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- Letters from our readers.

Congratulations to Dr Charles Merfield for his inspiring and informative article about organic gardening. It’s articles like these that make NZ Gardener such a joy to look forward to every month.

IAN SPELLERBERG, CHRISTCHURCH

I was one of the lucky ones who got their dahlia seeds from NZ Gardener early enough for them to germinate and flower. I love them!

Choosing my favourite was a really difficult choice, given the wonderful variety I had. I’m calling it ‘Dawn Chorus’ because

I am the founding Chair of Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society, a conservation group for Mt Pirongia that for 20 years has been working tirelessly to restore the dawn chorus there.

We’ve recently reintroduced kōkako to the maunga and I would have liked to name a dahlia after them but they have shades of grey, black and blue. So instead the orange, pink and yellow colours reflect the rich range of bird calls we hear in the dawn chorus.

The colours don’t harmonise either – a bit like the mix of raucous characters in our native birds.

Yet the small collarette petals are enchanting and the whole flower unifies the different parts to make a masterpiece, just like the chorus. Clare St Pierre, Waipā

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https://stuffmagazines.pressreader.com/article/281715503185765

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