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By Roots & Rise Gardens and Design. Let's start with something that might surprise you: a weed is only a weed if you don't want it there. Seriously. Some plants that get called weeds are genuinely useful as ground cover in the right garden. There's a beautiful low-growing plant — Ajuga reptans, or bugleweed — with silvery blue-green leaves and striking blue flower spikes that some Nelson gardeners use as a deliberate understory. It's vigorous, it roots wherever it touches the

By Roots & Rise Gardens and Design. Every week in Nelson and Tasman, someone heads to the hardware store, grabs the cheapest roll of weedmat they can find, and comes home feeling like they've solved their garden problem once and for all. They haven't. This isn't a knock on anyone. It's just that weed matting is one of the most misunderstood products in the garden world. Used well, it's a genuinely useful tool. Used poorly — or with the wrong expectations — it creates more wor

Not all green thumbs are the same. There's a real difference between a gardener and a landscaper — and hiring the wrong one can cost you more than money. It can cost you years. A gardener doesn't just plug in plants that look good on day one. They understand your soil, your microclimate, and how your space will grow and evolve over time. The goal isn't a garden that survives — it's one that thrives. Learn how to hire right, first time.