Glorius Cynara adds contrast
Adding a structural plant to a perennial border adds great textural contrast. Repeating the planting throughout the border creates a defining design feature.
Life & Style
Over 100, it rocks
Over 100, it rocks
Gillian Vine takes a stroll in the Dunedin Botanic Garden's rockery.
Indoor plant lore
Indoor plant lore
Anyone can grow house plants, say the authors of a news book. Gillian Vine reports.
Local food on the lawn
Local food on the lawn
With just a little bit of work, you too can be producing local food on tha lawn, writes Ben Elms (aka Dr Compost).
Your garden: September 14
Your garden: September 14
What's happening in your garden this week?
Display continues into spring
Display continues into spring
Flower buds on Edgeworthia chrysantha have been causing great anticipation at Dunedin Botanic Garden over the winter months. This specimen, in the Otaru Teien border by the duck pond, is flowering...
Luscious lemonwood
Lemonwood luscious example of foliar scent
Scent engages the senses; it is commonplace to be lured by a flower's fragrance, but what about its foliage?
Your garden: August 31
Your garden: August 31
What's happening in your garden this week?
Back to bare basics
Gardening club goes back to basics
Dunedin Gardening Club members have stripped naked to promote their centenary.
Coming up roses for me and for you
Coming up roses for me and for you
Leading New Zealand rose breeder Rob Somerfield is to speak in Dunedin next week. Gillian Vine reports.
Toothache? Time for the horopito
Toothache? Time for the horopito
From the beginning of time we have depended on plants and trees not only for many of our raw materials and food but for the oxygen we breathe.
Gardener grows kumara in Dunedin
Gardener grows kumara in Dunedin
Kumara is not a staple crop in the South, but Gillian Vine talks to a Dunedin gardener who has grown them successfully.
Oca — the easiest vegetable
Oca — the easiest vegetable
Gillian Vine looks at one of the South’s favourite vegetables.
Your garden: August 23
Your garden: August 23
What's happening in your garden this week?
Elderly, cool bird was last in NZ's aviaries
Elderly, cool bird was last in NZ's aviaries
Until recently, Dunedin Botanic Garden aviary was the last in New Zealand to hold a yellow-tail cockatoo, an elderly male bird.
Your garden: August 17
Your garden: August 17
What's happening in your garden this week?
Rhododendron flowering starts
Rhododendron flowering starts
In April we wrote about the beauty of the ornamental flower buds of the large-leaved rhododendron species, R. falconeri.
Don't be seduced by mild weather, soil is cold and wet
Don't be seduced by mild weather, soil is cold and wet
Gardeners can be seduced by mild weather at this time of year, as the temptation is to sow seeds in open ground, even though the soil is cold and wet.
Hot plants, cold temperatures
Hot plants, cold temperatures
As summer becomes a distant memory, consider growing plants that give a Mediterranean feel, transporting you to warm lands if only through a window from the comfort of your favourite armchair.
Peas can be sown when soil surface is dry
Peas can be sown when soil surface is dry
Early varieties of peas (Dwarf Massey needs no staking) can be sown as soon as the soil surface is dry enough.