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Wally Richards -
weeds & wellbeing
The milder winter we are currently experiencing has lead to a slow but sure continual growth of weeds.
All my weeding is done by hand which I find very relaxing and a good way of relieving any stress from day to day living..........
read the full article here.
For more of Wally's articles
click here.
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Competitions
Win with Wally! To enter the draw to win a copy of Wally Richards' book click here. 
Win a Homestyle magazine subscription. To enter click here.  Win a Kilarney Stone cube planter worth $350. To enter click here.
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Warm the cockles of your heart with this Beef & Guinness Stew done in the slow cooker.
Ingredients:
1.25 kg diced chuck steak
Flour for dusting
Salt & black pepper
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 small pickling onions, peeled and cut into quarters
250g button mushrooms, halved if necessary
1 tablespoon freshly chopped herbs (eg. thyme, marjoram, rosemary)
440 ml can Guinness
2 cloves garlic, sliced
500 ml beef stock
2 tablespoons flour
Method:
1. Toss beef in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and cook beef and bacon in batches until beef is browned. Transfer to the slow cooker.
2. Place onions in the frying pan along with mushrooms and a little more oil if needed. Toss over a medium heat until golden. Transfer to the slow cooker and add herbs, Guinness and stock.
3. Cook for 4 1/2 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low.
4. Mix flour to a paste with 3 tablespoons of cooled liquid from the cooker; add to the pan and cook for a further 15 minutes before serving.
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Digger Dan - mid winter gardening
A positive way of looking at mid-winter is to plant edibles such as strawberries and garlic that go into the ground when it's cold and damp.
Read the full article here.
To read more from Digger Dan
click here
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Splash! is the "must attend"exhibition for manufacturers, retailers, pool builders, contractors, architects, engineers and pool service technicians.
The event will provide an opportunity to showcase products, network, build relationships with distributors and pool shops and meet key decisions makers in the New Zealand wet industry.
For exhibition details, registration and information click here
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Greetings!
We have a spring in our step here in the office with the launch of our new look Findaplant.co.nz website.
Gina and I also spent last week at the Nursery and Garden Industry conference in Taupo. I have written a short piece on what I took from the conference (apart from pens, pads and some stuff from the hotel room), including a few photos and a video of delegates cutting shapes on the dance floor. A small respite from the shakes for visitors from Christchurch and a great time to re-ernergize, meet new colleagues and talk about a bright future for the nursery and garden industry.
There are some great developments afoot including rebranding of Gardening New Zealand, the public face of NGIA which is all good for New Zealand's favourite pastime!
Regards
Tim Durrant and the Landscapedesign.co.nz team
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Findaplant relaunched!
Findaplant.co.nz - NZ's online nursery & plant finder has had a facelift.
For the last few weeks I have witnessed Tim working hard behind the scenes to refresh and create a more substantial site which now features posts on specific plants (Featured Plants) and their uses in the landscape, as well as profiles on selected nurseries (Featured Nurseries).
Findaplant.co.nz is both a plant index and an information source that complements Landscapedesign.co.nz, our main site.
For nurseries, there needed to be a simple solution that created a searchable database. And maintaining the database needed to be quick, easy and hassle free.
Findaplant is now the only nursery and plant resource you'll ever need - it's very simple to use and navigate around and we are always here to help.
For more information on how your business can benefit from being on Findaplant, please click here or call us on 0800 547-865.
Enjoy!
Sarah Thornton
Assistant Editor/Client Support
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Nursery & Garden Industry Association ( NGIA) Conference 2011
Tim Durrant reports on the recent NGIA Conference held in Taupo.
Read his report and view photos here.
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Adaptation of the Northern European naturalistic model to New Zealand - Part 2
This is the second part of a two-part essay by Philip Smith (O2 Landscapes) at the International Plant Propagators' Society conference in Auckland.
Germany had its chief pioneer in Karl Foerster. Designers and plantspeople who followed him developed variations upon a garden style which is informed by (and respectful of) nature.
New Zealand has been fortunate to be the scene of the pioneering work of Terry Hatch, who has applied similar effort to the evolution of garden style within NZ through the observation
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Myosotis petiolata
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of native plants within their natural ecologies, exotic plants within their own habitats (as in his extensive studies on South African plants), and the performance of exotic plants within the pseudo-ecologies of our own gardens.
Read the essay here
To read Part 1 click here
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A warm welcome to our new clients
Cross Hills Gardens & Nursery, 
specialist growers of Azeleas and Rhododendrons. Cross Hills is a plant centre, cafe and is open for garden visits throughout the year.
Read more here.
Kiwi Plants 2009 Ltd is an eco-sourcing nursery specialising in New Zealand native plants, both indigenous and endemic.
Read more here.
Selao Garden Art.
From the quirky to the sophisticated, Selao's variety of garden art will beautify and add a unique touch
to your living spaces.
Read more here.
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Camellias & other "garden darlings".....
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Camellia Sasanqua
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Rachel from Hedge Garden Design reveals her favourite trees, plants and flowers including winter flowering Camellias, Buxus and Corokia.
Read the interview here.
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Join us on social and business networking sites
If you don't know your Wall post from your Tweet, we can can help demystify social networking. We'll show you how social media like Facebook and Twitter can help you profile your business and work in with your existing marketing activity.
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That's all for this month!
If you have any feedback or comments, we'd love to hear from you.
Kind regards,
Tim Durrant
Adv. Cert. Landscape Design & Construction
Editor | Managing Director
Landscapedesign.co.nz Limited | Findaplant.co.nz
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