Oasis Cottage

02/10/2025

Let me introduce our new Assistant Gardener 🐶😍

Our princess Olivia is on her way home to Oxford, Canterbury, with her amazing family who drove all the way here and met her early this morning. It was truly love at first sight—Olivia adored her mom from the moment they met, and the car packed with toys and dog items was a huge hit too. The feeling was mutual, and she is bound to be absolutely spoiled! 😍 We are so humbled to see how Olivia, like all JDC rescues, has her own path in life: from a small puppy abandoned on the flooded river bank in Bay of Plenty, in the pound for 7 days and unclaimed, to the center of a loving family in North Canterbury!

15/09/2025

✨ Wander, rest, and be inspired… Oasis Cottage is open to visitors on six magical days this spring and summer.

Come and enjoy our 5-acre country garden in full bloom — filled with roses, perennials, heritage trees and French flair. You’re welcome to explore at your own pace with a map ($15), or join a guided tour with Steph and Laurie ($25).

☕ Complimentary tea and coffee
🪴 Plants for sale
🪑 Plenty of places to sit and soak in the view

📍 Oxford, North Canterbury
🗓️ First open day: Sunday 26th October 2025
🎟️ Tickets online or at the gate
👉 www.oasiscottage.com

Tag a friend you’d love to bring 🌸

08/09/2025

Bearded Iris ‘Harvest of Memories’ — from crayfish-like rhizomes 🦞 to sunshine-yellow blooms 🌼. Dividing keeps them strong and flowering beautifully.

06/09/2025

Grown from seed and flowering their hearts out all winter in the greenhouse, these geraniums have been a steady companion through the cold months.

02/09/2025

Sixty stems of sunshine from the garden 🌞🌼
Hello Spring – we’ve been waiting for you!

01/09/2025

It’s 1 September, the first day of spring. 💐

What an excellent opportunity to congratulate Open Polytechnic ākonga (learner) Steph Evans, owner of Oasis Cottage in Oxford, near Christchurch, whose garden was awarded a 3-star status by the New Zealand Gardens Trust earlier this year.

This award means that the country-style Oasis Cottage gardens are officially recognised as a “Notable Garden”.

For Steph, it’s the result of years of hard work, transforming five acres of paddocks into a richly planted, diverse garden.

“It was an incredibly special moment,” Steph says.

“I’ve poured two decades of effort into this garden—sculpting the landscape, planting thousands of trees, perennials and roses, and designing it to be both beautiful and immersive.”

The New Zealand Gardens Trust assessment involved an in-person visit by a panel that examined design, maintenance, plant selection, and visitor experience.

“It’s not a business; it’s our retirement lifestyle—a place for us to live beautifully and share with others through occasional open days,” Steph says.

“We are now expanding and refining areas to aim for a 4-star rating.”

Steph is currently studying towards a NZ Certificate in Floristry (Level 3) at Open Polytechnic, after initially enrolling in the NZ Certificate in Floristry (Level 2) in 2023.

“After years of gardening and crafting floral arrangements at home, I decided to expand my knowledge and skill set,” Steph says.

“Open Polytechnic’s flexible model suits my rural lifestyle and the hands-on nature of my daily life in the garden perfectly.”

Steph finds Open Polytechnic’s NZ Certificate in Floristry (Level 3) “extremely practical”.

“The course is structured around real, hands-on floristry work,” she says.

“Each assessment has required me to create actual arrangements—wired designs, hand-tied bouquets, and more—mainly using flowers I grow myself.”

“It’s deepened my seasonal awareness and sharpened both my techniques and planning.”

Floristry represents the turning over of a new leaf in Steph’s career after selling her successful sunscreen and skincare business in 2019.

“Floristry is part of a new chapter—one focused on creativity, garden-based living, and beauty in everyday life,” she says.

“For fun, I now create and deliver seasonal bouquets to locals in our small rural town of Oxford, using flowers grown on-site at Oasis Cottage.”

Steph says that floristry is part of a slower, more intentional life.

“Studying floristry later in life has been empowering, and I encourage anyone curious about the field to dive in,” Steph says.

“You never know how deeply it might change the way you live.”

📷Steph with a floral crown she created for an Open Polytechnic assessment.

31/08/2025

Still catching up with rose pruning — winter ends today, and I’m racing the clock! ✂ 🌹Next up: a spray with Conqueror Oil, then Liquid Copper a few days later. If you’re running behind, too, you’re in good company.

03/08/2025

The digger returns for the next phase of renovating our old pond. And then nature tested it without delay or mercy! ☔🦆

30/07/2025

We've been enjoying working on the garden over winter and cannot wait to show the improvements we've made to new and returning visitors!

28/07/2025

That’s a wrap – 2,765 spring bulbs planted!

I’ve just finished what might be the biggest bulb planting season we’ve ever done at Oasis Cottage. It’s taken weeks of prep, spade work, and quite a few muddy boots – but oh, the anticipation!

We’ve added hundreds more tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, muscari, and bluebells across the borders. Some favourite varieties from last season are back, alongside a few new additions I can’t wait to see bloom.

Here’s a peek at last spring’s display — these are the colours and textures we’re building on:
💜 Rich purples and pastel tulips
💛 Golden daffodils lining the orchard walk
🌸 Hyacinths and muscari buzzing with bees
🌷 Bouquets straight from the beds to the vase

This year’s additions include:
• Ad Rem, Triple A, Pretty Princess, and Dynasty tulips
• Fortitude and Grand Monarch daffodils
• Ocean Delight and Pink Surprise hyacinths
• Bluebells King of the Blues, Muscari Early Giant, Snowflakes

Can’t wait to see what spring brings. For now, we rest. (Well… almost.)

We’ve added hundreds more tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, muscari, and bluebells across the borders. Some favourite varieties from last season are back, alongside a few new additions I can’t wait to see them bloom.

27/07/2025

This week’s garden mission: reclaiming the long border by the wishing well.

It’s 21 metres of narrow planting (just 1.3m wide) with no irrigation and plenty of Nor’wester wind – not exactly a gentle spot!

After a few seasons of experimenting, I’ve finally landed on a mix of plants that thrive here and look beautiful. Last year they really proved their worth.

Here’s what’s in the mix:
• Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’
• Eryngium (Sea Holly) - grown from seed
• Gaura lindheimeri ‘So White’
• Verbena bonariensis ‘Meteor Showers’
• Rudbeckia hirta ‘Cherry Brandy’ - grown from seed
• Bunny Tail Grass - grown from seed

And to brighten things up in spring, I’ve planted Darwin Hybrid tulips – ‘Ad Rem’ and ‘Triple A’.

It’s a joy to see this border come into its own. A little structure, a lot of texture, and a burst of colour to come 🌷✨

Let me know what you’re planting this winter!

08/07/2025

🌲 Nature’s Roses 🌹

These stunning rosette-shaped cones are from our Himalayan Cedar (Cedrus deodara) — aren’t they extraordinary? This year I managed to gather and dry a whole basketful, ready for Christmas wreath-making and festive floristry.

I’m toying with the idea of giving some a light dusting of gold… ✨ What do you think — natural and rustic, or gilded and glam?

Let me know below 👇