It’s the chance to see gardening trends and cutting edge flower fashion.

I’ve just come back inspired from a lightning trip to the biennial Singapore Garden Festival which we will feature soon in the Weekend Gardener.

Here in Auckland what great news it is that we’re getting a brand new New Zealand Garden Expo (www.gardenexpo.co.nz) being held at Ellerslie Racecourse next April by the highly successful Australian company Expertise Events which runs the hugely popular ABC shows across the Tasman.

Meanwhile, this issue we bring you the latest design ideas from Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in London.

Andrew Steens takes a look at hydroponics gardening; Rob Lahood visits Wairarapa’s old Te Whanga Garden; Abbie Jury celebrates magnolias; and expert Terry Dowdeswell gives his tips for top results with delphiniums.

Good gardening.

Susie Longdell,

Editor.

After also visiting the republic and walking the fynbos, Sue Linn has plenty of pointers for lots of protea perfection.

Talking about national icons, we’ve tips on kiwifruit and a recipe for a marinade.

Down south, Gillian Vine goes to Dunedin’s delightful Chinese Garden, an inspiring place, now the city’s biggest tourist attraction, that shines in our coldest months.

Veronica Armstrong gives advice on lichen; and Plant Gallery has interesting vegetable seeds to grow.

It’s a great time for DIY projects; we’ve three you can tackle in the garage: a patio display, a climbing frame;  newspaper eco seedling pots; and a great project  for the kids, Mark Rayner’s delightful sleepy Mexican ornament made from pots.

With all the rain around, it’s a good time to be pottering around in a glasshouse; enter our feature draw and be in to win a Redpath® model.

Good gardening and reading.

This was unexpected as night frosts were still rolling in 12 days before the show and exhibitors worried whether flowers would unfold in time.

This year can also claim Chelsea’s most expensive show garden - the $44 million Ace of Diamonds Garden. But it takes more than sparkling jewels to dazzle Chelsea judges who gave it a bronze award despite its glitter.

Then the judges awarded just a silver to the Peoples Choice winner for small gardens.

In this issue (page 10) we bring you highlights of the show - choose your own favourites and be inspired by ideas for your backyard.

Now winter has really arrived we’ve tips on feeding hungry birds (page 14), on choosing and caring for citrus, the mainstay of the winter orchard (page 22), and show how to take hardwood cuttings, the great no-cost way to produce new edible and ornamental plants (page 26).

Also in this issue, our centrefold supplement has winter offerings from Diack’s Nurseries, a southern gardening institution based in Invercargill. View www.diacks.co.nz

Susie Longdell,

Editor.

I have had this rose (pictured left) in my garden for many years. It is completely free of thorns, and each branch is covered with blooms lasting for weeks. The blooms don’t lose their petals - when they turn brown I just remove them from the stems.

This beautiful rose delights visitors and yes, they all want cuttings, which I gladly give. It is also almost disease-free and I have not seen it elsewhere.

It flowers from spring to autumn like other roses and the largest bloom is about 7-8cm across. The petal edges turn pink after the second or third week and most blooms stay tightly cupped.

Your magazine is so informative. Since I started gardening five years ago I’ve learned so much from it. I was never interested in planting vegetables but now I enjoy it.

Thank you so much. I look forward to each issue. Good on you, team. Keep it up.

Grace Hooper, Manurewa.

•  Can any reader identify this rose? It has got us beat. - Editor

Frame up

I always read the letters page and love to pick up tips to help me in my new garden.

With this in mind, I thought you would like to see my frame for a climber.

It’s made of two ready-made cloches bought from Mitre 10. They are stapled one above the other around the upright post of the pergola to make a firm, rigid framework for my new rose.

Sue Cowley, Darfield.

Enduring hibiscus

About 27 years ago, my late wife was out on her lunch break when she saw a potted hibiscus for sale in a garden centre. She bought it and returned to work where she met up with our parks and reserves superintendent. He told my wife that it was just a cutting and it wouldn’t grow.

How wrong he was. That hibiscus bloomed in its first year. Some years later we moved home and took our lovely hibiscus with us. Then we shifted it again into a more sheltered spot facing north.

Now, after 27 years, it is still covered with huge golden blooms the size of a side-plate. I have to prune it every year and each year it gives me great pleasure. It is the jewel of my garden. Needless to say I love my garden, as do my neighbours and many passers-by.

S R Heywood, Hastings.

Potman’s double duty

The flowerpot man that 
featured in the recent article on making a gift for Mother’s Day, is easy to make from old terracotta pots. Wire and PVA outdoor glue will hold the heavier pots in place. You don’t need the base plate or special shoes; just invert a larger pot for the body and smaller pots for the feet.

My potman is not only a garden feature but also a snail-catcher. He’s tilted slightly with snail bait underneath and by night he’s lit up by the garden light beside him.

Anne Cresswell, Palmerston North.

Sage words

Just a note to say you have solved a mystery in Issue 289. I have been in my unit five-and-a-half years and not known what this shrub was called. I now find, from your coverage, it is Bethel sage. It flowers for months and I love its bright pink colour.

Congratulations on such a useful and helpful magazine.

Clarice Porter, Lower Hutt.

Ringing applause

Many thanks for the Master haus tree ring received recently from the draw in Issue 287. I planted a small grapefruit tree 18 months ago and it was getting knocked about by the mower. The tree ring will provide much-needed protection as well as keeping the base clear of weeds.

Susan Ross, Auckland.

Great greenhouse

Thanks so much for running the greenhouse competition in Issue 286. I have attached some pictures of Josh and Amy George with the new Winter Gardenz greenhouse the family won. They are so excited and can’t wait to grow and harvest their veggies.

Liz George, Parakai.

Hot monster

Five years ago I bought what I thought was an eggplant from the Whangarei Growers Market. The plant grew and developed fruit but these were a different shape from an eggplant’s. After a little investigation (the fruit turned red and I tasted it), I found out I’d bought a chilli known as a rocoto.

I’d planted it in my 2m glasshouse which has a roof, back, and glass on one side, allowing plenty of aeration.

My chilli plant loved this environment and grew the height and length of the glasshouse. It is now sprouting through the vent and taking over the adjacent shadehouse. It’s so huge I call it my ‘Chilli Triffid’.

We’ve picked about 40kg of chillies this year and are waiting for the next crop shortly.

My neighbour’s little boy kicked his ball over the fence and the neighbour went to retrieve it. He saw the chillies and, mistaking them for capsicums, 
picked a few and made soup with them. They had 
to tip the soup out, it was so hot. It was my Chilli Triffid’s revenge. He hasn’t jumped the fence to pinch chillies again.

People love my chillies and are amazed at the plant’s size. I make homemade preserves with them and hot chilli chutney.

Now the challenge is to see how tall the plant will grow, how far it will spread and how long it will live.

Mandy Thorburn, Whangarei Heads.

• Your rocoto, (Capsicum pubescens) is common in Peru and Bolivia. Rocoto pods have thick walls, like a bell pepper, but are quite hot. This pepper is a species - most other chilli peppers are hybrids from Capsicum annuum. Although most rocotos are red, there is also a yellow type (called manzano in Mexico) and an orange variety. Rocotos vary, coming about halfway up the scale - known as Scoville heat units - that rates chillies’ hotness. - Editor.

DNA testing of garden ferns sold at some American plant nurseries has found that plants marketed as American natives may actually be exotic species from other parts of the globe.

The finding relied on a new technique called “DNA barcoding” that  uses small snippets of DNA to distinguish between species, in much the same way that a supermarket scanner uses the black lines in a barcode to identify cans of soup or boxes of cereal.

A team of North Carolina researchers suspected a fern might not be what the labels said it was.

When they pasted the DNA sequence of three of the plant’s genes into an online database, they discovered that what had been labeled as Wright’s lip fern (Cheilanthes wrightii), an American native popular in rock gardens and xeriscapes, was in fact a bristle cloak fern (C. distans), a relative from Australia.

Tony Murrell, of  TV One’s Mucking In, is joined by Helen Jackson, food editor of NZ Woman’s Weekly. She has an award-winning website Foodlovers.co.nz and as well as working on radio with Tony she has regular spots on Television One’s Good Morning show.

There are prizes and giveaways for everyone from sponsors Tui Products and part proceeds will go to the Child Cancer Foundation. Tickets available through Ticketek and from Big Jim’s Garden Centre in Bell Block, New Plymouth.

• Does anybody have or know where I can get seeds of Hibiscus mutabilis ‘Plena’, the large double cotton or confederate rose that opens white and then turns pink. Willing to pay expenses. Lee Schlichting, 96 Arawa St, Matata, RD 4, Whakatane 3194, ph 07 322 2345.
• Could anyone give me cuttings of any of the old-fashioned carnations? There used to be a large red one with a great perfume; a pink with a maroon band around centre and and a perfume like cinnamon; a pink and mauve one named ‘Maori Chief’ and one with a lemon and maroon flower. Willing to pay postage, Gay Tait, 32 Kowhai St, Te Hapara, Gisborne 4010, email gayhillstait@xtra.co.nz
• I would like bulbs or seeds of the Oriental lily ‘Lady Lavender Rose’. Willing to pay for them. Alan, email alanrowland@clear.net.nz
• I am trying to gather a complete collection of Weekend Gardeners and need the following issues: Numbers 1-3, 10-18, 21-23, 25-28, 30, 31, 33-37, 42. If you can supply any of these magazines please contact Dianne Beattie, Old Russell Rd, RD 4, Hikurangi 0184, 
ph 09 433 9780. All costs paid.
• Our new granddaughter has been named Pania. Does anyone know where we can get the hybrid tea rose ‘Pania’. We have tried several nurseries. Perhaps someone has one growing and can give us a cutting at pruning time. We will pay costs. Beth Mooney, 46 Dalfield Pl, Palmerston North 4412, ph 06 353 6865, email ibmooney@slingshot.co.nz
• I am looking for cuttings of orange and blue geran-iums. Happy to pay all costs. Joy Johnston, 2B Collingwood Road, Waiuku 2123, ph 09 235 9291.
• The blue poppies, Meconopsis betonicifolia, M. grandis and M x sheldonii wanted. Happy to pay costs. Robbie, ph 03 689 4781 or email robbiejangus@clear.net.nz
• Does anyone know of or have the old daffodil called ‘Star of Bethlehem’? My mother had it in her garden at Mangapai in Northland. I would also like to hear of anyone with other old daffodil varieties. All expenses paid. Lori, ph 09 832 5797 or email Lori, lcrump@maxnet.co.nz
• I would like to take small mid-winter cuttings in the Auckland area from old fig, apple, pear trees for grafting If you can help please contact John, ph 09 638 7754, email john_robyn@xtra.co.nz.
• A lovely lady sent me some watsonias and also some seed but I have lost her address to recompense her. Would she please contact me. Jenny, ph 09 409 5567 or email jennywa@xtra.co.nz