Bay of Plenty
Miss Mandy is who Amanda Gilbertson would be, she says, if she didn't have a husband or children.
An “accidental” flower grower shares her story with Sandra Simpson.
And yet Amanda’s own life has become just as exciting as that of her pink-haired, gin-drinking alter ego! Last year, for instance, she “accidentally” purchased a lifestyle block, 2500 calla lily bulbs and three caravans, and in the past few months has started a new business – Miss Mandy’s Flower Emporium, a pick-your-own flower farm on the outskirts of Tauranga – that is about as far from Amanda’s previous corporate life as you can get.
“We didn’t move here with a plan,” she recalls. “The property had been a commercial orchid operation but it was going to cost as much to demolish the sheds as it was to renovate them, so we started to think.”
Amanda says her parents find her career pivot more than a bit amusing. “They had Top Trees Nursery in Clive, and were the first to do a mop top, and Mum’s good at marketing. So here I am, at long last, fulfilling my genetic destiny.”
Summer bloomers here included cosmos, strawflowers, sweet peas, zinnias, hydrangeas, snapdragons, dahlias, callas and alstroemerias.
A bed of nasturtiums and marigolds was created for children to enjoy.
Although the property has three rainwater tanks and a stream to draw on, Amanda says a long dry spell in late January and into February was tough.
“What have I learned? That hydrangeas are water intensive,” she laughs. “We’ll be doing fewer of them in the future.”
The ones that stay will have the orchid drip irrigation system fitted for next summer and the ones that come out will go into her garden.
Amanda also learned that there are snapdragons that will do well in the heat – unfortunately, they weren’t the ones she planted. “We’re quite hot and sheltered so finding out about heat-tolerant snapdragons means I can try again next summer,” she adds. “And I have totally fallen in love with zinnias. I didn’t know they were so amazing.”
For the first season, everything was grown in raised beds or – for the hydrangeas – in plastic grow bags.
Now Amanda has plans to dig up a grassed area beside a growing shed and plant shorter, pollenless sunflowers in a range of colours.
“I’m going to expand. More perennials and beds of everlasting flowers such as statice, pincushion flowers and tall verbena. And next season I will definitely put succession planting into practice.”
Growing in a commercial garden mix in her first season has given
Amanda time to build a mulch heap and an informal composting system. “I’ve learned so much in a year,” she says. “I couldn’t talk about gardening like this last year.
“I think we’ve missed a generation who know how to grow flowers,” she adds. “But I tell people with small sections or with balconies that you can grow cosmos in a pot, dahlias in a pot – you don’t need the space you think.
It’s been lovely seeing the joy that wandering among flowerbeds and picking a bouquet can bring.”