Kia ora
The hardest part about starting a newsletter is writing the first sentence. I had intended and probably told a few people too, that I wanted to get my first newsletter done for Xmas – seems I missed that one. I then decided to write about drought tolerant plants which before Xmas was very topical as we had had a drier than normal spring and high temperatures during November and December coupled with wind, we were well below wilting point. What a difference a few days can make with quite a lot of rain and cooler days over Xmas and New year, we now have good soil moisture levels – Yay. Now such is a gardener’s life. I wish it would warm up a bit – and what’s with the dump of snow on the Ruahine range in early January?
Of course, that does mean the weather can just as easily turn dry again, and growing plants for resilience to whatever the weather throws at them is a sensible way to go. I did write about drought tolerant plants, but after 2000 words decided it was more suited to a separate blog rather than a summer catch up. Expect it in your inbox soon.
The Nursery
The balmier days and nights of summer are a very rewarding time for the sowing of many perennial seeds. Often germination is quicker and more consistent, and there is less stress from temperature extremes and the risks of over watering. Slugs are less of an issue too.
Seed collecting has started, and that means regular walks round the garden with pen and paper bags to collect seed. One of my greatest rewards is collecting seed from plants I have grown and sowing that seed to grow yet more plants. Many plants also have very attractive seed heads, making a lovely addition to summer and autumn gardens.

Seeds of Scabiosa and Nigella ripening
New Stock
The warmer weather also means that new plants are coming ready for sale a lot more quickly and we have several new varieties in stock and others such as Echinacea purpurea – back in stock.
- Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake master – don’t you just love the name?)
- Astrantia major
- Lychnis coronaria alba
- Aquilegia canadensis
- Artemisia lactifolia
- Antennaria dioica (pussytoes – another great name)
- Penstemon digitalis ‘Huskers red’
- Zanthoxylum piperitum (Sichuan pepper)
- Eurybia divaricata syn. Aster (wood aster)

Plant Profile
With our focus on planting for the bees, birds, butterflies and other tiny creatures I try to make time to observe their behaviors and food preferences. Often, particularly with bees and butterflies, we think primarily of all the pretty flowers first – maybe because these are the ones that are more visible to us humans. If we take the time to look up, we will often find that trees, even those with tiny and seemingly insignificant flowers are highly valued by bees, butterflies, and various useful wasps and flies. Oaks and Maples are a popular source of pollen for bees in spring when they are feeding their brood, and the tiny flowers on our native Pseudopanax are very popular too.
Summers best pick though would have to go to Quillarja saponaria – the soapbark tree. Not to be confused with the Soapnut tree (Sapindus mukorossi) has been buzzing with bees, native admiral butterflies (both the red and yellow) as well as several fly and wasp species. At least some identified as hoverflies and Ichneumon wasps. What’s more, the tree has proven to be very hardy and drought resistant. Native to the ‘Matorral’ ecoregion – characterised by rocky open scrubland with annual summer drought, the tree is often used for regenerating arid areas. It is also a particularly beautiful tree. An evergreen with small shiny leaves very similar to some of our native Pittosporum. Apparently, it will grow to twenty meters so maybe not so great for the small garden, though hardy enough to be a shelter tree. They also have lovely form. I will definitely be planting some more this winter. We have a few available in the nursery too.

Quillarja flower

Red Admiral butterfly

Leaves and flowers of Quillarja
Vegetable Garden
Later planting has had benefits in the vegetable garden. With Pete working on a project in town and myself very focused on the nursery and new perennial gardens, much of the vegetable planting was later than usual. For several crops, observation suggests that waiting till the soil is just a little warmer for the likes of beans, corn, squash, potatoes and carrots can make a big difference to both the speed of germination and its overall growth rate, all these crops are looking lush and strong. We can now look forward to bumper harvests for our winter stores even if picking is a little slim at the moment.
I should have taken this advice for the tomatoes though. Usually, the tomatoes are planted in the last week of November as a mid-November frost is a normal occurrence here. In 2023 I got away with planting a couple of weeks earlier – no mid-November frost. This season after a couple weeks of warm days and mild nights on an overcast day in mid-November I planted out our 35 tomato plants. That same afternoon a southerly blast came through – guess who hadn’t checked the forecast! Not quite a frost but those tomatoes sure looked like they were gone, most had gone yellow some had lots of brown leaves – devastating. For a week I couldn’t bear to look at them. Pete gave them a nutrient boost with cow manure as a liquid brew, A few were replaced with a small number still in the nursery that were supposed to be for a friend. Amazingly they have recovered, and they are now lovely and green and growing well. Fruit set seems a little lower than usual though. Lesson learnt – check the forecast or maybe the lesson is tomatoes are more resilient than we give them credit for?



Happy gardening,
Louise
With 15 years running a gardening business plus a few years going back to my original career as a teacher, I decided to follow my heart and open a plant Nursery from home. I feel very privileged to be able to work from home doing what I love best: growing plants and creating gardens.