Slowater Flowers

03/10/2026

Loading the car with dahlia tubers and flowers for Greenhithe Markets tomorrow morning🌻🌻🌻

30/08/2026

12/07/2026

Turning a table full of dried flowers into all the pretty things…

11/07/2026

It feels like tulip planting happened late this year, but when planting time came around in June, I felt that it was still too warm for them and that they would flower short. So we left them to chill for a few more weeks and waited for the chilly weather to arrive. And wow! It has been cold the past few mornings❄️❄️❄️

So now the bulbs are in the ground - which means that our beautiful tulips will be available before too long - and it’s going to be awesome🌷🌷🌷

04/04/2024

This seedling dahlia I named Cornelian two years ago and my mom couldn’t be more pleased about that.

Sometime in the 16th century the São João sank near the south coast of South Africa and cornelian beads, Chinese porcelain and a type of cowrie started washing up on on the beach of Port Edward - a place my mom loved with all her heart and where she and my dad bought a small cottage for holidays and retirement. They called it Cornelian. Every year our annual holiday would see us pile into the car for the 8-hour trip to the coast - magical times. My mom and dad combed the beach for shells, while the kids swam, explored and generally had the best time. But we always kept a look-out for cornelians and porcelain, because although pieces of cornelian could readily be found, finding a whole bead was rare. And finding a whole bead meant immediate waffles for everyone.

When our kids came along, we still went back to Cornelian for holidays - often more than once a year - walking the beaches and exploring rock pools and obscure places where a whole cornelian could be found. The wonder of finding one never grew old … and the promise of a waffle was still as alluring as when we were kids🧡

On Resurrection Sunday God called my mom’s name and she gladly went, because I am sure that although God may have called, He sent my dad to meet her halfway and walk her home … to a heaven that looks a little bit like Port Edward with a cottage called Cornelian 🧡

Cornelia Wissing 1942/07/22 - 2024/03/31

18/03/2024

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;…”
Ecc 3:1-2

Since buying my ticket home last week, these word have been playing on repeat in my mind.
While we are in the midst of picking orders, sowing for autumn planting, preparing beds and getting ready for Mother’s Day it is hard for me to walk away. The boltonia is about to burst into bloom, I’m still harvesting buckets of dahlias, chryssies are budding up beautifully and my first ever tuberoses will flower soon. There is just so much to do and appreciate here right now.

But I am deeply grateful that, although this unplanned trip might mean the end of my flower season, I have the chance to go home and spend time with my mother in the closing of her season - to sit with her, have one more chat and just be there.

I have no idea what the next few weeks will hold, but for now I am thankful that I am given time to exchange my growing season for my mother’s🧡

🌻🌻🌻

15/03/2024

Fresh bouquets at Fresh n Fresh Whangaparaoa
And a two-for-one sunflower special🌻🌻🌻

Karepiro Drive

09/02/2024

Wedding picking…

11/01/2024

This man is such an essential part of my flower journey… listening to my obsessive rambling about flowers, always busy trying to tick things off my never-ending to-do list and supporting wherever he can.

And even though I’ve known him for 30 years, he still makes me laugh every day♥️