Plant Life

Having a plant flower for the first time is always exciting.

The popular mock orange shrub, Philadelphus coronarius has a cultivar called ''Aureus'', which is beautiful at the moment.

Recently, a visitor to the Rhododendron Dell at Dunedin Botanic Garden remarked in amazement at the colours, ''Man, it's like a rainbow fell to the ground''.

Most of the flowering cherries are now coming to an end, but there are still a few species that produce beautiful late flowers well worth growing for the ornamental garden.

Spring is the perfect time to explore the many nooks and trails of Dunedin Botanic Garden.

Every time I walk past Viburnum x burkwoodii at the moment, I just want to take an extra moment to take in the amazing aroma of its fragrant flowers.

September was Bee Aware Month, reminding us of the vital role bees play in providing food and important resources for life on our planet.

Early spring is the time to catch the majority of large-leaved rhododendrons in flower.

The name ''Bird's Coca-Cola Tree'' makes you wonder ''Why, is the tree fizzy?''.

Welcome splashes of spring colour punctuate the green bulb lawn just inside the Opoho Rd entrance to the Dunedin Botanic Garden Rock Garden.

Looking for the ultimate low maintenance shrub? One that will grow well in shade and flower during the winter and spring?

Most cycads are slow growers, producing trunks that slowly increase in height as they age. Encephalartos villosus bucks this trend.

A particularly graceful climber's features are aptly described by its common names.

A hardy southerner has put down rhizomes at Dunedin Botanic Garden.

Southern horticulturists are really very lucky.

Phoenix roebelenii is a slow-growing palm that makes a great ornamental house plant.

Gum trees have been planted in New Zealand for a long time due to their adaptability, fast growth rate and valuable timber.

When rhododendrons reach peak flowering in October, they are so spectacular that everyone notices.

There is an evergreen border in Dunedin Botanic Garden that I am particularly fond of, where some of our hardy local plant species grow side by side with tender natives from more northern climes.

Arousing and amazing two of your senses as you walk along the rock garden at Dunedin Botanic Garden are the golden musk-smelling flowers of Helichrysum argyrophyllum.