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Saturday 20th April, 2024

Hi
Clean Up those leaves
There are leaves and then there are leaves, worth noting that they are not created equal and at this time of the year they are steadily starting to fall. It is worth taking the time to rake them all up (or use a blower) and dispose of them into either compost or leaf mould. I know that those big established trees can create quite a thick carpet of leaves that can actually cause the demise of the garden underneath.  
We have 4 now quite large plane trees with a mass planting of Winter roses underneath and for most of the year these look stunning. When the leaves of the planes start to fall, well, they make this impenetrable carpet effect and prevent light getting to the Helleborus. So, in certain cases, one does have to take the time to remove all the leaves to allow garden underneath to flourish. 

 
The other thing about the leaves of a Plane tree is that when they dry they don't break down very fast and seem to get blown in to every nook and cranny.
In very general terms the smaller the leaf, the faster they disappear. Take, for example, the leaves on a Gleditsia. These are a composite leaf made up of quite small leaflets and when these fall, well they just kind of disappear. Of course there is almost every leaf size and shape in between the Gleditsia and our large-leaved plane trees and they all behave differently.
What's new in this week ... well quite a bit 
Blueberries.. we were getting somewhat low on these delicious, easy-to-grow fruit and so I suggested Ang get more to fill the tables. Remember that Rabbit eyes and Southern high bush are best suited to a warmer climate like the Waikato. The other point is that you need a couple of different varieties of the same type, e.g. Rabbit eyes, for cross pollination. My theory is that growing more varieties of the same type should also give a slightly longer fruiting period. So just in there should be: Blast, Centurion, Ezigrow, Maru, Oneal, Powder blue, Rahi and Tifblue or follow the link and check them all out.

 
Update: and have a gander at the three varieties that are new to us, being Blue star, Sapphire Blue and Pink Icing.
Strelitzia, both Nicolai and Reginae, or commonly known as Bird of Paradise. Reginae is the classic one with the orange flowers while Niocolai grows much bigger and has blue flowers.
Clianthus Albus or the white kakabeak. This always seems to be popular and some of this white-flowered version, as well as the classic red-flowered kakabeak, have also just arrived this week. 

 
Boston ivy or I just love the name of Parthenocissus tricuspidata veitchii. This is the version that sticks to the wall with those specialized sticky little pads. Great for hiding an old fence or wall or on the side of a building with its claim to fame, at this time of year, of brilliant Autumn colour. We also still have in stock Virginia creeper, still a Parthenocissus but a different species being quinquefolia and henryana.. both have amazing Autumn colour but these don't stick to the wall and will need something to grow over.
Ang has also bought in some more conifers to increase the range and these include some more Kaizukas, which are fab for training into your own cloud trees, Cupressus totem, Juniperus Dandelight and Blue rug, Thuja Blue cone,  Aurea nana and Pyramidalis.

 
Finally, the first of the Winter roses from Clifton house have come in store this week and he has bred many unique varieties over the years. Again follow the link to see all the Helleborus and I imagine that the others aren't too far away now and you can always waitlist your selection.
Newbies from the Austin Stable of roses, be in quick
Three new David Austin roses have just come to light and I have never seen these before. We have a few coming our way and in limited numbers so be in quick otherwise they won't be available again until 2025.
The Mill on Floss. New to us 2024. Named after the George Eliot novel, this rose is stunning in tones of pink and lilac pink. Plant is gently arching on strong healthy canes with glossy green leaves. Large clusters of deeply cupped, fruity-fragrant blooms appear throughout the season. Repeats well. 
Emily Bronte. New to Us 2024. Large clusters of rosette flowers. The multi-toned blooms of pink and peach will fade to a soft cream as the flowers age on the plant. The tightly petalled blooms have a lovely citrus fragrance and are borne on a nice healthy upright bush.

 
Tottering by gently. New to us 2024. The single yellow flowers, appearing in large open sprays, make a spectacular display over mid green foliage. A simple but perfect, medium-sized rose that will repeat flower all season. Beloved of bees and with a light musk fragrance.
Wollerton Old Hall. Isn't new but remains very popular and so we managed to get a few more of these to fulfil waitlisted items.
It's our Autumn sale time with heaps of great buys 
You need to come out and check the place out for yourself but in a nut shell, all Roses are half price until they are all gone.
Camellias are 20% reduced and this includes the full range including standards and Espalier and the plants are all looking fabulous. Also at 20% discounted are all the Rhododendrons and also all the Hydrangeas, just to make a tad more room for new incoming stock. 
Deciduous Azaleas are all 25% off and then there are are some great bargains on other plants as well including Succulents and Daylilies (Hemerocallis), so be in!!! I also asked Ang to put the large grade Lime Bearrs (around 2m  high) out at half price (down from $189.99 to $95.00) but you will need a trailer as these are too large to freight. Well worth the trip out to have a browse.

 
To that end we have added a few extra groups of plants to our Autumn sale, including some great natives suitable for revegetation projects. Leptospermum scoparium, Phormium cookianum, Green Ake Ake and Wineberry or Makomako are all now only $7 each while Carex virgata are down to $5 each (half price).
House keeping and putting it out there 
Anzac day is just next week being on Thursday the 25th. We will be closed in the morning and will open at 1pm and close at the usual time of 5pm. Otherwise we are open as per normal on Friday and the weekend.
Anzac day does, however, also make for another short week even though Friday is another working day. To that end we will only dispatch to the south island on Monday and complete all dispatch everywhere else on the Tuesday, so everything should arrive before the weekend.
Looking for help for our potting season
Just putting it out there that we are on the lookout for 3 or 4 keen and motivated workers to help us with our potting season which starts in the last week of May. It is for approx. 12 weeks only and involves being part of a team which will help process all the new season's roses and trees into pb Bags. It's quite fun and the tasks include all things from root pruning, labelling, potting and putting down in alphabetical order. If you have an interest, or know of someone looking for some short term work, then please pass this on.

 
The Waitlist 
Last year we changed our system from backorders to what we call waitlist and the significant difference is that we now put aside only orders that are paid: otherwise they go into the nursery for general sales. The plan is to advise around 10 days out that the product is due in and at that point we need commitment. We then follow up with a second email that advises that your rose or other plant is in stock for collection, or it will be dispatched with an email if you had chosen mail-order. 
We do try to collate similar items as in roses or trees where feasible, but sometimes this is not possible due to the type of plant and the timing of its availability and arrival. Different seasons have different plant lines. 
Should be doing: getting the garden ready for bed 
Don't prune or dead head your roses but rather leave them to look scruffy and final flowers to become hips so that the rose begins to start signally to itself to stop and take a rest for the year. You can enhance this process by spraying at some point over the next few weeks with Lime sulphur. If you are this way inclined, this will definitely help your roses to defoliate and also kill any fungal spores, insect eggs and scale from over wintering. Note Lime Sulphur can stain fences and painted surfaces, not to mention smelling quite suphurous. A similar result can happen with Copper oxychloride and Conqueror oil but may need several applications to get the same result.
Those that do use Lime sulphur often follow up with the copper and oil but leave a gap of several weeks as these are incompatible with each other.

 
Last trim of hedges for the season so that they stay nice and square and tidy for the winter and then your next trim should be after the spring flush.
Mulch garden with shredded compost or some organic chip to suppress the weeds all winter.
Plant any plants that you find available as this is the ultimate in planting time, though there is no problem planting in the winter or any other time of the year for that matter. When planting in the winter I generally suggest no compost in the planting hole unless you have prepared some months earlier. Compost holds extra moisture in the winter when the new feeder roots are trying to grow. Of course if you have a very light or sandy soil structure then compost will be of benefit.
Cut back or remove the foliage on perennials that have finished for the year.. With the likes of Hostas this is obvious as the they do their version of leaf fall with the spent flowers and leaves seemingly abscising just like our deciduous trees. Other perennials will have foliage and stems that have gone brown after having done their spring thing and this will need cutting away.

 
Preparing the garden area for planting Garlic from now on and if you haven't got yours then now's the time to get it.. We still have both the usual Garlic, being Printanor and also Elephant Garlic available.. If you haven't ordered your strawberries (Camarosa) then you can put these on your waitlist now and we will email when these are available, but the time isn't far away to be getting these in also.
Clearing up leaves is a constant task but I find a little and often is the easiest approach.
Winter roses (Helleborus).. you can remove the previous year's foliage just before the new season's flowers come. This will result in a stunning flower display without the old leaves and then the new leaves will come for another year.
I think that is plenty to go on with especially as its the school holidays... perhaps get out there with family and get all the tasks done.
Whatever your plans for the weekend have a good one.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.

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Last 25 Newsletters...

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..... Rake up those leaves

Things Citrusy (13th April, 2024)

Get harvesting and preserve (6th April, 2024)

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Garlic (23rd March, 2024)

Autumn Sale Preview (16th March, 2024)

Orchard planning (9th March, 2024)

Gardens are for play (3rd March, 2024)

Autumnal feel in the air now (24th February, 2024)

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Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: