104 days ago

Flower-bed plants available for rescue

The Team from Whangarei District Council

Our winter flower-bed plants are due for renewal and will be removed soon. Instead of disposing of them, we’d like to offer the surviving plants to attentive green-fingered gardeners to keep them growing. Keen to try your hand? Come and get some free, mature flowering plants at the times and places below:

🌷 Cafler Park, Friday 31 October from 9:30am: Cyclamen and Dianthus both mixed (pictured)
🌷 Town Basin by Hundertwasser, Wednesday 5 November from 9:3-am: Cyclamen (Rose and White) and Primrose (mixed shades)
🌷 Airport, Tuesday 11 November from 9:30am: Cyclamen (Violet and White)
🌷 Laurie Hall Park, Friday 21 November from 10:30am: Orange Geraniums and vegetables*
*Flowers will be available from the back of the Citycare truck in the carpark. Please help yourself to the vegetables on the top walk, any leftovers will be getting cleared out on Friday 5th of December and distributed back into the community. We will be planting hot chillies in there this summer to pick from.

The small print:
Bedding plants usually only flower for a season and then die down, but skilled gardeners can sometimes keep them looking good for a while longer. If you would like to try extending the summer flowers' lives, collect some and have a go.

We can't offer to hold plants for later collection – please just come along at the times above if you're keen.

More messages from your neighbours
22 days ago

Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.

Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.

We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?

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As a customer, what do you think about automation?
  • 9.4% For. Self-service is less frustrating and convenient.
    9.4% Complete
  • 43.4% I want to be able to choose.
    43.4% Complete
  • 47.1% Against. I want to deal with people.
    47.1% Complete
2511 votes
6 days ago

Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!

Mei Leng Wong Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.

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7 days ago

Pay no weekly fee until 2028*

Jane Mander Retirement Village

When you sign up to an independent apartment or townhouse at a participating Ryman village by 28 February 2026, you won't pay your weekly fee until 2028*. And because life at Ryman means no home upkeep, you'll have more time for the things you love.

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