Six on Saturday 23.04.22

This week’s SoS is a bit different, coming as it does from New Plymouth, where we are having a short break. So I hope you all don’t mind if I take you to Pukekura Park, the botanical gardens in the city, that should you ever be here, are well worth a visit. I am also trying to write this on my iPad so apologies in advance of any odd formatting/lack of detail. Six on Saturday is a time when The Propagator encourages us to share what is going on in our gardens in all parts of the world. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.

We were greeted at the entrance to the gardens with these gorgeous hibiscus. So cheerful, so beautiful and a lovely welcome. The park itself covers 52 hectares, with many different trails, so we didn’t cover the whole area in our visit. You can read about its history here.

I wanted to go to the Fernery, so we used that as a starting goal. On the lawn near to the entrance, I spotted these, which looked like small bush lilies and some late flowering alstroemeria.

The Fernery is composed of three glass topped caverns which have been dug into the ground. You enter via a tunnel and some steps and emerge into the fernery space – quite different to anything I have been to before. We spotted this pineapple just as we entered the complex.

There is a decent collection of begonias of all shapes and colours. Here are a few but there were loads more on display.

I also spotted a wonderful big group of Lady’s Purse, an old favourite of mine, and many patches of bright colours forming wonderful shapes and just making you stop and look. We also found a pond with koi carp.

If someone could tell me what this is, do tell me. A plant identifier tells me it is a chrysanthemum morifolium – confirmation would be appreciated!

You could spend hours in the garden – we only saw a fraction, ending up on a long walk on an upper path above the lake, finally finding this lily pond with a happy duck taking a wash.

So that is my post for this week. A bit messy, and typing posts on an iPad is not easy! Apologies for a bit of a truncated description by my patience was wearing thin with technology 😀As usual, I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s beautiful gardens in other parts of the world. Hope you are all well and enjoying your gardens in whatever the season is with you.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com