Exploring Design, Home, Art and Gardening since 2008. By Julia Atkinson-Dunn
After removing trees I’ve been confronted with unfortunate lines of sight with the neighbours, largely thanks to our elevated old home. Here are some of the fence creepers and climbers I have been working with and looking to add!
Read MoreIn an effort to feel positive about my slow and steady progress being made in my garden redesign, I have made a video and rundown of all the changes we have made! From tree’s coming down to planting designers and new brick features!
Read MoreIntroducing Robyn Kilty and the small but enormously inspiring wild garden that ultimately ignited my gardening fire.
Read MoreBefore I started gardening, one of the biggest hurdles in my head, was how could I possibly remember any plant names. For me it was right up there with understanding business accounting. Practically impossible.
But like everything unexpected about this whole gardening ride, the common names of plants I collected stuck in my mind like drops of sap, underlining the fact that we can learn anything if we have an interest for it! However, the botanical names were another level of mystery that I initially, and naively, shoved aside as unnecessary…. boy was that an oversight!
Click through to access the treasure trove of experience and wisdom offered by Jenny Cooper, creator of the Blue House garden in Amberley, North Canterbury.
Read MoreLet me introduce you to the beauty of The Blue House in the summer gloaming. Hidden from passers-by, this garden answered my long-held lust for witnessing naturalistic style planting locally.
To say that I was, and have since been, inspired would be an understatement.
In an effort to connect more closely with the critters and life cycles in my garden I took a deep dive back into the process of pollination, how plants design themselves to ensure the continuation of their species and who is out there helping them along!
Read MoreFabulous echinacea is an incredibly gratifying plant to grow as a beginner. It improves its clump year after year with character filled, long lasting flowers and fascinating seed heads.
Read on for my favourites!
I recently was given a huge wonky trough made by my great grandmother. Creating an arrangement in it felt like a cross-generational collaboration and it got me thinking about all the other wonderful vases I have collected by New Zealand makers.
Click through to see some of my favourites and tips on collecting vases that are helpful for home arranging.
As part of my ongoing weekly column online in Stuff and many New Zealand regional papers, I was thrilled that my editor wanted to finish off my year of writing by publishing an extract of my new book; 'Flowers for Friends'.
This is 'Happy New Year'
Read MoreAs I lament in all the garden jobs I have failed to do and cope with extreme flooding, I uncover all the ways my garden forgives me for the delays and how it continues to enrich my life….even when I let it down.
Read More
I’m Julia Atkinson-Dunn
THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME!
Here, you’ll find my ongoing adventures of creating art - oil pastel and painted landscapes, mixed media botanicals, plus some writing and information about me!
Studio Home began as NZ’s first design blog, launching in 2018 as a champion of NZ/AUS creative talent.
Since then I have used this space to continue exploring design and art as well as deeply investigating gardening through the publishing of three books and the launch of Unearthed in 2023.
Julia xo
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