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They call the beginning of June Winter, but that's just to round up the calendar numbers. Actually it starts with the shortest day, which is fast approaching. I say this to make myself feel better about how behind I am...

Pots of cuttings lining up ...something wintry this way comes. Yes thumb pricking is the highlight of May as I rush to get cuttings in pots during this prime time. I always put off making the Rugosas and other super...

What a magnificent month is that of April! I have a birthday, which usually includes catching up with some family and friends and as of 2023 it will also be the birthday of my 1st grandchild who was born last...

This headline is a serious double entendre, possibly a triple entendre (pretty sure triple is not the French word for triple....looked it up, it's "trois fois", so therefore a "trois fois entendre", doesn't sound quite the same...) Whatever, the Blast...

I'm always so late at getting this missive in the airways, but this time I have gone past late and into total fail...I shall try to remedy the situation by completing January in  the very first week (or die in...

November is the month of the roses...by the middle of the month, ie now, nearly all the roses are opening their first buds, if not in full flush, if not already finished! Because I had so many new cut back...

Late again...don't know how this keeps happening...the months fly by in a haze of gardens and cows with very little computer time! A certain amount of time at this time of year is spent in rapt examination of new faces...

"Mlle Francesca Kruger" producing perfect blooms in August ...A favourite quote from my father! Not sure what happened to August...lost in a blur of gardening and tending my broken husband who foolishly prolapsed a disc and became non-operational...progress is painfully...

Possibly the least jolly month is July. On frosty mornings like there was earlier today one can feel happy about the garden and the world in general, but July is the month just to get through I feel. When you...

June heralds the start of Winter, although in my view it's mostly Autumn really until the 21st and the Winter Solstice and then its really Winter. The recent flooding rains in the South are clearly their, be it slightly behind...

May heralds true Autumn, with Winter knocking on the door at times. It is still a very "growy" month though, so the garden is still looking floriferous , lots of the annuals are still doing their thing and of course...

I'm pretty sure I've said some other month, maybe October or November, was my favourite month before, but I was obviously lying, as clearly April is my fave! It contains my birth date (which can be scary, especially if the...

Time flies bla bla. March is in her last week and has been rather a wonderful month to date, excepting 1 measly 5 mil shower hasn't kept the green ball rolling as well as we would have liked. So as...

February is here, surely the worst Summer month in the garden (some would argue the worst month, period) The days are the hottest and the sun is the sizzliest. Trying to get new little things in the ground to fill...

We've certainly had some hot days already this Summer, some records I believe. We've also had some nice dousings of rain, a hail storm, a 7mil and a glorious 21 mil last week. Glad to say we missed out on...

Christmas done and dusted, how lucky we all are to be in NZ and gather with our families at this time, unlike most of the world. My family gathering was a bit early, we celebrated on the 23 rd while...

On Sunday we'll be hosting the last open day for 2020. What an interesting and tumultuous year it has been. Including in the world and in the garden. We'll forget the whole world thing at the moment, and concentrate on...

Ah November! It is definitely the month if you're a rose grower. And November 2020 is certainly shaping up to be a good one in the garden. Most years as November approaches I think the roses are going to be early,...

I'm not talking rose genetics here, but human...My life has been pretty well made up of horses and gardens. I grew up in the suburbs with parents not too interested in animals, but both heavily into gardening. However, both my...

I only wrote a week ago and it was winter then, but we seem to have turned a corner on Sunday at the Open day and suddenly the garden is feeling like Spring. The mounds of aquilegia foliage are all...