![\"TV](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/afd7aa5f199bc39990d9474ab02aec3e.jpg\")
<\/p>\n– Dale Harvey’s Mangere home sold for $855,000 after a bidding contest at Barfoot & Thompson’s auction.<\/p>\n
– The property, known for its gardens, attracted interest from renovators and land bankers.<\/p>\n
– Harvey, a 90s TV gardening star, passed away before Christmas; his gardens once hosted community events.<\/p>\n
The run-down South Auckland home of 90s TV star and gardener Dale Harvey has been snapped up for $855,000.<\/p>\n
Three bidders vied for the house on Vine Street, in Mangere, at Barfoot & Thompson’s auction rooms last week.<\/p>\n
An offer of $830,000 kicked off the contest, but the bidding stalled at $850,000, and the property was passed in. <\/p>\n
However, a phone bidder who only viewed the home two days before the auction ended up making a deal with the vendors outside the auction room.<\/p>\n
Listing agent Alan Vessey was unsure of the new owner’s plans for the property, but said much of the interest had come from people looking for opportunities to do it up. There were also some land bankers looking to hold the property until the zoning changed to allow multiple dwellings on the site.<\/p>\n
“There was interest in the home, although not as much as I would have expected. It was a good opportunity for someone.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Harvey\u2019s three-bedroom home on Vine Street, in Auckland\u2019s Mangere East, attracted three bidders at auction last week. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
![\"TV](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3f696a2d5872c8b690a219bfc1beba65.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Harvey’s gardens suffered after the death of Harvey\u2019s partner in 2024. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
He added: “The market is OK. We are still bouncing along the bottom, but certain things are still getting good prices – it just depends on what it is and who is doing it largely.”<\/p>\n
Buyers had considered turning the property into a community garden, but Vessey said the price they were willing to pay was not sufficient. “I think they were thinking 1998 property prices.”<\/p>\n
Vessey had also fielded calls from a couple of people who remembered the property from when Harvey used to open the garden up to countless visitors over the years.<\/p>\n
Harvey, known to a generation of Kiwis for his gardening skills, passed away at his \u201cQuarter Acre Paradise Conservatory\u201d in Mangere just before Christmas.<\/p>\n
The American-born radio host, columnist and environmental consultant became a household name in the early 1990s, and his Mangere gardens welcomed countless visitors over the years.<\/p>\n
Discover more:<\/p>\n
– Former Warriors star Addin Fonua-Blake finally sells his home after price drop<\/a><\/p>\n – Where Rings stars smoked cigars and drank rum: Iconic NZ haunt for sale for $2m<\/a><\/p>\n – ‘Secret’ House of the Year for sale: over 100 people crowd first open home<\/a><\/p>\n However, listing photos for Vine Street suggest the \u201cGarden Guru of New Zealand\u201d had fallen on hard times and was struggling to maintain his beloved gardens since the death of his partner, John Newton, in 2024.<\/p>\n Vessey told OneRoof last month that Harvey used a wheelchair in his later years and had felt the loss of Newton keenly. \u201cHe loved his plants. He was quite lost when his partner passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n In his listing on OneRoof, the agent highlighted the property\u2019s connection to Harvey and its past significance. \u201cVine Street was the home of renowned gardener Dale Harvey, whose spectacular gardens attracted visitors, tours and charity events from across the community,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cOver time, the gardens have faded, and the home itself now shows significant deferred maintenance. The reality is that the property requires serious work. But for buyers who understand opportunity, that is exactly where the potential lies.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cSet on a massive 1417sqm freehold site, this is a rare landholding where the real value is in the scale of the land and what it could become.\u201d<\/p>\n The inside of Harvey\u2019s home. The listing agent understands Harvey was wheelchair-bound in his later years. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n Harvey hit New Zealand\u2019s screens in 1992 in The Living Earth, a programme designed to make Kiwis heroes in their own backyards.<\/p>\n In the first episode<\/a>, he welcomed viewers to his grandparents\u2019 home at 23 Vine Street, which he inherited and named the Quarter Acre Paradise Conservatory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a working garden. A home that provides me with food, income, pleasure and a place to stand against the problems and pleasures of the modern world,\u201d Harvey told viewers.<\/p>\n The episode also featured the homes of actor Annie Whittle and All Blacks\u2019 great Michael Jones, with an animated Harvey swapping banter with his guests.<\/p>\n The property started life as an orchard, with Harvey retaining many of the old plantings, including his grandparents\u2019 grapefruit trees.<\/p>\n Harvey had an international career in the US, Japan and Australia. He met Newton in Melbourne in 1981, and the couple supported each other\u2019s creative and community-focused endeavours.<\/p>\n Harvey and Newton were tireless environmental campaigners and loved to share their passion for gardening. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n In its heyday, the couple\u2019s gardens had two large conservatories, an orchid house, a natural pond garden, extensive container displays, perennial borders, a lawn garden, and tropical and sub-tropical plantings, some of which can still be seen from aerial photos.<\/p>\n Harvey explained that each area of the garden was designed to demonstrate what could be achieved on a traditional quarter\u2011acre section, using careful micro\u2011climate planning, colour theory and seasonal rhythm.<\/p>\n The couple held garden tours, Valentine\u2019s events, weddings, birthday parties, community celebrations, memorials, and private functions. They also used it as a teaching garden, with live demonstrations.<\/p>\n Harvey also wrote a regular gardening column in Woman\u2019s Day, contributed to New Zealand gardening handbooks, and presented at international garden shows.<\/p>\n His now-defunct website described this media exposure as central to spreading what Harvey called an environmental message about responsibility, regeneration, and stewardship. Running through Harvey\u2019s work was the philosophy that a better world could begin in one\u2019s own backyard.<\/p>\n That philosophy eventually led to the launch of the Healing of Planet Earth or H.O.P.E Trust.<\/p>\n![\"TV](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/661e8d58898be7b37f0ab937f49e0211.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"TV](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cdf45511c81575686b249d2db5b1aa7f.jpg\")
<\/p>\n