Exploring Design, Home, Art and Gardening since 2008. By Julia Atkinson-Dunn
As I’ve fallen further down this gardening rabbit hole and the idea to capture and share the intimacy of NZ gardens on film grew closer to reality….I knew that Winterhome would be at the top of my list.
See behind the scenes of our second installment of “The Magic of Gardening” film series.
The first thing I’d like to stress, is that you do NOT need to be a knowledgeable, experienced or even a fanatical gardener to attend Garden Marlborough. The special and starkly different atmosphere’s created by these gardeners will appeal to anyone whose wheels are spun by design, vibe, detail and spaces.
Read MoreMy first foray into hanging baskets was after finding a big old wire one at our local dump store and wondering if I could bring some floral whimsy to my back verandah. In all honesty I mostly felt that hanging baskets walked the line of old fashioned and gaudy…but there was something about the battered, un finished, galvanised wire basket that I loved.
Read MoreI’ll be honest. I only started growing plants from seed under duress.
At the beginning of my gardening adventure I found it so easy and honestly, surprisingly affordable to pick up punnets of seedlings from garden centres and hardware stores. They had incredibly good strike rates once planted out and I could often pick them up really cheaply during promotions.
But, the success of these happy purchases added fuel to my flowery fire!
I was wanting MORE flowers and with this, MORE interesting ones like the those I was reading about in my new books (another “MORE” issue altogether).
I’ve discovered that gardening is a little like cooking.
Everyone’s Gran has a special way to stop the pasta sticking or weird ingredient to create the best Ginger Gems. It’s the same with gardening…. you’ll show your Mum this article and she will raise her eyebrows and say “hmmm well that’s not how I’d do it”.
The pilot to our new film series sets the scene by sharing all the ways I began to dip my toe into creating my own, urban secret garden in Christchurch. I share the sources of real life inspiration plucked out of my immediate surroundings and offer tips on what you too can gain from casting your eye out, moving from looking at gardens simply as “life background” and instead, interesting creative spaces to evoke an emotional response.
Read MoreWhen launching into the unknown, I’ll admit, it can be really hard to even know where to turn for advice and inspiration!
I’ll also admit, I’ve found it pretty tricky to find resources on growing a flower garden in NZ (beyond vegie gardens) and often turn to the cult gardening scene in the UK for ideas and solid information.
As an 8-year-old being bribed to do my mother’s weeding, my lack of interest in gardening far outweighed my thirst for pocket money. Not much changed into adulthood and while I definitely appreciated gardens at surface level, I was mostly focused on pillaging neighbourhood blooms that hung over fences.
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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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