Emma Sage
Hey, I’m Emma.
The camera-shy editor and founder behind Sage Journal.
I come from a line of gardeners, always able to call my mum or nana to chat about what to plant where, figure out why a plant is turning up its toes, or to see if there’s a cutting going spare. I know not everyone is this lucky.
When we bought our first house twelve years ago, I quickly realised what a struggle it was to find local garden inspiration and advice. I wanted relatable stories, aspirational projects, and connections with knowledgeable gardeners — both new and old.
So five years ago, I started Sage Journal. To share stories of hands-in-the-dirt, soil-on-the-clothes gardeners. People who are sometimes failing, often succeeding, and always asking questions.
My aim was to create Aotearoa’s most trusted gardening resource. Now, with a large local following, and growing engagement from Australia and beyond, we’ve not only become the home for gardeners, but for design lovers and nature-inspired creatives too.
This year (spring 2025) we are bringing Sage Journal to print.
It will be a publication where knowledge — especially the kind passed down through conversations in the garden — can be shared and preserved.
Sage Journal will continue these discussions with our ever-growing, like-minded community, and we want you to be part of them.
With love and dirty fingernails,
Emma Sage x
Kōtare Estate lies at the very end of Lane Road in Havelock Road. Although only a stone’s throw from the heart of the Havelock North village, its setting provides a blissful disconnection from the rush of life, coupling perfectly with the vision Pip and Mathias Robbie-Gödert had to share their home with others.
Katie McHardy is on a journey to educate herself and others about the Slow Flower Movement – encouraging people to support the local economy by buying seasonal and locally grown flowers. Having recently returned to Hawke’s Bay she is tying her environmental and floristry passions together by establishing a sustainable cut flower garden on her family’s coastal farm in Aramoana.
The Hospice Holly Trail has become an institution for Hawke’s Bay locals and visitors a plenty. A wondrous tour of homes and gardens in Havelock North and surrounding areas, with its main focus on a significant charitable outcome for the local hospice.
A home garden is an increasingly important piece of the puzzle of our planet’s ecosystem. Creating a vibrant and nourishing place for bees and other beneficial insects is easy to do, and effective in even the smallest of spaces.
Strawberries are super easy to grow and harvest, taking up little space in your garden. They are a ground cover plant and spread rapidly with their runners.
Raspberries, boysenberries and blackberries are all members of the Rubus family, also referred to as ‘cane fruit’.
Camilla Jørvad is a mother, photographer and passionate gardener based on the stunning Danish island of Ærø. Taking up gardening has taught her many lessons about life, health, harmony and the restoration of our precious planet.
Camilla Jørvad is a mother and self-taught photographer who is deeply in love with gardening. Her time tending to her land helps foster a close connection to nature and the changing seasons — something she identifies as crucial for her mental and physical wellbeing.
This messy-to-eat citrus fruit is known for its juicy flesh, and balance of sweet and tart flavours - the culmination of its mandarin and grapefruit relatives. They have few pips and most varieties are easy to peel.
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