How to attract butterflies & moths | Plants to grow and look for
Here are some plants that moths and butterflies are particularly drawn to. Plant them in your garden, or keep an eye out for those that might already be growing around you!
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Articles—
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Hidden treasures | The many gardens of Carrie Cooke
A vast veggie plot, a fragrance-filled dream section and an outdated property requiring years of work – Carrie Cooke’s many gardens have all taken different forms, but each offered its own surprise gems.
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Summer at Paul Bangay’s Garth Cottage | Diary of an English garden
After decades of drawing inspiration from English gardens, renowned Australian landscape designer Paul Bangay finds a cottage garden of his own to reinvent in the Cotswolds. Summer at Garth Cottage is a season of rapid change in the garden.
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The five-line drawing | Meditations of a Landscape Architect
The five-line drawing. This piece is from Meditations of a Landscape Architect, which brings together observations, stories and digressions made by David Irwin through four decades of landscape architecture and urban design practice in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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The florist’s garden | Katherine English’s multi-layered Ōtautahi Christchurch garden
Topping her much-loved cakes with homegrown flowers was the motivation behind baker Anna Worthington’s garden. Now her sprawling garden, with colour as a central thread, is a creative outlet of its own.
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Elemental design | A Canterbury garden designed for weather extremes
Creating this Canterbury garden
meant factoring in weather extremes,
while also designing around a central
entertaining pavilion, anchoring it
to the surrounding landscape
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Growing together | Jacob and Lucy’s garden wedding
A year before their vows, Lucy and Jacob Sheehan were carving terraces into their sloping lawn, with a garden wedding in mind. The space now continues to evolve, thriving with native plants, vegetable beds and fruit trees.
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Finding the flow | A garden in Melbourne’s CBD
A once-disjointed Melbourne garden has been reimagined with distinct functional zones, layered planting and better connections between spaces.
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Plant files: Plants worth knowing
Discover some of the most interesting plants featured throughout Sage Vol. 1, and perhaps find some inspiration for your own garden.
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The green room | An art-filled inner city cottage garden
This inner-city cottage now opens seamlessly onto its new garden – a lush haven with a pond, striking sculptures and hedges for seclusion.
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The long view | North Canterbury’s Flaxmere garden
For nearly six decades, John & Penny Zino have called Flaxmere home, raising their family while gradually evolving the property from a working farm into the beautiful garden it is today.
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A coastal Garden in Inverloch, Victoria
Inspired by the rugged beauty of Victoria's coastline, discover Phillip Johnson's 4-ha garden in Inverloch, featured in book: The Coastal Garden.
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How to get the most out of your cut flowers | Conditioning for flower types
An extract from The Picking Garden: Grow and gather cut flowers for homegrown arrangements all year round by Jo Turner
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Stewarding the land | Wānaka’s regenerative market garden
A novice grower turned market gardener, Caitlin Ovenden’s Wild Things
Wānaka is a family-run farm that focuses on regenerative practices.
Her varied produce is sought after by locals through The Farm Shop, and
also features on restaurant plates across the region.
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A garden made for movement
When architect Aaron Paterson and his wife Kate renovated their Auckland villa, reworking the garden was always in the plan. Together with landscape designer Xanthe White, they shaped an abundant, accessible space – designed with wheelchair movement in mind – that prioritises colour, flow and connection to the house.
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A life in colour | Anna Worthington’s sprawling Ōtautahi garden
Topping her much-loved cakes with homegrown flowers was the motivation behind baker Anna Worthington’s garden. Now her sprawling garden, with colour as a central thread, is a creative outlet of its own.
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Natural order | A Rosanna garden with softness & connection
This cleverly designed Melbourne garden has been influenced by the contours of the land and its surrounding plantings. The result is a palette that favours softness, connection and a sense of gentle continuity.
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Rethinking roses | Simple tips for planting, growing & pruning roses
We’re here to defend the honour of the long- misunderstood rose and its high-maintenance reputation. As the team at Matthews Roses knows well, just a little love goes a long way… and keeps the blooms coming.
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How to design a small garden with NZ native plants
A practical guide to planning & planting a small native garden, with planting combinations and tips
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The hidden kingdom that keeps our planet alive | The Secret Life of Fungi
Insight into Aotearoa’s remarkable fungi and their vital role in sustaining the planet, by author and fungi photographer Jay Lichter.
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A garden over time | Case study of a dry garden over 8 months of growth & learning
A garden with resilient structures and 'electric softness,' built to thrive in tough, dry climates – observed through an 8 month case study by Jac Semmler.
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Dianella (tūrutu) | Bringing in the birds with this native perennial
Discover how perennial and NZ native Dianella (Tūrutu) can transform your garden into a thriving haven for Aotearoa’s native birdlife.
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Cecelia Fox | On floral design, Ikebana & breaking rules
Florist and author of Pretty Dirty, Melanie Cecilia Stapleton, shares her creative approach to floral design.
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A resilient coastal garden on a West Sussex pebble beach
Located on the edge of a UK pebble beach, this coastal garden transforms a newly built home into a place of calm and connection with its natural surroundings.
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Your ever-changing orchard | Homegrown fruit: A Practical Guide
If you’ve ever dreamed of growing your own fruit but weren’t sure where to begin, let us introduce you to Homegrown Fruit: A Practical Guide. The book is packed with straightforward advice for your easy orchard life – growing prolific, healthy fruit trees at home.
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Plot twist | The Little Barn Garden
Wedding flowers are usually sourced from growers and florists, but Liv Wynne-Lewis decided hers would come from the soil of her parents’ Hawke’s Bay farm.
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Floral abundance | How Canterbury gardener Kate Williams creates her flower field each season
Canterbury gardener & floral workshop host shares with us how she prepares her large flower field and what she plants in it.
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The anatomy of a kōwhai flower & how it unfolds for bird pollination
Kōwhai is regarded by many as New Zealand’s unofficial national flower, providing abundant nectar for some of our most-loved native birds.
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Case Studies | A story of plant travel
Case Studies: A Story of Plant Travel is a book that, through striking photography and reflective essays, reminds us that our values and choices shape the land beneath our feet.
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