Letter from the Julia
Dear valued supporter of Unearthed,
Since my husband’s diving accident a month ago (which he has fully recovered from!),
our lives have turned in a truly unexpected new direction!
We are deep in final consideration on a new business venture that would lead us out of Christchurch, and this has led me to have a reality check on what this means for my own work and my commitment to our future life.
This opportunity would be an adventure that requires both of our full attention and this means, that I need to sacrifice an element of my current work to make it happen.
I’ve shed a few tears over this - but for now, Unearthed will need to end its short life in its current subscription-based, regular format.
We haven’t signed on the dotted line yet, but given the timeframes at play, I can’t commit to producing the level of content that I would be proud of, so feel I need to halt your transactions now.
Those of you on annual subscriptions will be refunded your balance at the soonest opportunity. I will be in touch with you on this.
And those that feel they would like their $6.50 refunded for the month of October, please just pop me an email.
I still see an Unearthed in my future as can’t really imagine my life without telling the stories of others. For now please enjoy exploring the rich backlog of features here and I will continue adding new and some from my archive to provide you inspiration and ideas for your gardening adventure.
I am still involved in a very exciting national garden project that may see the light of day later next year, and I deeply hope I will find a new space to transform and continue sharing what I learn.
Nothing changes if nothing changes.
Julia xoxoxoxoxo
Latest Features
WOVEN WIND BREAKS
My sister Caroline demonstrates how she is turning excess tree prunings into rustic, protective windbreaks in her new exposed vegetable garden.
Follow the easy going tutorial and find inspiration and ideas for your own patch through her relentless creativity in not letting anything go to waste.
SPRING AT FISHERMANS BAY
The greatest source of inspiration and learning I have found to aid my own gardening adventure, is returning to visit seasonally responsive gardens at different times of the year.
Here I give you a window into world renowned Fishermans Bay garden in early spring, with a film and feature to compare it to it’s summer show.
IN ODE TO THE CHRISTCHURCH BOTANIC GARDENS
Join me for a photographic tour of my favourite spaces within the acclaimed Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
The gardens are a living record and story of both the city’s colonial past and Aotearoa’s ancient vegetation. It supports education, innovation and play while offering us botanical world travel by just exploring the extraordinary, carefully tended plantings. It is a romantic, transporting and active space with a heartbeat - I think quite easily taken for granted by all of us who have stitched it into our own life stories.
VILLALEIGH
I eagerly open Amy Roberts chatty nursery newsletters and pause to enjoy her beautiful posts on Instagram, sucking in their atmospheric seasonal moments.
Elements of Amy’s own story reflect that of so many of us - the discovery of refuge and emotional healing that our gardens and plants so generously deliver.
Enjoy this intimate view into the emergence of a passion and a resulting business.
THE BEACH BARN
Explore this urban, seaside property where an interior designer and landscape designer found mutual ground.
The garden (still in its infancy) is a collision of styles that reflect the owner Alex Fulton’s aesthetic. Coastal with desert vibes, urban with a borrowed landscape of sea and rural hillsides, design-led but distinctly functional
A SEASONAL SHIFT
Planting for the seasons is one of the greatest creative joys offered to gardeners!
A beautiful example of how a garden’s essence can change throughout the year is offered here by comparing the spring and summer planting at Flaxmere garden in North Canterbury, New Zealand.
NZ GARDENS TRUST CONFERENCE 2023
In my second year attending the New Zealand Gardens Trust Conference I uncovered fresh perspectives that invigorated the way I will plan my next stage of gardening.
Explore some key Wellington gardens that made be think again about resilient planting and the creative use of NZ natives.
OHINETAHI
Join me to explore the far-reaching corners of Ōhinetahi garden in Governor’s Bay, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand. Created by a family of art and plant loving architects, it is now a treasured jewel of significant gardens in Aotearoa. There is great inspiration to see in exotic vs. native planting and traditional structure vs. wildness.
POSTCARDS FROM A GARDEN ROADTRIP
In late autumn I joined a group of my gardening mentors to explore some fabulous gardens and environments from Cromwell to Dunedin.
Click through to read my top takeaways from the trip and explore these places through video and imagery.
FISHERMANS BAY
Arrive at extraordinary Fishermans Bay just before dawn. Witness the sun rise and reach the South Island at this point before any other on a calm autumn morning. Fishermans Bay is a world-renown garden on the steep slopes of Banks Peninsula, New Zealand. Created by Jill and Richard Simpson, it has adorned the pages of the world’s best magazines and books, celebrated for its beautiful planting and amazing environment.
Click through for video and full article
ROBYN KILTY’S GARDEN
Introducing Robyn Kilty and the small but enormously inspiring wild garden that ultimately ignited my gardening fire.
This urban garden in Christchurch might be tight on space but it is big with plants, ideas and a wild essence!
THE BLUE HOUSE
Let 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. This feature will be of particular interest if you want to learn more about climate resilient planting and dry gardening.
FLOWER FARMING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
So much of what I have learned about flower gardening for my home has come from the world of small scale flower farms.
Here I take a tour of a young woman’s business and marvel at how the digital age has allowed farmers to connect with their customers.
FLAXMERE
My initial experience, and the many following at Flaxmere, opened my eyes to gardens as “spaces”, rather than just places.
Any pre-conceived ideas I had around them being delicate or quaint were rapidly unraveled.
Join me for a gentle guided walk through the garden (or realm!) of my mentor; Penny Zino. Share in her ability to create distinctly different areas within her 54 year old, 3.4 hectare garden created in the harsh North Canterbury climate. Not to mention the most incredible, New Zealand example of “naturalistic planting” as learned directly from Piet Oudolf.
BAREWOOD
Enter the storybook realm of Barewood garden in Marlborough, New Zealand. Explore the sprawling corners of the garden via the film by Flashworks Media and get a peep of an iconic New Zealand garden that is retiring from public access at the end of 2023.
WINTERHOME
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 and witness the beauty in a mature garden established along classical lines.
