Garden 21 Trevor Gifford Rose Garden

I’ve been away again.

I’ve been away again. But the best kind of away.  I put on one of my favourite hats to do my job as a Botanical Tour Guide for Botanica World Discoveries.  I hosted a bus load of garden tourists across New Zealand over two back-to-back tours.  Firstly, it was the NZ Taranaki Garden Spectacular and Private Gardens Tour followed by the NZ Private Gardens and … Continue reading I’ve been away again.

This is not what I was expecting

Coming back to the garden after such a long time out of it feels weird.   It isn’t helped by the weather.  We are just three days away from the start of the meteorological summer and to be honest it feels like the early days of spring.  Instead of slowly raising the temperatures and increasing the sunshine, the season seems to be stuck in some kind … Continue reading This is not what I was expecting

I didn’t intend to leave you so long

There has been a lot going on since I last chatted with you.   Just re-reading my last post, brought back all the feels – the nerves, the determination, the long, long list of things to do, and the excitement.  There was so much ahead and a lot of it was unknown.  But now it is all behind me and I look back and wonder how … Continue reading I didn’t intend to leave you so long

Sunny Days are Here Again

After a period of life getting in the way of the garden with its dodgy weather, emotionally anxious pandemic, teens and exam related stress and non gardening computer related activities, the pendulum swung back in my favour.  All it took was for me to muster up all my everything to tackle all the non gardening things indoors while the weather was less than ideal, the … Continue reading Sunny Days are Here Again

Getting the Christmas Spirit Early

Normally my only early thoughts of Christmas are getting the spuds into the garden on time.  Jersey Benne’s take 100 days and so the planting day is 16th September.  Then I turn my back on all things festive until about two weeks before and have a massive panic as I cram in everything that needs to be done. Well not this year.  It has been … Continue reading Getting the Christmas Spirit Early

10 Task Thursday

Yesterday a found myself with a bit of a headache I just couldn’t shake so I erred on the side of caution and didn’t push myself to do much at all.  So today was a bit of catch up.   It wasn’t like I didn’t do anything yesterday, but I’ve decided to be proactive regarding Christmas and am making a few bits and bobs as gifts.  … Continue reading 10 Task Thursday