Gillian Vine

Rhubarb is one of the easiest vegetables to grow, Gillian Vine says.

If you want something unique in your flower garden, Gillian Vine suggests breeding your own dahlias.

Colleen McCullough's latest tale, The Prodigal Son, featuring American cop Carmine Delmonico, comes into the welcome area where light fiction need not be "once over lightly".

Retelling the story of Cinderella is not new, not even setting it in the future (see the Kiwi story Nest of Lies, by Heather McQuillan, for example).

When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, at the age of 17, he inherited from his father, Henry VII, full coffers and a stable throne.

Gillian Vine finds out what it's like showing and judging at the Ellerslie International Flower Show.

A New Plymouth garden with an impressive selection of natives catches the eye of Gillian Vine.

After Allie's brother disappeared, her once-superb school grades slumped and she fell into bad company.

I was completely thrown when I started reading chapter three of Cathy Kelly's novel, The House on Willow Street. Surely I had read about Mara Wilson before, although the earlier chapters were unfamiliar. Had I lost it completely?

Marrying superb views with native trees, a Waitati garden delights Gillian Vine.

J.D. Robb's "in death" series is guaranteed enjoyment.

Want some tips on getting better results in your garden? The answer may be at the Dunedin Horticultural Society show, says Gillian Vine.

Planning a visit to London? Gillian Vine suggests ways of keeping down costs.

Balclutha is in the limelight this weekend, as dahlia lovers gather for the South Island national show. Gillian Vine reports.

An Outram gardener is getting ready for the town's annual flower show. Gillian Vine reports.

For those of us who learned to knit because that was the only way to get a new jersey, the notion of craft knitting was long an alien one. Those who aspired to great things tackled complex Aran designs or Kaffe Fassett's Tumbling Blocks but these were to demonstrate one's skill rather than be produced as artworks.

The quality of long-running series tends to bob up and down and so it is with the detective tales by American novelists Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton.

Lilies are not difficult to grow from seed. Gillian Vine gives tips on creating your own hybrids.

Ben thinks his granny is utterly boring and who can wonder, as she has grey hair, false teeth and wears terrible clothes. What's more, she loves cabbage and poor Ben has to endure such horrible things as cabbage soup when he spends Friday nights there.