In spring, bees are a sign the weather is warming up, as they rarely appear before the temperature gets above 10degC. Then come the butterflies, sunbathing on warm walls and rocks or feeding on favourite plants.
It's easy to fall in love with Littlest Angel, the latest creation of Waikouaiti writer Elizabeth Pulford.
Pick up a booklet at any of England's National Trust properties and you'll find lots of details about the gardens' creators and the properties' development.
The subtitle, Exploring the Paranormal in New Zealand, tells what Spooked is all about.
The city is divided by war. On Southside, people live in squatter camps; on the north, life seems normal with only the occasional burst of gunfire to remind youngsters at Cityside's Tornmoor Academy what is happening.
Pastels in gardens seem to be out of fashion but Gillian Vine argues the case for pink.
Auckland cop Sean Devereaux returns in By Any Means, another of Ben Sanders' police thrillers. Also back is Devereaux' former colleague, bash-anyone-in-sight John Hale. The story starts when a bus driver is accidentally shot in rush-hour Auckland and Devereaux is sent to the scene.
Summer is months away but those who want to grow tomatoes from seed should get started soon, says Gillian Vine.
When her fiance clears their joint bank account and runs, he leaves Holly Love with $40 in an envelope taped to the fridge. Her only other assets are an ailing car, clothes for their low-key wedding and the flannel pyjamas she couldn't bear to part with.
Singapore is the place for flower-lovers this year, says Gillian Vine.
Getting lost is the big attraction of hedge mazes. Gillian Vine reports on the re-creation of an English one.
Tasmania's climate is often compared to southern New Zealand's. Gillian Vine discovers why in a garden specialising in spring bulbs.
Turn a heap of rubbish into goodies for your garden, suggests Gillian Vine.
With varieties that flower up to eight months of the year, irises are for everyone, says Gillian Vine.
Gillian Vine visits Woolmers, a grand Tasmanian property.
Gillian Vine is hung up over a subject she should have studied at school.
• Things to do in Taipei • Chiang Kai-shek galore "What is this meat?" asked the Israeli woman. "To-ni-ou," replied our Taiwanese guide, struggling for the...
KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek ran the country under an often brutal martial law regime that did not end until 1987, 12 years after his death.
Don't miss the National Palace Museum, Taipei's No1 tourist attraction. Although it is invariably crowded, it is well worth putting up with the squash to see its amazing line-up of Chinese artefacts.
That plants have changed the world is not in dispute. In Fifty Plants That Changed the Course of History, Bill Laws looks mainly at edible plant produce - sugar, cocoa and tea, for example - but also medicinal species, such as Cinchona, from which quinine is produced, and what he loosely calls "commercial" plants, including cotton.
