Downsizing, not downgrading

Gillian Vine talks to a Mosgiel couple about downsizing, roses and the fate of a giant cactus.

Daphne and John Macfarlane were feeling panicky. They had sold their Outram property and had six weeks before the new owners moved in, but with only three weeks left, they still hadn’t found a house.

To the rescue came their postie, who had heard of a Mosgiel house about to come on the market.

"We bought it, bang!" Daphne says.

That was three and a-half years ago and John recalls they moved in two weeks later. "They [previous owners] were taking their last stuff out, then we went in."

With the Macfarlanes came dozens of pots of plants and cuttings from their Outram garden. But where to grow them was the question.

In Mosgiel, they have a section of 411sq m, about one-eighth the size of the property they left, which was "far too big for us, with John’s ill-health and I couldn’t do it on my own", Daphne says.

It must have been tempting to start planting immediately, but Daphne left everything, including her roses, in their containers.

"The first thing I did was clear the garden completely, taking almost everything out," she says.

"The previous owners had a great big cactus that had to go, as I knew if we kept it, I was sure to fall into it.

"Our garden helper duly dug it out and several off us lifted it into a wool sack."

John was all for consigning the beast to the dump, but someone had other ideas and it found a new home at Mercy Hospital.

"They love it there," John says.

Other plants that were taken out were given to ‘‘good homes", then Daphne composted the beds before planting began.

"I knew I would put my 15 mini [miniature] roses in a nice, warm place by the house," she says, but there were bush roses to position.

Ten had been brought from Outram, some of her favourites being too big to move. In a mammoth effort by Otago Rose Society members, others were dug up, grown in pots and sold at the society’s annual show.

"We had a fabulous lemon tree but the only place it could go here was by the front door, the only place where tomatoes do really well. That’s one thing I really regret having to leave," Daphne says.

Moving gave her a chance to discover the truth of her mother’s adage that peonies sulk for three years after being moved.

"I brought three here and one is flowering for the first time."

However, she and John are "quite happy" with what they ended up with.

"I knew we had to make do with special things, starting with the roses."

Downsizing has not meant giving up showing, and the Macfarlanes have continued to exhibit successfully at the Otago Rose Society’s shows.

The erratic weather this spring has Daphne fretting over whether she’ll have high-quality blooms to enter in tomorrow’s show.

However, she will be very much in evidence as she is running the plant stall, at which her donations include potted roses, including at least one grown from seed.

The Macfarlanes’ garden shows that downsizing may be a challenge, but the result can be colourful and rewarding.

DAPHNE’S DOWNSIZING TIPS

1. Go around your garden, choose what you don’t want to leave and start taking cuttings and potting up.

2. Don’t delay: start potting up as soon as you know you’ll be moving.

3. Be prepared to put in work before starting planting at the new place.

4. When planting, give priority to the plants that don’t like staying in containers.

SEEING & SHOWING

The Otago Rose Society’s annual show is being held tomorrow at St Peter’s Church hall, Hillside Rd, Dunedin. Exhibiting roses is free and blooms can be taken to the hall from 3pm until 7pm today and tomorrow from 7.30am to 9.30am.

The ORS show is open to the public from 1pm to 5pm tomorrow. Entry ($5) includes afternoon tea. There will be plant sales, raffles and a rose identification service.