D I N A H
I still don't have a "proper" garden, but I have a few things in pots and I've been doing some severe pruning which has unearthed all sorts of stuff! Walnuts! No sign of a walnut tree! Three very BIG trees that I think are cherry or plum. And a very prickly native which I can't be certain of!
The Jacaranda is from our Australia garden; also the Trachelospermum jasminoides - But taken since last year's pics.
My grand old stalwart Trachelospermum. Yes, I have it here (actually, in the niece's side of the garden; not quite flowering here yet.)
Petrea volubilis, which I had in several gardens; have yet to find one here.
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Google objects to file sizes! I'll try to re-size the next lot!
I'll try to find a few more, but I'll send these now before Lord Effingham-Google says the file is too big!
I've got some muddled!
[Like many of you, Dinah sent batches of photos & captions in a few emails because of "Lord Effingham-Google", but not all of the captions matched up to the attached photos... Hopefully I've managed to sort them all out - IDV]
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Magnolia. No, of course I didn't plant it!
Look at the size of that thing!
(I cheated a wee bit as this was taken at bro-in-law's place;
we were living there at the time so it counts!)
Arum lilies
I call them Bill and Ben.
(From a very old English TV show for kiddies.)
Camelia
French lavender
(at the time, sharing terrace space with herbs)
Native tree fern (removed as niece doesn't want it!!!)
Orange-flowered Clivia (above), with seedling of a native timber tree which I think is Miro - AKA spiky bastard.
Pectinopitys ferruginea, commonly known as miro and brown pine, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to 25 metres, with a trunk up to 1–1.5 metres in diameter (Wikipedia)
And, below, a better picture, but I sacrificed some blood to get it!
Pittosporum crassifolium - Maori name Karo. Salt-hardy so is often used as coastal hedging. Its nectar is a Tūī favourite.
English lavender, which is "not wanted beside the pond" so will be moved to my patch. (That ugly-looking stick is its root!).
Guessing flowering cherry or plum?
[Judging by the bark, I'm going with cherry - IDV]
Basket of pansies
NZ Rock Lily
Rengarenga (Maori) Arthropodium cirratum commonly known as rengarenga, renga lily, New Zealand rock lily, or maikaika, is a species of herbaceous perennial plant, endemic to New Zealand, where it may once have been farmed. It is used for medicine as well as food, and has symbolic importance in traditional Māori culture. Wikipedia
[Dinah emailed this photo of the rengarenga in bloom early yesterday morning, but because I'm so crap with keeping on top of my emails, I've only just seen it.
Sorry, Dinah - IDV 21:15 11/11/2025]
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I'd better tell you now that Jon is correct in his ID of a mystery plant here. And the leaves appeared silvery 'cos it was "not very well." A brutal pruning and general tidy-up and the Vireya rhododenron's leaves are green again!
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I hope you've recovered from your surprise bloodletting now, Dinah? Honestly, you didn't have to go to all that trouble just to take part, but I'm glad you did. Take part, that is. Not spray blood all over your new garden...
Anyway, thank you so much for showing us your new garden in New Zealand. We can only wonder what it will look like this time next year!
Fabulous, even in its "infancy"!
ReplyDeleteHow could anyone not want a tree-fern?! Jx
PS "Basket of Pansies" just about sums up the bulk of the readership here, methinks 😍
Hahahaha! We all have a well-fertilised sense of humour!
DeleteI'm the deathly pale ones teetering over the right edge (I may have had a gin or twelve...)
Deletethere it is, exactly what Jon said - how does someone NOT want a tree fern?? I'll take it!
DeleteBill and Ben the Flowerpot Men! Nobody knows who I'm talking about when I mention them. At last, someone who knows.
ReplyDelete"Weeeed!"
DeleteFlobble-obble-obb! Jx
DeleteYour right Dinah, nothing worse than a very prickly native. Unless of course they are a very handsome Argentinian.
ReplyDeleteI loved the pictures, your off to a great start. And I think by the looks of the tree with white blooms, it's a cherry tree too. Sure looks like the one we have anyhow. And the Clivia is lovely. I tried to grow some French lavender this season. It did well till about mid-summer, but then it didn't bloom much after that, and barely hung on till autumn. I suspect it won't survive the winter.
Tell Bill and Ben that there are multiple weeds in my garden, just in case they are wondering where she has gone.
ReplyDeletePlease tell me how to stop my lavender from going woody?
That's a flipping big Cherry tree, or a flipping big Plum tree - glorious either way!
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Lovely photos, Dinah! Y'all are inspirational when it comes to gardening. I have ONE little pot on the patio now, It's succulents. My thumbs are absolutely not green! xoxo
ReplyDeleteIs that Touchwood from Catweazle lounging next to Ben? I'm quite taken with the Clivia I have one on the kitchen window ledge, from time to time I have to take it out of its pot and trim its roots.
ReplyDeleteWell-spotted, Mitzi! It may very well be!
ReplyDeleteSalmay, Dalmay, Adonay! Jx
DeleteWell, now I know how your childhoods were spent!
DeleteI love jacaranda, they do very well as street trees here in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteGrafton in NSW, Australia, calls itself "Jacaranda Capital" or something like that. When we lived on 10 acres I planted 7 (I think, or maybe 9) on the approach driveway and one big one behind the house.
DeleteI must stress that I wasn't born when Catweazle came out, I became familiar with the programme fairly recently through Talking Pictures channel.
ReplyDeleteOops! My apologies, Mitzi.
DeleteThis is wonderful! I love that you have a pond and that it has attracted a nice flowerpot guy and not the usual saltwater crocodiles and giant yellow spiders of days gone past - unless you miss them, but yeah. As usual I am wallowing in envy after seeing what you have growing and how well you grow it. Man, I cannot wait to see what happens next!! XOO
ReplyDeleteI am glad to learn that you could avoid to spoil the images with them spiders & iguanas, monsters & crocodiles - who surely linger and lurk just outside the frame ! I admire your garden and your bravery !
ReplyDeleteYay! Happy to see the cup dudes again! You never disappoint, Dinah. So many pictures! Magnolias are native here, so I'm surprised to see it in a garden Downunder. (I'm a bit confused, is "Downunder" only for Australia? Or can it include New Zealand as well? It's all below the belt to me. LOL) I'm sad and a bit bitter that NZ won't take me as an expatriate now since I'm too fat and old. :( Their new rules are that you have to be under 50.
ReplyDeleteA real Plant persons garden. So many interesting plants, trees and shrubs.
ReplyDeleteClivia outdoors and a Tree Fern how fab is that
Jacaranda is pure joy and reminds me of our trips to Málaga and I love the dainty flowers of Petrea volubilis.
Thank you for the Wiki link for rengarenga. I went on to the RHS taxonomy website. It reminded me of wild garlic or 'Jack by the Hedge' but it is certainly not related. Have you tried cooking it?
Hell, no! I believe Maori used it somehow, but I'm not sure how. I do know they ate what we now call weeds. I've eaten a lot of things that the first English in-comers called weeds and I'm still gardening and cooking! Hmmm...might be worth doing a post about that.
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