Because many of us work alone in our gardens we can lose sight of the broad, communal nature of gardening. Our pursuit brings together people of both sexes, from all walks of life and of different ages. Coming into the editor’s seat, I’m reminded that Weekend Gardener too, is very much part of this wide [...]

January has to be one of my favourite months for gardens. Spring’s sometimes tempestuous exuberance settles into the more relaxed, grown-up style of our mid-summer, in perfect tandem with prime holiday time. Lawns are usually still a pleasant green, trees cast cool shade by day and the evenings are balmy. To top it off in [...]

If you mark the festive season by sitting down to a meal of new potatoes and fresh peas from your garden, you are doing far better than I’ve managed this year. With moving house, the new garden is not ready – but I’ve promised myself I will do better next year. But I can, at [...]

Roses are our most loved flower. So each November, when blooms should be at their best, the country’s big rose fraternity and rose fans by the thousand focus on Hamilton Gardens where over a weekend of great ceremony, fun and excitement the prestigious New Zealand Rose of the Year awards are decided. Children, the public, [...]

Whenever I venture into the garden, I can almost always count on the company of our cat. Some cats keep a little aloof from their human food providers but our Puss loves people. So much so, she even seeks the company of small grandchildren and lets them treat her like a teddy bear. We rub [...]

Our subtropicals expert Russell Fransham, who this issue starts a regular column (page 28), describes himself as someone with a terminal condition – gardening. This means that every time he steps outside he updates his list of must-do garden jobs. Right now, top of my list is to mow the lawns more regularly and get [...]

You can tell a keen gardener by the boot of their car. If it’s done a few garden centre kilometres, you’ll find some clues. Maybe a trowel, often a small garden bag intended to limit the damage and always bits of pumice from potting mix. That stuff seems to sneak into every crevice; it’s a [...]

The outlook is not looking good for the mystery deciduous shrub in my ‘new’ garden that has been defying all identification. So far, it’s done nothing to win favour and earn a wheelbarrow ride up the hill when we move our garden next winter. The masses of tight buds I hoped would prove redeeming are [...]

A lovely life with the birds. One of the unexpected pleasures we are enjoying since moving home is the wonderful and plentiful birdlife. Tui are dropping in daily to share the spoils of a kowhai in full flower. Canny, peace-loving wood pigeons leave them to it, feasting on the flower buds of two other trees [...]

Taranaki Fringe Garden Festival. New Zealand’s Largest Garden Festival. 28 October – 6 November 2011. Free with Weekend Gardener Issue#322. Mystery plant on the move? IN a corner of our garden there is a mystery plant. When we moved a few months ago it was casting off utterly unremarkable leaves for winter and since then [...]