The beauty and fragrance of flowers have always drawn humans in nourishing our senses. Increasingly we see a trend to use colourful flowers to brighten and make food very attractive. This though is far from a new idea. Ancient Greek, Roman and Chinese herbalists recorded medicinal and culinary uses for flowers. There is also information […] Read more

I’ve only just learned  that this month’s feature ‘weed’ is edible.  Ivy leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) has a number of other names such as Kenilworth Ivy (because it covered the walls of Kenilworth Castle in the UK), Oxford Ivy, Mother of Thousands or Wandering Sailor and is a garden escape originating in Southern Europe. It […] Read more

Wandering into the garden to pick and then eat lettuce plants I’ve grown from seed is very satisfying. Everybody is familiar with mild tasting, juicy lettuce. They’re such a convenient size and shape to put on a sandwich or in a burger or have in salads.  But have you any idea of the history of […] Read more

I have a lovely young wwoofer (willing worker on organic farms) called Luisa who grew up in England but has a NZ mother and so NZ citizenship. She is a made keen horticulturalist and has been a wonderful help in the garden.  We decided to go on a ‘pickathon’ to see how many leaves and […] Read more

Gorse or Furze Ulex europaeus is right now covered in golden-yellow flowers adding colour to our wintery landscape. Not a sight many appreciate due to the bad rap gorse gets as a noxious weed. However, this plant is very important to bees during early spring providing protein rich pollen to grow baby bees (brood) and […] Read more

Prickly pear cactus Opuntia stricta though not a weed on our shores of Aotearoa, in Australia has ruined the livelihoods of many farmers. It was unstoppable in spreading for a decade until the 1920s, when its natural enemy the cactoblastis moth was introduced.  Noxious in Australia, here we grow it for its bright yellow flowers, […] Read more

I’ve had a lovely little patch of this on a walkway over summer and I enjoyed seeing and even walking over part of it every day!  It stays low to the ground but the stems rise up when not disturbed. It’s botanical name is Chenopodium pumilio.  Chenopodium Greek = goosefoot. (It is in the same […] Read more

I’ve watched this documentary and was astounded at the inventions happening around the world that we have never heard about – inventions for healing, free energy, ways of living – it was just so exciting and inspiring. The quest that Foster Gamble and his beautiful wife Kimberley Carter Gamble have been on to bring these […] Read more

Don’t you love it when you solve a mystery. I have an intriguing pretty plant in my garden that I couldn’t identify.  Finally a person with the App ‘Picture This’ revealed it as‘Jewels-of-Opar or Talinum paniculatum. I was totally delighted to learn this. It is also known as Fame Flower or Pink Babies Breath. If […] Read more

I had a big surprise in my garden this summer – a squash that grows like a ‘weed’. Zucchini rampicante (Cucurbita moschata) is an Italian heirloom zucchini also known as Zucchetta Rampicante or Tromboncino squash. I thought I was sowing the Chinese pumpkin or Chinese zucchini seeds which my gardening friends and I like to […] Read more