15-05-2025
Plant sale takes year-round preparation
Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden prepare for Saturday's plant sale. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Every year in May, the Friends of the Botanic Garden group holds its annual autumn plant sale. Work for the next sale begins again as soon as one sale is finished.
Members start by assessing what is left over. Is the plant worth holding on to? Can it be revitalised with a repot and prune? Or is it time for this plant to be composted and the pot recycled?
Seeds and cuttings of trees, shrubs and native plants that were propagated a few years ago have been grown on. Throughout the year the group of volunteers regularly meets to propagate, prune and repot plants for their shop and sales. Plants grown from seed of Piper excelsum, kawakawa, sown last year, hardwood cuttings of hydrangea taken last winter and seedlings of kauri and totara, donated a few years ago are now all looking great.
The month before the sale is the busy one, deciding what plants are ready for sale. Weeding and tidying is an ongoing job while labelling and pricing takes a couple of days.
The Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden sale is generously supported by donations from local nurseries such as Blueskin Nurseries, Ribbonwood Nurseries and Blue Mountain Nurseries. Collecting these plants and preparing them for the sale means a busy few days.
An autumn plant sale means many of the plants are no longer in flower and may be dying down for winter. Unlike a garden centre, every sale plant won't have an informative description label with a coloured photo. The upside of this is less plastic. There are always knowledgeable staff on hand to answer questions.
The sale is on tomorrow at the Dunedin Botanic Garden propagation facility in Lovelock Ave, from 9am-noon.
Garden Life is produced by Dunedin Botanic Garden. For more details, contact Alice Lloyd-Fitt
