Category: Wild About Weeds

Boring grass be gone

When I bought my house in April 2016, there was grass, grass and more grass (not even lush green grass) along with a few ornamentals. Even the soil was lifeless - not a worm in sight.

The ornamentals had to go - they had no real purpose. I like plants to have at least two uses, such as attractive, edible, attract native wildlife, scent, unusual seeds, attract beneficial insects, add nutrients to soil, NZ native - especially those that are local to the area and now rare.

Since then, I've planted fast growing natives by the fences and areas of wild flowers or smaller native area to create interest, give privacy and shelter.

Front garden
These photos show how I'm working with nature to add interest and improve the environment for creature.
Hover over each photo for the story.

The spartan front yard in property sale listing April 2016.

In the beginning. The front area when I bought the house in April 2016

Today. The front area southwest corner (top right in first pic) July 2019. Purple akeake, lavender, hebe add colour and create areas for bees and other insects.

NZ Native carex planted along the concrete garden edging, softens the look.

Front garden northwest corner. Purple and green akeake are taller than the 1.8 meter fence. The hebe has stunning magenta flowers the bees love. The seaweed in front will encourage micro organisms that will decompose the seaweed and make lovely soil.

Georgie cat likes hanging out under the ribbonwood. Her eyes are the same colour as the leaves.

Back garden
The back garden had a raised bed, a dead lawn, and some straggly pittosporums. Photos show how adding plants over time has added colour, life, diversity and more.

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First reccy on a new job

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A very large house with a small garden area, embedded on a densely housed hill in CBD.
The first job was to see what was involved in refreshing the garden area. We took photos of the various areas, cleared the weeds, pruned the very old rose right back and created a large compost pile.
Hover over the photos for explanations.

Weeds in area in front of house. Left of upward path. Not sure if this is client's property

Area between our property and next door. No-one's land?

Still behind the house, looking along the wall

Ivy growing over shed can get into cracks and affect building integrity

View from behind the house. Large dead tree

The very very old climbing rose is now cut back.

Area on rhs facing house. Has an olive tree and rosemary in it. We're considering creating a Mediterranean garden here as it already has suitable plants and is very dry.

The rhs area from the deck. Imagine this with no weeds and some colour

The compost pile we started under the stairs. we're looking at options to contain this.

Looking down to utility area. Weeds to be sprayed

The lhs garden has some natives in it, though they are very leggy as haven't been trimmed for some time.
We'll add to these.

Another view of lhs bed with rengas along the border and a straggly hebe, we cut several dead branches off it.

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By the beach

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This almost coastal property wants low maintenance plants that keep the weeds down. There are a surprising number of options. We chose small plants so they get established easily. Green akeake, red matipou, muhlenbeckia astonii, manuka, coprosma proquina, astelia banksii small silver spear.
Hover over the photos for captions.

Green akeake towards the back, hope will give some shelter from wind

Small astelia will fill this space and will probably need splitting.

Another green akeake on the west boundary

Small astelia. I split one of the plants to make three.

Along the north boundary. more Muhlenbeckia astonii - hard to see as they have very small leaves

Parsley seedlings were popping up all over the property. We left many in to grow on.

We've done most of the weeding. Next step is to select plants and get them in.

Chatham Island for-get-me-not Myosotidium hortensia

Fuschia procumbens hidden by galinsoga weed,

Native grasses contrast against the weeds

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Berhampore front garden

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A lovely wee garden in Berhampore. Roses, camellias, grevillia, callistemon. More photos in the Facebook gallery.

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Newtown cottage

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Another garden we maintain. When we first took it over, it had a lot of pest plants but these are now under control.

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For the love of iris

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Just back from the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular and assimilating all the gardens and beauty within. Looking through my photos, there are so many beautiful bearded irises I've shared some here with some from last year to show the colour variety. From subtle to bold and brilliant.

Remember irises like at least half a day full sun and leave the rhizomes exposed.

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Garden blog

Boring grass be gone

First reccy on a new job

By the beach

Berhampore front garden

Newtown cottage

For the love of iris

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