We will spend the entire day on the Bay of Islands with some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. There are 144 islands in the Bay of Islands and the government owns most of them. But a few are privately owned. Here are 4 of them: We visited the black rocks which are…

Today we saw the Monto Garden, the Kerikeri Mission Station and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. MONTO GARDEN This is a 3 1/2 acre garden that has been maintained by the owner and his partner for 15 years. Unfortunately his partner is now in the hospital and is unable to help. So David, the owner, has…

We made 3 stops today: The Rock-Hoppers Garden, Whangarei Falls, and Whangarei Quarry Gardens. THE ROCK-HOPPERS GARDEN Gordon & Rosie Speedy are the owners of this garden and their name has some significance in how they built their garden – very speedy. They started 20 years ago with their 2 kids clearing the ground and…

Before we arrived at our first garden, our guide told us a few facts about New Zealand as we drove through the beautiful countryside New Zealand has 2 main islands – the North and the South. The population of the North is 4 million and of the South is 1 million. The largest city is…

The garden tour doesn’t actually start until tomorrow but I had a half day to walk around Auckland before our group dinner so I decided to post a short blog tonight. First of all, I discovered that the New Zealand currency is beautiful: I walked over to Victoria Park and discovered that New Zealand had…

Lisa Graff lives on a 37 acre estate in Portland, Oregon and has created a 1 acre perennial garden around her beautiful mansion along with pools, waterfalls and fountains. The main entryway has 3 Monkey puzzle (Auraucaria araucana) trees, one of which has many cones. The back of the house has a fountain and runnel…

Small plants are getting more popular because of their low maintenance and their ability to fit into a small garden. Dwarf conifers are usually evergreen and come in great variety. Here are some at Dawn Gardens: Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’) I planted 100 of these in 2003 and now some of them are 8′…

You can’t beat Lavenders for foliage fragrance and summer color. There are many varieties from dwarfs to 5′ shrubs. Lavandula ‘Grosso’ Lavender  & Yarrow (Achellia ‘Sunshine’) Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote Blue’ is a dwarf variety. Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) Dwarf Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas ‘Ron Lutsko’) Lavandula stoechas ‘Ghostly Princess’ Lavandula stoechas ‘The Princess’ Lavandula allardii…

The garden tour is officially over but I have a day on my own in Venice so I will show you what I find about this city. A group of us decided to go together and hire a guide to take us around. There were 5 of us and Cristina Taddeo was a superb guide….

This is the last day of the garden tour and there are no gardens in this post but there is interesting history. I will be on my own in Venice tomorrow but will send a blog showing what I find. We stopped in Verona for a guided tour of the old city. They were having…