Martin and Sue Gibbs collection of ornamental banana trees have so far not generated the flurry of flowers they expected.
"We love it here," said Sue and Martin Gibbs.
They moved into a Hokio Sand Road property three years ago and put a lot of effort into beautifying the grounds and putting in some windbreaks.
"It blows here. The wind blew the blossoms off all our fruit trees in the first year and the drought last summer hasn't been good for the trees either," Mrs Gibbs said.
They brought a lot of ornamental banana trees with them, hoping for lots of flowers.
Unfortunately, it took three years for one of their trees to burst into fruit.