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Tap into three decades of gardening knowledge
(Reprinted with permission from a Hororwhenua-Kapiti Chronicle article by Bernie Whelan - abridged)
Stored in Mary Robertson's brain is three decades of knowledge, the past 20 years developing the internationally recognised Pukehou Garden Centre at Manukau, near Levin in New Zealand.
"People ask me 'how do you know everything' after listening on the radio, because I don't have a lot of books with me in the studio," says Mary of the bi-weekly National Radio talkback show she has been doing for more than 13 years.
"I'm amazed sometimes about what's in there," she says pointing to her head.
"It's because I'm in the garden every day. I've seen it, got it, done it. I've also learned an amazing amount on air, especially from other gardeners."
Mary has a lifelong attachment with the Kapiti-Horowhenua region in New Zealand, growing up as a Vandervelden in Otaki.
She did not know she had a passion for gardening until she applied for a job at a local garden centre.
"I liked working outside. If I had been a boy I'd have been a farmer. I'd been working with my father farming and he must have thought I'd end up stuck on a farm and never meet anyone so he suggested I get another job.
"In the first week I knew I wanted to keep doing it because it was the most amazing place to be. There was so much to learn and 30 years later I'm still loving it."
Within a few years, by the age of 23, she was doing her own growing at home, starting with South African seeds she had brought into the Country.
"I'd had no formal training. Plants just grew for me. Before I knew it I had my own nursery so I rented a place at Manakau and started growing perennials.
"I was wholesaling to Wellington and Palmerston North. Then I married and my husband Dean joined the business and then we bought a place and began Pukehou 20 years ago."
She loved the retailing side of the business because of the rapport with customers.
"I enjoyed teaching them things and learning things, particularly the older gardeners."
There was no vision for Pukehou, says Mary. It just grew and so did the family with four childre and the home garden of 6.5 acres.
Mary was also the growing force behind Pukehou breeding its own strains of plants.
Lavender Pukehou is a famous version and while it was developed before the royalties system was introduced into New Zealand she is still collecting plant royalities on it from Australia.
Helleborous Orientalis is also a strain of winter roses developed at Pukehou which has become famous in New Zealand and much in demand for cut flowers.
"Over a 15-year period I have bred them and they are famous for their long stems and clear colours. Personally I feel the best thing I have ever done for horticulture is the Hellebores breeding. Each generation takes three years."
The plant breeding is the one key element Mary took with her when she left Pukehou in 2004.
That was the catalyst for the new business.
"I like to get inside the client's head. It's about giving them what they want.
"For example, a recent Waikanae client wanted a traditional garden so that's what I created for him. But another client told me the colours they liked and left me to it because they weren't gardeners, so I created a low maintenance garden for them.
"Gardening is not as popular now with people's busy lives, so many people want a garden, but they don't want to do it. They want maintenance-free."
"I don't want to be a designer where you go to a garden and say 'Mary Robertson did that'. It has to suit the client."
She believes her services can also save money.
"It's very cost-effective to get someone like me. You are not going to get failures."
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