Liani Smith - Gardening Columnist

Read Liani's Articles

Prepare For Summer

Spring In My Step?

Winter Gardening

Welcome to my world which I look forward to sharing with you.

I have been in the plant business “forever”.

I remember asking for plant cuttings from strangers and “acquiring” plants from the holiday camps wherever we spent our childhood holidays. Every new place we visited excited me tremendously. As soon as we had unpacked, my cousins went off to see what the park had to offer in the line of fun, I wandered off to see what was in the gardens…

I have a diploma in horticulture and have worked in extensively in the field of landscape design, plant propagation, wholesale sales and retail. I met my husband while we worked at the Johannesburg Botanical gardens. He was assistant Curator at the time and I was a student. Not the boss and secretary scenario… well maybe a little bit… We share a passion for plants and many years later we still both ask for cuttings from strangers.

Currently I own and manage Aztec Gardens in Tauranga.  Selling a living product puts a sense of responsibility on me. I have realised that having “friendly and helpful staff” as many retail stores claim, is not the most important aspect in retail. We need to educate every person about every plant they take home. When the customer gets home you need to know exactly how to care for your plants, from digging the hole until forever. How big it will grow, what diseases to look out for, what fertiliser is recommended and how to maintain the precious new plant to ensure that you will still be happy with your purchase years later? How many of us have planted our new purchase in the wrong spot and after several years of care, have had to remove it?

My neighbour gets her husband, bless his patient soul, to move it a bit to the left, then next Saturday, “a bit to the right”. Winter is a good time for moving plants isn’t it? “Honey lets move it to the other side of that rock…” And so it goes. The plant lives a life of anticipation and fear. Another one bites the dust. Heartbreaking!

I tend to throw many questions at customers, but this helps me to understand what their gardening skills are and I make sure I offer all I can to ensure their project is a pleasure and success.

My aim is to share information and ideas about all things gardening. I invite readers to share their experiences and tips with me, even photographs of interesting plants or plant behaviour. The global climatic change seems to cause all sorts of weird and wonderful behaviours in the plant world.

I look forward to getting into gardening with you.

Gardening is good for us. Trust me on this one. And our staff are friendly and helpful.

By Liani Smith

Published 9th Jul 2009

print