Spring is just around the corner. Buds are bursting,
spring bulbs are flowering and there’s a buoyant mood in
the air. Our team has been flat out communicating
with the landscape industry, preparing new resource
pages on the website and keeping on top of our rapid
growth. To top it all off, I have committed to an
Exhibition Garden at this year's Ellerslie
International Flower Show in November.
My garden will showcase some of the diverse range of
pioneering products from New Zealand businesses
featured on landscapedesign.co.nz.
Budgeting, borrowing and setting goals from sorted
Get sorted on money matters for your landscaping project
Landscaping can cost a whole lot of money, so we
thought some resources from sorted.org.nz
might help you to stay on top of your finances.
sorted.org.nz is the online arm of the Retirement
Commission.
While landscaping can improve the resale value of
your property and give you a lot of pleasure, don't
offset this by making poor financial decisions and
spending beyond your means. This can affect not only
you but the contractors, designers and suppliers of
your project if you simply cannot pay for the work.
It happens all the time. People get carried away
with the romance of their project and lose sight of
the money. Life is just too short to be stressed
unnecessarily about MONEY. So if you are about to
embark on a project and are on a limited budget, get
sorted online.
Landscapedesign.co.nz Exhibition Garden
Ellerslie International Flower Show, 14-19th November 2006
Come to the Ellerslie Flower Show in November! I
will be presenting a garden which will explore the
coming of age of New Zealand outdoor living. The
design will challenge preconceived ideas about the
use of materials. In earlier issues I have expressed
my passion for the ability of Kiwis to innovative, and I
believe that a creative economy that fosters and
protects New Zealanders' homegrown ideas and designs
is essential for our country's progress.
Accordingly, we will have a Kiwi
Tub operating in
the garden. Steve August, the Kiwi Tub's inventor,
has just had several copper boiler units
polished and he tells me they look amazing. So if you’re
coming to the show, bring your rubber duckie!
Spray-on lawns, Spray-on natives
It wasn't so long ago that we were fascinated with
instant roll-out lawn, but in recent years
hydroseeding has emerged as another effective way to
create the perfect lawn. Hydroseeding works by
spraying seed on to prepared topsoil. The seed
mixture contains fertilizer, fiber and a tackifying
agent.
Once sprayed the mixture forms a crust that reduces
dust and creates the perfect growing medium for
rapid seed germination. As with all new lawns the
sown area must be kept moist at all times.
Some hydroseeding companies use this method to spray
native seeds in erosion control and
reforestation applications. Toi toi, native grasses,
flax and hebes have all been successfully sown. The
germination period is longer and local knowledge is
required. If you have a large bare bank, then
hydroseeding is certainly worth looking into.
Landscapedesign.co.nz update
We're going from strength to strength
More people are visiting the site than
ever. Our traffic has grown 250% since January and
continues to grow, with 95% of our visitors from New
Zealand. The beauty is that our visitors are
finding what they are looking for. The marketing
department loves this sort of information and it
really seems to blow their hair back. We've also
been getting great feedback from advertisers who
have made sales through the site. This
makes us all feel really good and confirms that the
site is providing a valuable service for people.
Community Forum
Join our online community for free
The new forum
we added last week has had some great
traffic already. So if you have any questions,
comments or just want to say hi please feel free to
join in with
the discussions. To join simply click on register at
the top of the forum, and you will receive a
confirmation email. Click on the confirmation link
and you can join in. This is a totally free service
and everyone is welcome, but watch out - it can be
addictive!
There have been several
discussions about contracts between client and
professional. This type of discussion helps the
landscapedesign.co.nz team learn what resources
people need. Shortly we will have a generic
downloadable contract for people
to use.
To contribute to the forum, you'll first need to
register as a member. This only takes a minute. It's
just a security precaution so the forum doesn't get
flooded with ads for weight loss pills, herbal
remedies for you-know-what, and get-rich-quick schemes!
Come to the Ellerslie Flower Show in November! I
will be presenting a garden which will explore the
coming of age of New Zealand outdoor living. The
design will challenge preconceived ideas about the
use of materials. In earlier issues I have expressed
my passion for the ability of Kiwis to innovative, and I
believe that a creative economy that fosters and
protects New Zealanders' homegrown ideas and designs
is essential for our country's progress.
Accordingly, we will have a 
It wasn't so long ago that we were fascinated with
instant roll-out lawn, but in recent years
hydroseeding has emerged as another effective way to
create the perfect lawn. Hydroseeding works by
spraying seed on to prepared topsoil. The seed
mixture contains fertilizer, fiber and a tackifying
agent.
Once sprayed the mixture forms a crust that reduces
dust and creates the perfect growing medium for
rapid seed germination. As with all new lawns the
sown area must be kept moist at all times.
Some hydroseeding companies use this method to spray
native seeds in erosion control and
reforestation applications. Toi toi, native grasses,
flax and hebes have all been successfully sown. The
germination period is longer and local knowledge is
required. If you have a large bare bank, then
hydroseeding is certainly worth looking into.
