An Outram gardener is getting ready for the town's annual flower show. Gillian Vine reports.
No-one is quite sure when the first Outram flower show was held but it appears to have been at least 60 years ago.
It has been an annual event since, attracting wide support from exhibitors and those who go just to admire the line-up of flowers and veges or children's artwork - and browse the well-stocked sales table.
Getting ready for the show usually means sorting out the best blooms or biggest cabbages but Raewyn Hodgson, of Outram, is more likely to be taking pieces from her much-admired sedums or lifting seedlings of her sea holly (Eryngium) for the sales table.
A firm believer in supporting the show by exhibiting, Raewyn will "wander round on the day" and find things to enter, which should not be too difficult, as her tomatoes and "tennis ball" courgettes are coming along nicely; Alstroemeria, canna lilies and a pretty cream rose are among the flowers with show potential; and the foliage of her numerous hostas - "they've done really well this year" - are untouched by slugs or snails.
Although Raewyn says her garden is mainly a spring one, with large displays of daffodils, camellias and small bearded irises, the framework of natives she and her husband, Alan, have planted ensure year-round interest.
When they bought the property, there was a mature pin oak (Quercus palustris), a white birch (Betula papyrifera) and a cabbage tree, but little else in the garden, giving the Hodgsons plenty of scope.
Apart from natives and daffodils, Raewyn has assembled an interesting selection of perennials, including several plants originally from her grandmother's garden. As well as the black mondo grass (Ophiopogon), which grows alongside a sedum with almost identical foliage colour, she has two green-leaved forms, one of which has white flowers.
The loveliest corner could easily be overlooked, as it is behind a fence that screens the swimming pool.
In front of the pool house, with its roof of intertwined ivy and clematis, is a pond filled with waterlilies and goldfish that swim to the edge looking for food. The water is kept clean without using chemicals, as Alan made a velcro filter that just needs periodic cleaning.
Clever planting keeps the cool look, while mushrooms crafted by Raewyn's sister-in-law lighten the mood and it is not surprising that the Hodgsons like to sit in the pool house relaxing and enjoying the view of Maungatua in the distance.
The show
The Outram flower show will be held at the Outram church hall, Holyhead St, on Friday, February 17. The show is open to the public from 2pm to 7pm. Admission is $1, afternoon tea $2 and there will be raffles and a market table.
