An Introduction.... Hello.

 Welcome to my blog. Here I hope to share the progress of bringing my garden back from the wilds and to talk and share the love of plants. I have been very busy the past couple of years and unfortunately my garden has suffered.

 New Zealand is a great place to garden. In general the country is a temperate rain forest with many micro environments all around. Sub tropical in the north through to snow laden winters in the south. I live basically smack bang in the middle at the bottom of the North Island, USDA Hardiness Zone 9. The growth rate of plants is very fast. You can plant out an arboretum and in thirty years or so enjoy a well established forest of trees. So as you can imagine weeds can become overruling in a very short period of time. And man do I have some weeds! Bindweed/Convolvulus is the most relentless beast here, but all the others which send shivers down a gardeners spine co-exist as well. But if I can remove Oxalis vallicola I can remove anything. The key is just keep at it!

Mitzi at Holmley? Well the Mitzi part is in memory of my lovely little cat who as a tiny kitten four years ago literally appeared from no where during the lowest period of my life, unfortunately she got hit on the road two weeks ago. I really appreciate her living with me and miss her a lot as she had quiet the personality. The Holmley part is the original name given to the property in 1898 when the land was cleared of virgin forest and set up as small holdings for railway workers. My garden has never had a name before. I feel really comfortable with this name so Mitzi at Holmley it shall be.

Mitzi aka Meow Meow