Saturday 22nd March, 2025
Hi
Roasted quinces by Digby Law
Keeping up on the harvest theme we have a tree full of
Quinces that are starting to drop right now, though I have to say that quinces have not always been an over fav with me. I'm sure that stems from my childhood when my grandmother served us kids up bottled
quinces for dessert. I remember them being pink and dry. Having said that, they do make for pretty nice quince paste, and are good in jams or when baked in the oven. I'm not so sure about bottling though, unless someone out there has had better experiences than me!!!
When I had a tree full of them, and friends coming for dinner, I remembered that I had a recipe for roasted quinces which was pretty delicious, very easy to make, and yum served with plain yoghurt (though you could also use whipped cream).
Roasted Quinces by Digby Law
4 Heaped Tablespoons Sugar 500 ml Water
4 Cloves 2 Star Anise
4 Smallish Quince – peeled and halved (I quartered large ones)
4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup or Honey
Method:
Bring sugar and water to the boil, add cloves and star anise, add quinces, and simmer ‘til tender. Lift quinces into a shallow oven proof dish.
Add maple syrup to 150ml of cooking liquid and spices, then pour over fruit, and bake 30 min at 180°C.
Delicious with plain Greek yoghurt.
Oranges, Mandarins and Kumquats
It's mid March and I still have
Oranges to pick and just as well as I needed a couple to make
Annabel Langbein's Egyptian orange cake for morning tea for the team. My guess (as I didn't plant the tree) is that the tree that I have at home is a
Valencia cultivar. This being a
Harwood Late or perhaps even a
Valencia and there is another clone called
Lue Gim Gong. In my opinion, as well as having a
Navel Orange cultivar all gardens should have a
Valencia type as well, so that you cover off a very long season with oranges. We have been picking our
Harwood Late orangs (assuming that is what they are) from long before Christmas and whilst it's getting to the end of the season, there are still a heap on the tree to keep us going.
There are plenty of
Navel Oranges to select from, and these tend to ripen late winter and move into spring...then bring on the
Valencias. I would find it difficult to recommend between the different navel clones as they all actually have the same origins, though I'm sure there will be slight differences between them all.
We often get asked for seedless and easy peel mandarins and the name you are looking for here is anything with
Satsuma in it. Typically
Satsuma mandarins have a somewhat flattish appearance and form with a kind of puffy skin that just rolls of the fruit and are of course mostly seedless. I did a bit of research a few years back about the origins of all the Satsumas and without going into a whole lot of detail the majority of them all are very closely related via sports (like a branch mutation) or controlled seed pollinations.
Some generalisations about our
Satsuma mandarin: like all citrus they prefer a sunny disposition and good fertile soil that is well drained.. they don't like wet feet. Another big plus for those with smaller sections is that they don't grow overly large compared to most other citrus, most being around 1.2 by 1.2 metres high and wide when mature.
Some citrus that we haven't had for a while have been the
Kumquats and these are another interesting group to sort out. These are the smallest of the citrus fruits, being roughly the size of an olive, and are also the only citrus whose peel and pulp are edible together. All of these will make for very attractive tub plants with their scented white flowers that are followed by bright orange fruits. It's also worth noting that sweetness always increases with ripeness, which is probably true of all fruits.
I have often wondered why we have the name
Kumquat Fortunella Nagami. With some ferreting around on Google, I learnt that Kumquat once had the genus name of Fortunella, species name Margarita, and has since been renamed Citrus Margarita, and I guess cultivar Nagami. This is a popular one with bright orange skin and an oval shape that we often get asked for.
The
Calamondin Kumquat, also known as
Calamansi, is a hybrid between a mandarin orange and a kumquat (Citrus x Microcarpa). The bright orange, round, juicy fruit has few seeds and a sharp acidic taste. Popular for candied peel and marmalade. Perfect as a container plant. We also stock the closely related
Kumquat Calamondin Variegata which, as the name implies, has pretty, variegated foliage.
Michelle, one of the team here, knows a lot about
Calamansi (way more than me) and I learnt from her that in the Philippines these are used a lot in cooking but as green fruits, rather than when we would think of them as ripe, being orange. Apparently, when juiced they are used as marinades and condiments, a little like we use lemons. We do have a large one here in the nursery in a very large container.. perhaps she may be able to give me a recipe using Calamansi?
Kumquat Meiwa, also once called Fortunella Crassifolia and now renamed Citrus Crassifolia, is a round Kumquat and another hybrid variety with thick, rigid, dark green foliage and fragrant, white flowers in spring. The rounded fruit are good quality and tangy.
Tracy's Fav roses
Lloyd asked me the other day about my favourite roses. I guess like all gardeners your favourite plants are based on memories, what you associate with that plant and how they performed in your garden. My favourite varieties are based on my garden of 20 years in Rukuhia where I grew lots of roses which I loved.
These included
Happy Child, planted at the second birthday of my daughter - a gorgeous soft yellow - sunny disposition, just like her. I also grew and loved
Sally Holmes which has an abundance of flowers spread in clusters on tall vigorous growth. The flowers are soft pink fading to almost white and many a vase full was picked for my house or for friends. Sally is very disease resistant and very reliable. At the front of my house I grew a couple of
Iceberg roses and also a
Burgundy Iceberg. There's a reason this one is so popular and it's because it's a great performer. Sprays of pure white double flowers with showy stamens from October to May - allow 7 weeks for a reflush if you are cutting back for a special occasion.
Another favourite rose which has made the journey to Cambridge in a pot is
The Endeavour. This was given to me by my husband who follows the idiom "Happy Wife, Happy Life" and its fragrance and beautiful peachy pink blooms were also picked frequently for the house. I am a fan of the single rose and grew
Mutabilis just because I love the way it changes colour and gives the impression of a painting with colourful highlights of deep pink, yellow, copper and pale pink, all on the one plant.
Now I am at my new place I have been poring over the pictures of the new and not so new roses we will have in stock soon. I want them all! Sadly there isn't the space but I'm looking seriously at some possibilities including
Tranquility,
Wildeve,
Altissimo and
Ali Mau which has impressed me this season as I wandered through the garden centre. I hope you will take the time to check out our selection
here - there are some gorgeous memories in the making for your own garden.
Autumn colour is not just about leaves but also fruits of the season
Tiny and tart, used for jellies, ciders and preserves, add the fact that they make for great autumn colour in the garden and feed the birds and you may have guessed that we are on about
Crabapples (Malus).
Why the name crab-apples? Well the term is used to describe the wild ancestors of the domestic apple which have been around for thousands of years. Although they are very closely related to apples, they are generally not eaten fresh off the tree as they are very dense and a bit tart. The value of these guys is in the stunning colour of the fruit in autumn, just as leaves are starting to fall and deciduous trees look a little naked. Of course they are also popular with our feathered friends who are not fussy about the sharp flavour of the fruit.
The
Crabapples also feature in the list of small trees suitable for town gardens and you can get them in a variety of forms from narrow upright column of
Ballerina Maypole (only 30cm wide) with pretty deep pink flowers followed by red fruit to upright forms like
Golden
Hornet (3m x 2.5m) with pale pink flowers and bright golden orbs in autumn. Possibly the most stunning of all are the weeping forms which are grafted on a standard and cascade down with graceful blossoms in Spring and bright fruit in Autumn. Examples include
Ellerslie and
Red
Jade.
Floribunda is absolutely gorgeous in spring with red buds which open to white flushed with pink and turn into red and yellow
crabapples with a weeping habit.
Snowbright is another with similar form and dainty white flowers followed by orange/red fruit.
Crabapples are great for multiple seasons of interest and perfect for a smaller garden.
Sapote and Custard Apples
On the theme of fruit by a different name we have very limited stocks of a couple of unusual fruit which we only get once a year. Sapote or Casimiroa are sought after because of their rich sweet and musky flavour, resembling a combination of peach, banana and pear with a smooth texture. These can grow up to 5m and are related to the citrus family but hail from central American highlands. We have three Casimiroa varieties available: Luke, Sue Belle and Te Puna.
Also available now are
Cherimoyas also known as
Custard Apples due to the texture of the ripe fruit. Something special which needs a frost free situation, especially when young. They also need protection from the wind but will reward you with big crops of delicious sweet fruit when mature. Some varieties may benefit from hand pollination. These could also be grown in
a large pot.
Garlic ... Elephant and Printanor
It's early I know, but
Garlic is on its way and should be here in store this week and the time for planting is coming. This is traditionally the shortest day, but any time from the cool season of Autumn to early winter should be fine, and harvest around 7 months later.
Ensure that your position is well drained and get that spot ready with an application of blood and bone. When you are ready to plant your
Printanor garlic, break up the heads into individual cloves and plant 2 to 4 cm deep and 10cm apart. The
Elephant garlic we sell does not need to be divided before planting. Keep weed free as garlic doesn't like to compete with weeds.
Gordonton art trail Saturday and Sunday the 5th and 6th of April from 10am to 4pm. This is a free trail and you can drive to each of the different venues to check out all the different artists. You can collect your map from the nursery as we have them in the shop right now, just in case you need to start some forward planning for the day.
Autumn is officially here this weekend, well at least the equinox is, and the last couple of days have really been quite Autumnal in that the temps have dropped and we have had some much needed rain (19mls counts). The good thing is that the rain was spread over an entire day and so...in my books it's officially planting season, so lets go.
Have a fab weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
