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Comfrey...so good

Comfrey has many benefits. Get the sterile one, Symphytum Officinale (common comfrey), which is propagated by the root, not seeds. The tap root goes deep into the soil to bring up the nutrients for nearby plants. Plant it under your fruit trees with a wild flower mix that attracts beneficial insects.
You can also soak the leaves in water for a health tonic for your plants.
The plants below are going in a client's orchard this week.

Comfrey's taproot goes deep into the soil bringing nutrients to nearby plants and improving the soil. When it does off over winter,, you can use the leaves as a plant mulch. It's especially good under fruit trees

Berhampore garden

A small garden in a sunny spot that we keep looking its best by propagating and letting desired plants self-seed making it very cost-effective.
See the progress below. Hover over photos for information.

Here's the garden in spring 2019.

Self seeding cineraria adds vibrancy to the garden.

A close up of the composite cineraria deep pink flowers

These flowers self seed - free plants. We tend to them so they look their best.

What started as small potted rosemary and thyme plants are now healthy large plants. We take cuttings from them to propagate elsewhere in the garden

What started as small potted rosemary and thyme plants are now healthy large plants. We take cuttings from them to propagate elsewhere in the garden

Pansies, alyssum and cineraria under the magnolia tree

We bought a few pansies for more colour and they too self seed. These orange ones are particularly lovely

22 November 2018
What a joy to add more to this sunny garden.
See previous photos in our Facebook gallery.

Convolvulus and arum lilies

Thyme in flower is attracting loads of bees

This bed is so dry and the soil depleted. We've cut the lavender back again as we did last year when it made a comeback.

This is what's left of the previous raised bed. The soil was dry and had no substance. Lots of stones in the bottom and weedmat.

The album below is from October 2017, just after we started gardening here. You can see how much the plants have grown in the photos above.

Star jasmine getting started

Cineraria seedlings

Just planted small rosemary and thyme

A very dry raised bed with an unpruned lavender

Arum lilies by the house

Self-sown cineraria seedlings in crack between lawn and path

Just planted this wee cuphea

Just planted this cute fucshia

Existing azalea ready for a prune

Lime green leaves and pale grey magnolia branches.

Fresh spring leaves on the magnolia

Soil and stones under magnolia tree

Lawn be gone

When I bought this house in April 2016, there was grass, grass and more grass (not even lush green grass), along with a few ornamental plants. 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 reasons for existing. Reasons 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 are now rare.

Since then, I've planted fast growing natives by the fences and areas of wild flowers or smaller native areas 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 wildlife.
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.

First reccy on a new job

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

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

Concrete path to be sprayed

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

a wider view of the no-one's land area

Looking up from behind the house.

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

A climbing rose with canker

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.

By the beach

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

Red matipou towards the back

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.

Hydrangeas now pruned.

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,

Weeds with libertia and muhlenbeckia

Tiny self-sown hebes.

Native grasses contrast against the weeds

Pulling out the karaka seedlings

Muhlenbeckia will soon cover the bare soil.

A bad hair day

Now weeded and the plants can breathe and grow.

WIP, weeding in progress

Restoring the balance

This Southgate property has a large bush area where weeds had taken over and karaka had become the dominant species, considerably reducing diversity. Although karaka is a NZ native, it isn't native to Wellington and takes over from our local plants. Te Motu Kairangi explains more.
We are gradually managing the herbaceous weeds. With the karaka, we are hand pulling the seedlings and chopping down larger plants then Stump Stopping the cut. This seems to be working though karaka does re-sprout from below the cut, so we have to be more persistent than the karaka.
We're careful not to take out too many larger trees at once as the area is on a bank and we don't want to disturb the terrain more than necessary.

Assessing the bush area Aug 2018
Hover over the images to learn about our first visit to this bush area.

Taller mahoe is a great pioneer plant. Loads of karaka seedlings in front

Bold karaka make their way through the tradescantia

Looking down to a large flat area in the bush

Happy to spot a few self-seeded kohekohe plants

We discovered a few other plants such as this japonica, hydrangeas, feijoas and camellia.

Starting work

First task was to dig some rough steps for safe access and to start dealing to the weeds (tradescantia, convolvulus, galinsoga, bay tree, with old man's beard and German ivy on the fringes).

Rough steps from the property to the bush area

Same steps, but looking up to the house area

A group of native self-seeded plants, mainly ngaio and mahoe

Mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus, whitey wood) in front. Karaka ( (Corynocarpus laevigatus, New Zealand laurel) at the back.

Some creature finds the mahoe leaf tasty

Pulling out the karaka seedlings

Great to see some self-seeded ngaio (Myoporum laetum)

More of the good fellas, ngaio and coprosma repens

And as we clear we discover more self-seeded kawakawa(Macropiper excelsum).

The flat area with the start of our pile of felled karaka

Continuing our mahi
October/November/December 2018. Hover for explanations

Felled karaka trees. We lay them horizontally between trees. This is to help keep water on the property and gradually form a shelf, rather than have water and soil run straight down the hill off the property.

Here's a sawn then Stump Stopped karaka. We leave some of the stumps quite high to put the horizontal branches behind and to hang on to when clambering around the slope.

Steps from next door property. They're random lumps of concrete and we had to move some of them as unstable

Great crop of galinsoga and convolvulus.

Lovely to discover three or four kohekohe on the property.

Gregor in his element, sawing bossy karaka

Summer 2019
Already we've noticed more birds (types and numbers), seen dragonflies and more native seedlings popping up.
Now we've made space, let the light in, and it's planting time, we're hoping to plant some Wellington natives, ideally those that are getting rare in the wild. This will add to the wider ecosystem and increase diversity in this little piece of bush.

Making access across the bank having sprayed the galinsoga and tradescantia

Karaka berries plant themselves with damp fleshy fertiliser, giving them a great start in life.

Making access across the bank having sprayed the galinsoga and tradescantia

Garden potential

A private and flat section is a rare thing in Wellington. Over time, we're keen to help this Kingston garden show its potential.
Hover over the photos for captions.

Recent photos show progress

The clients' young daughter enjoys exploring the flowers and food from the garden.
Hover over photos for descriptions. Click them to enlarge.

Native plants from WCC for the road reserve area.

Once established the 2 makomako (wineberry) took off and are looking lush.

WCC road reserve plants we put in from the street Nov 2021

We sowed some sweetpeas against the railings. Here they are in green growth mode. Later they were covered in pink, mauve and white flowers and of course the glorious scent.

In the front bed we added some local native plants and gave the renga renga lilies some extra care.

We sowed some sweetpeas against the railings. Here they are in green growth mode. Later they were covered in pink, mauve and white flowers and of course the glorious scent.

There were already some flowering shrubs, such as these intense blue hydrangeas, in the front garden which we fed and managed pests.

And this flourishing pink rhododendron was already there.

Native plants we planted on south boundary.

Early days

The garden at the beginning. In discussion with the owners the plans evolved over time.

Over the fence wattle and karo

Curious cat

Old man's beard, an invasive weed

Ivy scrambling up the tree and will eventually kill it.

One of the ivy trunks

Innocent looking ivy seedling

Clearing other side of fence

Galinsoga, known by several names (asthma weed) is common in Island Bay area

Ivy being cleared

Rhododendron has breathing space now we've removed weedmat and some of the aggies

Wait until seeds ripen before cutting. We can scatter them down the bank

Front bed after weedmat pulled out

Cut and gelled flax growing near drain and a trip hazard on path

Person cutting dead leaves off large flax

Remove this conifer which has been smothered by ivy

Two full fadges. One green waste. One flax

Tied up the currants, gave them compost and foliar feed. Photo of currant plants.

Pinterest for ideas

Check out our Pinterest boards for planting and garden inspiration, plants for specific situations and much more.
There are boards on edibles, how to..., seasonal tasks, ground cover, grasses, NZ natives. It's a visual feast with links to useful information.

Wild about Weeds Pinterest page

It's lily time!

Here in Aotearoa the lilies are blooming gorgeous. I planted some for the first time and am delighted with the results. Deep pink flowers with huge antlers that wobble in the breeze and a delightful subtle scent.

See more on The Garden of Jury's blog which showcases some other stunners.

Digging spider plants

Digging up spider plants Chlorophytum comosum is like dealing with the Titanic's iceberg (I'm guessing ).
There may be only a little showing on top but underneath there's twice as much bulk comprising roots and tubers. This sneaky plant also produces plantlets at the tips of branches. Spider plant is clearly focussed on reproducing and takes no risks to ensure there are squillions of offspring.

Don't be deceived by the leaves on top. Underneath there is twice as much bulk as roots and tubers

Chlorophytum comosum

North Island Bay

A large varied garden in Island Bay Wellington with NZ natives, fruit trees, veges, ornamentals and more. See earlier photos in the Facebook gallery

Berhampore neighbours

What a joy to have two clients living next to each other. It was a pleasure to get stuck in to this garden and remove the weeds which were harbouring so many snails. That's when I wish I still had chickens.

NZ native plants. All or nothing - or some of each?

Kiwis have their preferences regarding planting native plants in their gardens. Some are from the staunch eco-sourced natives only brigade, while others prefer formal gardens with exotic plantings.
Abbie's blog talks about why they refer diversity at Tikorangi Gardens. No limit of ten plant types for them - and I heartily agree. Biodiversity is where it's at!

Mindful thoughts for gardeners

Subtitled 'Sowing seeds of awareness' this little book helps me connect with why I love gardening and why I do it. It encourages me to stop and look deeper and purposefully at nature.
Clea Danaan is a gardener and teacher on a mission to help people fall in love with the earth. (Paraphrased from back cover).
Clea's website

Taputeranga on high

This property has some newly established native plants. We maintain and care for the garden. There are more photos in the Facebook gallery.

Berhampore front garden

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

Newtown cottage

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

Hidden garden in the city

One of our regular maintenance jobs is to give this garden some love.

Waiongana Gardens

What a delight to spend a weekend enjoying others' hard mahi. Not to mention the huge choice of gardens from the three garden-focussed festivals in the 'Naki at the time: the Powerco Taranaki Garden Fest, Sustainable Backyards and Fringe Gardens. There's something for everyone, from food forests to rhodos; from small and simple to grand and complex.
Here are some photos from one of my faves this year Waiongana Gardens, by the river.

Bees partying on the poppies

Poppy foliage with a few pink poppy flowers

Native and exotic plants with colour contrast

Pond area with rocks, boardwalk, grasses

A different view of the pond area

Granny's bonnet flower aka columbine aka aquilegia

Compost stacks with wire holding the weeds in

beautifully decorated hummingbird cake

Nicely garnished mini quiche

View from garden to river

Cabbage trees aka ti kouka in full flower by the river

Waiongana Gardens are known for their peonies. The bees agree

Yellow leaved tree

Acer tree

Fire wood stacked as a fence

pine cone mown into the lawn

Poppy flower with seed head in foreground

Pink poppy flowers

Open sided potting shed

Pink peony flower

White petal yellow centre daises

For the love of iris

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.