July In The Garden - 2026
Hello friends,
July is the depth of winter here in Otago, New Zealand. Frosty mornings are a familiar sight, the garden has settled into its winter rhythm, and much of this month's work has been focused on preparing for spring. Although everything feels a little slower at this time of year, there are still plenty of signs that a new growing season is on its way.
Here's what July has looked like in my garden...
What's Flowering:
Surprisingly, the first yellow daffodils are already flowering in my backyard. Their foliage began emerging in early June, with the first blooms opening in early July. For now it's only a handful of flowers, but the main display will begin in August and continue right through until October.
There are still a few calendula flowering in the garden. Over the years I've found they provide flowers for almost the entire year, and their cheerful blooms always brighten the cold, dreary days of winter.
And finally, my young 'Perfume Princess' daphne has been flowering over the past couple of weeks, and its fragrance is intoxicating, filling the entire backyard on sunny still days.
What's Growing:
The lemons on my 'Meyer' lemon tree are beginning to ripen, and I'm looking forward to harvesting them over the coming weeks and putting them to good use in the kitchen.
I'm overwintering some sugar beet plants for seed saving, and they've taken all our winter frosts in their stride. They've remained completely hardy and continue to grow without any problems. It is still another 9 months until I can save seed from these plants, and no doubt I'll have to corral them to stop the seed heads from falling over in summer and autumn.
And finally, I gave my strawberry bed a tidy-up by weeding, removing
the older plants, and replanting it with fresh runners. In the process, I
increased the number of plants from 24 to 40, which should mean a much
bigger strawberry harvest this summer.
Nature Notes
Bird life is abundant at this time of year, with many birds searching for food throughout the garden. As always, the blackbirds have been busy digging up the lawn, vegetable garden, and flower beds in search of worms. Tauhou (also known as silvereyes or waxeyes) have been flitting between the few plants still in flower, searching for nectar, while a pair of pīwakawaka have made themselves at home, darting about in search of insects.
I even managed to photograph one of the pīwakawaka as it followed me around the backyard one sunny afternoon—a lovely reminder that even in the middle of winter, the garden is full of life.
I usually put bird feeders out in the front garden over winter, but with the recent arrival of bird flu in New Zealand, I decided to follow the advice of our local ecosanctuary, Orokonui, and take them down. Hopefully it won't be too long before it's safe to welcome the birds back to the feeders.
July has been surprisingly mild. We've had a total of 19 frosts, with temperatures ranging from –0.1°C down to –2.6°C. For the coldest month of the year, that's quite unusual. In a typical July we would normally expect at least a few frosts of around –6°C, along with plenty of mornings below –4°C.
Every day it seems I'm outside in the early evening throwing frost cloth over my citrus plants, wasabi plant, and seedings growing in my glasshouse. My citrus plants look like ghosts in the garden the next morning...
Our biggest weather event this month occurred on 5–6th of July, when a severe winter storm swept across the South Island. Many areas were blanketed in snow, but unfortunately the air wasn't quite cold enough here. Instead, we received torrential rain from the east, prompting MetService to issue a Red Heavy Rain Warning for Dunedin.
Whenever we get this type of weather pattern, it almost always leads to flooding in our backyard, as well as more widespread flooding across Dunedin. On the 5th of July we recorded 113 mm of rain in just 24 hours, followed by another 80.3 mm on the 6th of July.
As usual, the path leading to our woodshed flooded, so we built a temporary flood barrier using bags of potting mix to keep the water at bay. We keep meaning to fix the problem properly, but this particular weather pattern only comes along every few years, so it never quite makes it to the top of the to-do list.
I took a trip out in the pouring rain to check out our local stream. Luckily it stayed within its banks, even though the water was so swift that even the local ducks didn't want to go anywhere near it.
Luckily, the torrential rain eventually came to an end and the garden began to dry out. We've since enjoyed a run of crisp, sunny winter days, making it much easier to catch up on jobs around the garden.
As July draws to a close, the garden is slowly beginning to wake from its winter rest. My seed orders are on their way, and I can't wait to start filling the glasshouse with trays of seedlings. It won't be long before another growing season is underway.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.
White Daffodil Project : Planting My Collection
Hello friends,
I've become completely obsessed with white daffodils, also known as white narcissus, and it all began with a single observation.
While taking the Floret Flower Farm Workshop last summer, I came across a comment from Erin Benzakein during the daffodil section of the course. She explained that at her flower farm, traditional yellow daffodils didn't sell nearly as well as the white varieties. She suggested that white daffodils have an elegance that appeals to many people. They are also so much harder to find than the traditional yellow varieties, making them feel a little more unusual and distinctive.
The more I thought about her observations, the more I realised I agreed with her. I already had a few white daffodil varieties growing in my garden, but I'd never really paid much attention to them. Once I started researching the different varieties available in New Zealand, I discovered an incredible diversity of flower forms, colours, and fragrances. Before long, I wanted to see whether my own experience with white daffodils would support Erin's observations, and that curiosity soon grew into a project of its own.
I've included some photos of white daffodils already growing in my garden. I no longer remember the names of these varieties, but they've given me a starting point for what I hope will become a much larger collection over the coming years.
When spring bulb pre-orders opened on the NZ Bulbs and Bulbs Direct websites this past summer, I bought the following white narcissus varieties for my garden:
- Annalise
- Bridal Crown
- Cheerfulness
- Earlicheer
- Ice Follies
- Mint Julep
- Pure White
- Thalia
- Watch Up
Together they represent a mix of single and double flowers, pure white and cream-toned varieties, a range of sizes, and varying flowering forms. I'm looking forward to watching them grow over the coming months, observing their characteristics, and discovering which ones become my favourites.
With the daffodils chosen and delivered to my doorstep, it was finally time to plant them. Wanting to compare the different varieties side by side as they emerged and flowered, I planted them together in one of the empty dahlia seedling beds in early winter (yes, I was a little late!).
I planted the bulbs according to their mature height, with the tallest varieties at the back of the bed and the shortest at the front. My trusty bulb planter made quick work of digging the planting holes before each bulb was safely tucked into place.
It's now been about a month since I planted the daffodil bulbs, and some of the varieties have already begun emerging through the soil. It's always exciting to see those first green shoots appear, knowing the flowers won't be too far behind.
I'm looking forward to discovering the unique character of each white daffodil variety, seeing how they perform in my garden, and finding out whether my own experience supports Erin's observations as my white daffodil project unfolds over this gardening season.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.
I'd love to hear if you grow white daffodils, or if you have a favourite variety that I should add to my collection in the future.
Daffodil Days
Hello friends,
With high spring now upon us, I took some time to photograph the daffodils flowering in my garden at the moment.
First up are my favorite daffodils, the Tete-a-Tete varieties. I'm now especially fond of the double variety I bought last autumn, Tete Boucle, and I would like to grow some more of them in the garden.
Next are the white daffodils, which I'm becoming more and more obsessed with recently.
And lastly we have the large, yellow varieties. Some of the lemon and double varieties are just beautiful, including the delicate daffodil Mother Duck.
Daffodils are just such a happy and bright reminder at the beginning of spring that sunnier and warmer days are on their way. I'm so pleased that I invested in hundreds of daffodils a couple of years ago, and spent all that time planting them in the ground in autumn, because my garden now has a brilliant burst of colour in early spring.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
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