Winter Gardenz auctioned the greenhouse on TradeMe in a national promotion to raise awareness of the disease for the Breast Cancer Foundation.

The four-week auction, which had 14,000 views,  was won by Canterbury gardener Vickie Ward whose brother-in-law died of cancer.

Winter Gardenz’s promotional tour for the charity began in Kumeu in late September and had stops in Taranaki, Gisborne, Wellington before concluding at the Christchurch Royal Show in November.

Winter Gardenz’s ‘pinkhouse’, known as a Full Bloom greenhouse, retails for $1999.

More than 4000 enthusiasts attended the Nelson District Health Board and NELMAC-funded event in an outstanding setting.

Healthy plants for sale galore; with dozens of garden organisations represented, seminars and demonstrations.

Trees, plants, veggies, chooks, bees, composting, worms, irrigation, landscaping, self sufficiency in the garden and growing for body mind and spirit was was the name of the day.

www.nelsongrowables.co.nz

THE Auckland company EcoCover, which markets EcoCover Weed Squares (pictured), has won the prestigious Sustainable Design and Innovation Award from 24 finalists at the National Sustainable Business Awards. The award profiles and promotes new and exciting sustainable product and service designs.

No more tomato juice dribbling down your chin or making your salads soggy: Israel’s new dripless tomato, the Admoniya is on the market.

Exports of the tomato, branded ‘Intense’ for the overseas markets, have begun.

“You can cut them however you want and the liquid will stay inside the fruit,” says a spokesperson for RT Fresh, the company that developed the tomato. “You can put these tomatoes in a sandwich and eat it a few days later and they will taste fresh and the bread will not be soggy. They’re also great for salads.”

You can hold an Intense tomato and bite into it just like you do an apple and they won’t drip. They also retain their shape after slicing – a boon for caterers who use tomato slices to garnish their dishes.

The cherry tomato was developed in Israel in 1973. Hazera had another breakthrough last summer, when it introduced Antonella, a tomato that retains its firmness, flavor, and aroma even after a week at room temperature.

Intense tomatoes are said to boast a shelf life that’s 40 percent longer than that of regular tomatoes and even after they’re cut, to stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to three weeks because the juices stay locked in the solid part of the fruit.

19 – 5 Dec Pohutukawa Festival

Twenty events on the peninsular, 
www.pohutukawafestival.co.nz

DECEMBER 2010

4   Hawera Arts in the Park

King Edward Park, Hawera. 10am.

4 – 5 North Harbour Rose Society Rose Show

Sat 11.30am-4pm; Sun 9.30am-3.30pm, Northcote Citizens Centre; adults $3, under 15 free. Information table, rose plants, and blooms, garden products and crafts. Ph 09 444 2490.

4 – 5 Whangarei Summer Show

Barge Showgrounds, www.summershow.co.nz

4 – 5 Tauranga Fuchsia Show

Art and Crafts Hall, Elizabeth St West, Tauranga. Sat 11am-4pm, Sun 9.30am-3.30pm. Free entry. Sales, competition and raffles. Ph 07 544 7118.

5   Assisi Gardens Summer Fair

Gladstone, Wairarapa, 10am-4pm, supporting the local Catwalk Trust. Shop for Christmas, exhibitors, music, wine, food. Free Tranzit bus from carpark to fair and up to Assisi Gardens. Walk through 11 hectares of garden. www.asssigardens.co.nz

5   Whitford Garden Tour

Five gardens to visit including ‘Ayrlies’, Garden of International Significance. 10am-4pm. $40pp. Light lunch included. Tickets 09 238 5977. Fundraiser NZ National Party, Hunua Electorate.

5   West Melton Christmas Country Fete

Over 50 stalls  at Horsbrugh Estate, West Melton Rd, Christchurch. Tickets $5.

5 – 6 Otago Rose Society Annual Rose Show

St Mary’s Hall, Gordon Road, Mosgiel. Open Sat 2pm-5pm; Sun 10am-3pm. Admission $5 and this includes afternoon tea. Plants and raffles for sale

Ph Wilma 03 487 6760.

6   Kapiti Branch Camellia Society meeting

6.30 pm, Christmas Social and AGM, Lloyd Parker Plateau Centre, Woodlands, Waikanae.

8   CHS Begonia Circle

Meeting 7.30pm, CHS Christchurch,

ph Carol 03 338 0286.

10 Kapiti Fuchsia Group’s Bloom Display

Kapiti Library Meeting room, Rimu Rd, Paraparaumu. 9.30am-3.30pm. Entry free. Plant sales, fuchsia growing information and raffle. Ph 06 367 8320.

12 Love Your Mountain Day, Maungawhau-Mt Eden

Mt Eden, Auckland, 10am-4pm. Celebrate our heritage. Free admission to Eden Garden and Government House grounds with guided tours 10:30am and 2:30pm. Gather at the summit for guided walks by Tamaki Hikoi 12:30pm and 2pm. Fascinating displays at the old Tea Kiosk. ph 09 631 0057

or email info@maungawhau.co.nz

• Does anyone know where I can buy hoya plants or 
can someone supply cuttings please? Happy to pay costs. Ethel Lyne, ph 03 686 0411 or email 
kdsgwaters@xtra.co.nz

• I am looking for white dwarf agapanthus plants, hopefully three the same. I will pay costs. Barbara Roff, 22 Gretna St, Invercargill 9812, ph 03 216 6801, email g.b.roff@xtra.co.nz

• Does anyone know of a nectarine resistant to leaf curl available in NZ? ‘Kreibich’ is one cited by California University’s pest management programme. Eileen, 
ph 06 307 7869, email eileen.brindle@wise.net.nz

• My mum is looking for a reddish-purple, single-flowered tree peony. Can anyone help or does anyone know where she might buy one? We are happy to pay costs. We would love one for her 90-year birthday present. Lesley, email ritchietrappers@xtra.co.nz

• Use summer flowering bedding plants to fill gaps in pots and the garden. They will grow quickly this month if watered when necessary and will crowd out summer weeds. Any of the large range of seedlings and potted colour available at garden centres can go in now so why not have a little fun and try something different.
• If you have got big spaces to fill while longer-term plants get going and are on a tight budget, consider cleome – it’s easy to grow from seed sown where the plants are to grow.
• There’s still time to sow some cheerful sunflowers for picking, garden decoration or the seeds and its another quick growing, large flowering annual easily grown from seed sown in situ.  And it’s one children love to grow.
• In the veggie garden, this is a good time to think ahead before rushing to fill in garden spaces left by early spring crops and choose crops to fill production gaps ahead.
• In warmer northern, central and coastal gardens, there’s time to sow or plant another round of tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers and eggplants.
• In cooler and southern gardens, it’s time to plan ahead so there’s space for late autumn and winter crops. Some of these can be sown in seed trays soon.
• In all areas, you can sow or plant a huge array of other crops, including broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, beans, beetroot, carrots, celery, courgettes, cress, endive, mesclun, mustard, spring onions, Chinese cabbage, silverbeet, pumpkins, and if you get it sown without too much delay, sweetcorn. This is also a good time to plant out leeks in cooler gardens.
• Thanks to nursery stock grown for sale in containers, you can plant fruit, nut and ornamental trees and garden shrubs at any time of the year but those put in now will need watering over summer, including the holiday period, when the ground is dry so do keep this 
in mind.
• Watch roses’ soil moisture content – late spring or early summer drought stress can trigger an outbreak of unsightly and debilitating black spot. Also, regularly remove spent blooms on repeat-flowering roses. This deadheading encourages plants to use their energy to produce new flowering wood instead of making seed.
• This is the cut-off month for planting gladioli. Because the ground is warm, these will bloom in around 90 days.
• If aeoniums an other succulents are top heavy, now’s a good time to cut back the main stems. Keep the original plant, minus their tops, relatively dry until new stems begin to grow, then increase watering. The tops (leaf rosettes) can be replanted. Leave a stem about 10cm long, remove any wilted leaves and set aside for 24–48 hours to allow cut ends to dry. Plant in gritty soil and keep just moist.
• If you mow your lawn fairly short, now’s the time to lift your lawnmower blade a notch so lawn grasses stand up better to dry summer weather.
• Plant pest populations start mushrooming in early summer so take action where things look like getting out of hand. But make sure you don’t slaughter bees, other pollinators and the good guy pest predators in the battle.  They are on the gardeners’ side.

Judging the various varieties is delightful, as is rubbing shoulders with our own world-class rose breeders. Their lovely roses demonstrate what deep study of inherited rose characteristics, resolute patience and intuition can achieve. In this, they build on several hundreds of years of rose breeding to create roses very different from the original wild species.

Today’s top roses show how clever we are at manipulating nature. But just sometimes nature reminds us who is the master. Recently in New Zealand, the romantic among us could say nature has used its ultimate powers to pay tribute to Sam McGredy by creating sports of two of his most loved roses.

Usually sports – branches different from the rest of a plant due to genetic change – are unstable so plants propagated from them often revert back to the parent form. However, these two McGredy rose sports have proved stable and outstanding: ‘Hamilton Gardens’ is the winner of the 2010 Best New Zealand Raised Rose and is runner up to the 2010 Rose of the Year;  ‘Alison’ is the 2010 Best Climbing Rose (see page 25).

This issue we feature Josie Martin’s amazing Giant’s Garden at Akaroa and Russell Fransham suggests some lush exotic perennials for warmer gardens.  We feature other lovely plants and have lots of tips on ensuring all those veggie seedlings planted in spring grow through early summer and produce as we plan when planting them.

And with Christmas looming, Mark Rayner has some quick and easy decorations we can make and a DIY weather vane that would make a great gift.

If you haven’t got your photo contest entries in, 
remember it closes December 10 (see page 34).

• Does anyone have seeds of a highly scented, dark purple stock? Happy to pay costs. Barbara Quickenden, 44 Tanera Cres, Brooklyn, Wellington 6021, 
ph 04 934 5290, email bquickenden@gmail.com

• Does anyone know of a nectarine resistant to leaf curl available in NZ? ‘Kreibich’ is one cited by California University’s pest management programme. Eileen, 
ph 06 307 7869, email eileen.brindle@wisenet.nz

• My mum is looking for a reddish-purple, single-flowered tree peony. Can anyone help or does anyone know where she might buy one? We are happy to pay costs. We would love one for her 90-year birthday present. Lesley, email ritchietrappers@xtra.co.nz

• Does anyone know where I can buy Pittosporum tobira, P. ‘Wheelers Dwarf’, P. ‘Nanum’ or P. ‘Variegatum’ and P. rhombifolium? I will pay costs. Lois Baylere, 
21 Bombay St, Aramoho, Wanganui, ph 06 343 9013. 
Pittosporum rhombifolium ‘Hollywood’ is available from Russell Fransham Subtropicals, ph 09 434 3980. – Editor.

Otorohanga Club, light lunch and raffles, opens noon. Ph 07 873 0975.

19 -  5 Dec Brian Tufficliffe Nissan Pohutukawa Festival

20 events, including Pohutukawa Wearable Arts,

www.pohutukawafestival.co.nz

19 -  21 Wellington Botanic Garden Rose Festival 2010

Three days with the focus firmly on roses – see masses of blooms, check out the entries in the Wellington Rose Society’s annual show, get free advice, take a guided walk or just revel in the rosy atmosphere. For more information visit www.Wellington.govt.nz or call 04 499 4444.

20 Otorohanga Beattie Home & Garden Ramble

13 gardens, plants art, crafts, raffles and Devonshire tea. Tickets $20. Ph 07 873 1771.

20 Feilding Rose Society Rose Show

St Pauls Church Hall, Church St, Feilding. noon-4.30pm. Roses, cut flowers, raffles. Further information ph 06 329 2923 or 06 323 7878.

20 Canterbury Rose Society Spring Show

St Peter’s Church Hall, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch, ph 03 326 5174.

20 Rathkeale Christmas Fete in the Country

Rathkeale College, Masterton, 9.30am-3.30pm. Entry gold coin donation. Christmas shopping, gourmet wild food & wine, cooking demonstration, St Martin’s Chapel, Devonshire tea garden, pre-loved books, bouncy castle, tombola, boutique clothing, jewellery, garden plants & art, preserves. Ph Judy 06 378 7490 or Phoebe 06 378 0414. www.rathkeale.school.nz

20 Crosshills Country Fete

9am-5pm, Cross Hills, 4km north of Kimbolton, Manawatu. Adults $10, Children under 16 free. 70 quality stalls featuring designer gifts, home baked goodies, plants, clothing, toys, jewellery and heaps more. Entertainment for children, face painting, bouncy castle and more. Great chance to do your Christmas shopping. www.crosshills.co.nz

20 – 21 Blockhouse Bay Garden Festival

Blockhouse Bay Community Centre, 524 Blockhouse Bay Rd, Auckland. Sat 12-4pm, Sun 10am-4pm. Floral arrangements, children’s gardens, lilies, bonsai, sustainable gardening. Ph 09 626 4980. 
www.bhbaycommunitycentre.co.nz

email info@bhbaycommunitycentre.co.nz

20 – 21 Muriwai Arts Trail

Two main exhibition sites, 7 open studios and over 50 Muriwai artists exhibiting. All works for sale and include painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, jewellery and textiles. Refreshments, wine tasting, free shuttles, craft market and more. www.muriwaiarts.co.nz

20 – 21 Thames Heritage Homes Tour

10 private homes; tickets $30, ph 07 869 0592.

20 -  21 Timaru Hortcultural Society Early Summer Show

Caroline Bay Hall, Timaru. Roses, cut flowers, container plants, alpine and rock garden plants, orchids, iris, bonsai, floral art and the first of the fruit and vegetable competitions. Entries free. Extensive plant stall, 
raffles, display for children, afternoon tea. Entry free to members and children, $3 public.

20 – 21 Kaitaia Riding for the Disabled Far North Garden Safari

Tickets $15, ph 09 406 2022.

21 Springston School Garden Tour

8 gardens to visit including Broadfield Garden (see feature page 10).

www.springston.school.nz

21 Plantathon

Plants for sale at Camellia car park, Hamilton

Gardens. Plant sale sites $20. Open 10am-2pm,

ph 06 853 2660 or 027 404 5384,

email mystery@webnet.co.nz

21 Oamaru’s Network Waitaki Victorian Fete

Harbour and Tyne Historic Precinct, Oamaru, 
10am-4pm, adults $5.

25 -  28 Timaru Festival of Roses

Tickets $20 in advance; $25 on the day or $5 at 
each garden gate. Market Day $5, children free. www.festivalofroses.co.nz

27 Great Barrier Island Garden Tour

9.15am-4.30pm, ph Gerry 09 429 0890, 
www.thebarrier.co.nz/gardentour.htm

27 Sweet Pea & Spring Flower Show and Gardener’s Market

Auckland Horticultural Council, 990 Great North Rd, Western Springs, Auckland. Free.

27 -  28 Te Kuiti White Ribbon Art & Garden Ramble Art and refreshments in 12-16 special gardens.

Tickets $20 from Te Kuiti i-site, ph 07 878 8006.

27 Wairarapa Rose Society Annual Show

1pm, St Lukes Church Hall, Worksop Road, Masterton.

28 Timaru Roses on the Bay

Market Day, Caroline Bay, www.festivalofroses.co.nz

28 Eden Garden Summer Festival

24 Omana Ave, Epsom, Auckland. 9am-4.30pm. Music, food, Childrens’ activities, garden 
demonstrations, craft stalls. Gate entrance $8. Seniors $6. Free to members and children.

Ph 09 638 8395. www.edengarden.co.nz

• Plant up bare ground in shady places with coleus, impatiens, hostas, native begonias and ferns.
• Fill small, bare, sunny areas for summer with punnets of flower plants – there’s plenty choose from in garden shops right now. Consider those with flowers that attract beneficial insects to help control pests – like alyssum and phacelia – or ones that feed bees, like sunflowers, single zinnias, verbenas, alyssum, cosmos and Californian poppies.
• Plant pots and hanging baskets with perennial petunias or perlargonium seedlings and cuttings for high-impact flower displays that are quick and easy to achieve. Add water-saving granules to the potting mix and seal or line porous pots, like terracotta, to cut down on watering.
• Plants trees and shrubs, as required, but remember to water them deeply for the next few months whenever the weather is hot and dry.
• Now daylilies are flowering well, it’s a good time to see the blooms before you buy if you have some gaps to fill.

Caring and feeding

• Have a general garden clean-up now before pre-Christmas activities start eating into available gardening time.
• Spring-flowering bulb foliage that has yellowed off can be cut off or mown over. The key is to leave foliage intact for at least eight weeks after bulbs finish flowering so plants have time to replenish bulb food stores and start forming next year’s flowers.
• Trim spring-flowering hebes and bottlebrushes lightly when they have finished flowering to remove seed heads. You can use hedge clippers for this. Lavenders can also be lightly trimmed and banksias and proteas gently pruned to maintain a good shape and remove seedheads.
• Pinch out the tops and branch tips of plants – shrubs, perennials and annuals – that tend to grow too tall and spindly. With bedding plants, the best time to do this is when planting them because life in a punnet candiscourage branching low down where you want it for covering the ground and crowding out weeds.
• Boost plants that like a rich supply of nutrients, like dahlias and large perennials, that do a lot of growing early in the season, but avoid high nitrogen fertilisers on flowering plants, especially heading into summer.