Support the Institute
You can support the institute in a number of ways from gifting resources, material or time, growing seeds or simply by enjoying the benefits of membership. Read more about how you can support the institute or become a member.
Give a gift this summer that:
- supports the saving of our own NZ heritage food plants (our biodiversity)
- Supports the research and development of sustainable soloutions
- Supports our developing network of regional seed growers
All those who receive a gift membership between now and the end of December will receive
3 extra preservation seed packs as well as a free copy of the Institute brochure
"Growing Nutrient Dense Food" with their catalouge
The following business are supported by the Koanga Institute and in return pay us a royalty.
Please support them, they make a big difference.
The Koanga Gardens shop stocks a great range of
Quality hand tools
Books for self reliance
Mail order Koanga Gardens large seeds seedlings
Koanga Institute fruit trees
And everything you need to grow Nutrient Dense food.
Edible Garden
Has a range of Koanga Institute fruit trees in their mail order catalouge & they send our trees all over NZ
Seed Buying Options
We hold a large range of seeds in the Koanga Institute Collection all of which are on our collections pages. Some of these seeds are endangered and kept alive only through the support of our Institute members. They will be marked with the symbol above.
These seeds are available only to members through this shopping cart or our catalogues. The most popular range of these seeds are being grown still by hand but in larger quantities now and they are available from the Koanga Gardens Centre for Sustainable Living shop in Kaiwaka and around New Zealand on our seed stands. This is called the Koanga Gardens Seed range. These seeds will be marked with the symbol below.
A few lines of seed are in both ranges and can be bought from either the Institute Range or the Gardens Range; they are cheaper from the Gardens range, so do whatever suits you best.
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Back Order Vegetables
*Members Only
All these plants are sent as live plant material, not seeds, so so are only available at certain times of the year.
The following must be ordered by April 30th and will be sent in May
SOCIETY GARLIC NZ
A perennial evergreen clumping plant, this garlic is out standing for several reasons. It is a stunning addition to the flower border in dry areas because it is drought tolerant, it looks great all year round and it flowers for about 10 months of the year. The flowers are stunning purple and are also edible, as are the leaves, with a garlic flavour. The flowers look great in salads.
STRAWBERRY suckers
Captain Cook NZ
Early commercial variety with excellent flavour, but small fruit.
Early Tioga NZ
The original Tioga had white flesh, rather than red and they tasted better.
The following must be ordered by September 30th and will be sent in October:
CHINESE ARTICHOKE NZ
These are the most amazing little vegetables, they look like a mint plant above the ground, and they are a member of the mint family. Below the ground, when the top dies back you'll find these little tubers that look quite a lot like large maggots. They are pearly white, and bumpy and wriggly shaped, about 5cm long, and they taste really good. Some people like them raw, I like them lightly steamed, when they taste just like kumara. They crop prolifically and were brought into this country by the Chinese goldminers. They can still be found growing in the old mining sites in the South Island and around the Coromandel. I keep mine in a barrel because like mint, they creep into unwanted places!
COMFREY ROOT NZ
An essential plant for around the orchard or as a kikuyu barrier. Creates a living mulch in the orchard. The deep tap roots mine nutrients and do not compete with the shallow feeder roots of the fruit trees. Can be cut for mulch, as chook food or to make a liquid fertilizer.
DAHLIAS NZ
A mix of our colourful collection from old gardens.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES NZ
Another member of the sunflower family, like the yacon these plants with edible underground tubers have tops that grow to 2m, and with their large leaves are great places for the beneficial insects to lay their eggs and make their homes. They are very showy in the Autumn with their many small yellow sunflowers and when the tops die back you can harvest the tubers which are very sweet and very good for those of us with blood sugar disorders, as they contain slow release sugars. I love these tubers.
RHUBARB
Rhubarb plants have large leaves that are somewhat triangular shaped with long fleshy leaf stalks. The flowers are small, greenish-white to rose-red, and grouped in large compound leafy inflorescences. A number of varieties of rhubarb have been domesticated both as medicinal plants and for human consumption. While the leaves are toxic, the stalks are used in pies and other foods for their tart flavour.
Raspberry
Hong Kong
YACON NZ
A member of the sunflower family, this is a perennial vegetable that grows huge crops of crisp crunchy underground tubers that are sweet, juicy and carrot-like to eat. They grow in clumps similar to Jerusalem artichokes and you harvest the large tubers in late Autumn/Winter. If prefer them raw. The tops of the plants grow to 2m and have ornamental purple hairy leaves and small yellow sunflower-like flowers.
The following must be ordered by October 30th and will be sent in November:
HEIRLOOM POTATO COLLECTION
A selection from our collection of heritage Potato plants, including names descriptions and planting instructions. Click here for details
HEIRLOOM KUMARA COLLECTION
A selection from our collection of heritage kumara plants, including names descriptions and planting instructions. Click here for details.
The following must be ordered by November 31st and they'll be sent out in February.
COATES FAMILY HEIRLOOM BULB COLLECTION NZ
These bulbs are still all growing on private property at the base of Pukekaroro, a reserve across the road from us that used to be owned by the Coates family. When my children were little they would run up the mountain during the weekend for fun then on the way down pick these flowers and take them in to Mrs Coates (they were out of her garden) and hope that she'd give them some of her baking, she always did, and it was the best!
The bulbs are also pretty special. Apart from the Snow Drops they all have outstanding scents and they're really old varieties.
Snow Drops
Classic white bells with green dots around them.
Paper Whites
Multiheaded 5 single white petals with a white centre.
Bacon and Eggs
Multiheaded very double yellow centres light yellow outside petals.
Sol d'or
Multi headed yellow petals with gold centres.
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