That's Handy

05/06/2026

I love Gleditsias, particularly Gleditsia 'Sunburst'

Most varieties sold for urban gardens like 'Sunburst' have been bred to be thornless ....... because wild Gleditsias can have spines up to 20cm long and can pierce pretty much everything except medieval armour.

So of course I only need gardening gloves to remove a self sown sapling ......... which is more for the protection of the spines from my really, really tough skin

Photo of full grown Gleditsia ' Sunburst' from Southern Woods Tree Nursery in Christchurch. Check them out.

03/06/2026

It never ceases to amaze me how many leaves a tree holds. This tree is only half empty.....

28/05/2026

Someone forgot to tell these guys it's (nearly) winter. A light frost today, not the first, and they are still pushing out leaves and new buds!

06/05/2026

A bumble bee making use of the roses still around ❤️

18/03/2026

🌿 WE ARE HIRING! 🌿

We are looking for a casual gardener to join our small team. One of our experienced team members is moving on, so we’re looking for someone who can step in with confidence and take pride in producing beautiful, thoughtful work.

We see it as a privilege to work in someone’s garden so we’re looking for someone who cares — about the gardens, about the clients, and about doing the job properly.

For more information or to apply check out our ad on SEEK:

If you love gardening and love putting a smile on people’s faces, we have the perfect opportunity for you.

01/01/2026

We've loved the privilege of caring for your gardens this past year. Thank you for your support and we look forward to helping you in 2026.

Some random highlights from 2025...

30/11/2025

This is an absolutely gorgeous rose. But while deadheading, we came across one flower with 2 pure white petals and one petal with a perfect line disecting the normal colour and white.

This is called sectoral chimera and while less common to have a perfect "dissection" of pure white and a different color on the same petal, roses can have various color blends and occasional striking mutations on individual petals.

29/11/2025

I'm not letting my family caption this 🤦 but you can

16/11/2025

Well. With an already short week last week due to Show Day on Friday and torrential rain on Thursday, we ended up working a few hours to catch up both Saturday and Sunday.

But I get to see gardens like this, so is it really work?

08/11/2025

So....Kelly picked a strawberry at home today...