Abeth Mckerchar had a collection of houseplants at home in the Philippines which she loved. So when, more than a decade ago, her sister in New Zealand asked Abeth to come over and help with her children, she left them in a friend’s care – temporarily, or so she thought.
But while in New Zealand she met Lindsay, whom she married after a whirlwind courtship. So all of a sudden she was resident in Mataura, Southland, without a plant to her name.
“And I missed them,” she says. “I wanted to have my plants again to brighten my home. So I started Googling where could I buy them and how could I grow them in this different climate.”
Now she is surrounded by lush green leaves and the bright colored foliage she particularly loves. She estimates her collection numbers at an incredible 700 or so plants. “My husband calls me a hoarder. I would rather say obsessed.”
She propagates a lot and as well as trading the odd plant for meat and fish with colleagues at the two rest homes where she works – “the other day I got a salmon“ – she sells plants online to fund plant food and the purchase of any plants she does not already have.
Read the complete article at www.stuff.co.nz.