The previous Saturday our garden club visited Chris Ballantyne's garden. It was a revisit for me (see blog entry for May 2019 We're just dropping in your garden Chris... !) Things have changed a little - there are now two greenhouses for tropical plants in the backyard and the entire vege patch is now caged because of the pukekos. Chris showed us his bubbler - his comfrey tea/compost brew that hooks up to his roof stormwater AND his neighbours. He also mows his next door neighbours lawn in return for some land to grow his native plants. Luckily his neighbour doesn't mind and is also his brother-in-law! Everyone was very impressed and interested in all the plants and they were happy they did not have to trek too far to see a garden as he lives on Te Atatu Peninsula.
This Saturday we had another garden visit to Puriri Lane. It's a bit further out in Drury and is a beautiful English woodland style perennial garden - now in full bloom. All the trees are underplanted with an amazing variety of perennials that the owners initially had to source from England as they couldn't buy them here. Now they have so many they operate a mail order/online nursery for keen gardeners and you are able to visit on certain days but you need to book as it's a private garden. There's ponds, a cure little shepherds hut shed, a gardenware boutique, plants for sale, borders full of flowers of every kind in drifts. It's been here for 40 years but only in the last 7 has it been planted up to what it is today, initially nothing but trees with grass underneath. I suspect that's how most country gardens start out as bare paddocks. We paid $10 entrance free but recouped this buy buying some plants - I bought a lady's mantle and a hair's tail ornamental grass. Karen went a bit all out and bought herself a designer bee and butterfly bath and several plants she had her eye on. I was going to buy a moon calendar - one of those round turn the wheel ones but it was $12 and I figured I could just easily make one myself...
Then on the way back we dropped into Roger's Garden Centre. Where I saw the famed Roger, still at the till, giving garden advice to all customers, while his cat was guarding the money. I didn't buy anything but Jeanette queued up for some plants while Bev whizzed us around giving a guided tour among the narrow paths absolutely crammed with plants at a bargain price. Perhaps next time when we have more time Bev will take me AND I'll come with a list to fill a pink wheelbarrow with plants. On one side is an amazing gully where Roger dumps all his unwanted plants and it has now grown wild with orange morning glory all over and it looks pretty spectacular (or a nightmare depending on which way you look at it) like the plants have taken over the zombies and won. Everyone looked pretty happy with their bargains on their way out, except Jeannette accidentally bumped her nose on the carboot as she was putting the plants in the back so was a bit sore on the way home.
Karen was very happy to drive us as she'd discovered the garden in the first place online when she went to buy tulips. I must say Karen is a bit of a connoisseur gardener and likes to source her plants from far away places and thinks nothing of driving to get there. She's also been to the Taranaki Garden Festival twice and is booked to go to the Cambridge Garden Festival as well. I'm just happy if I get to tag along!
One of my must-dos this spring is a visit to Barbara's garden which is just down the road from Bev's garden. Barbara says its best in spring to visit so hopefully next Monday she's home and I can pop in, like when mum and I visited Pat's garden.
Puriri Lane had many flowers I'd never seen before - this pale blue one behind the euphorbia intrigued me. Does anyone know it's name??
