all our veggies is getting too expensive.  Growing your own definitely helps to put food on the table, due to the ever-rising cost of living, which seems to be a problem everywhere, not just in NZ.  But the ..read more

When I first started gardening a decade ago, I grew more edibles than ornamentals (ie flowers) but in recent years my passion for growing veggies gave way to a newfound love and appreciation for flowers.  I discovered that you can grow certain varieties that are commonly used in the cut flower industry and are suitable for arrangements as they have, among other qualities, long stems and often last well in a vase.  Just before I started growing and selling cut flowers, I became very fascinated by mass flower displays similar to what you would see in gardens and parks managed by the co ..read more

Easy Wave Yellow petunias I grew from seed Last spring, I grew petunias from seed for the first time and was very pleased with the results.  They can be a bit tricky to germinate so I thought it might be helpful if I shared some tips to help other gardeners that would also like to give it a go. I sowed the following varieties, which I purchased from the Egmont Seeds Commercial Catalogue (available from the company upon request as it is different to the home gardeners catalogue on their website). Easy Wave Pink Passion Easy Wave Plum Vein Easy Wave Yellow Hulahoop Mixture Shock Wave Co ..read more

The new petunia I have added to our garden, which is called Splash Dance Bolero Blue Now that we are well and truly into spring (and have been blessed with some lovely sunny days which is very unusual for Auckland), I thought it might be nice to share an update on what I have been doing around the garden. ​ New rose Back in July I added a new rose to the garden appropriately named the Lady Gardener.  It is a David Austin variety which are not easy to source in New Zealand due to royalty issues from what I have gathered.  Here is a picture of the rose after I planted it. The new ro ..read more

This year, I propagated polyanthus plants from seed for the first time.  Normally, I buy polyanthus as established seedlings in 6-cell punnets. Since I have been gardening for over a decade, I enjoy finding new ways to challenge myself. In my humble opinion, polyanthus are not difficult to grow from seed but they take a long time to develop, so lots of patience is required. The trick is to get the germination method right. In my case it was second time lucky, because I was lucky to receive some very helpful advice from John McCullough, the owner of Egmont Seeds, the company ..read more

Freshly dug new potatoes, dutch iris and freesias from our garden which I am going to take in to my gym Les Mills Howick today As I have previously mentioned, I started gardening after I developed schizophrenia a decade ago.  Working outside was excellent therapy for my condition, as well as depression, which is also an issue for me.  I would like to explain why I have found gardening so beneficial despite my circumstances. ​ If you are diagnosed with a very serious condition like I was, it can be tempting to spend a lot of time researching and reading about it.  This can make ..read more

Some flowers that I sold privately to a customer As with any business, nothing is guaranteed. A number of things could potentially go wrong.  For example, flowers might not always grow.  They might get damaged by wind and rain or destroyed by pests and diseases.  Even if they are harvested in perfect condition, they might not necessarily sell at the flower auction.  In other words, you could spend a lot of time and money and potentially make a substantial loss. But that’s life unfortunately While you could potentially get more if you sold flowers privately, bear in mind ..read more