Saturday 5th October, 2019
Hi
Let me say very quickly here that it wasn't a birthday with a special number but rather one of those in between ones that add up very quickly to the next big event... and my computer really and I mean really didn't work as I had fully intended to write the blurb... fortunately Cathie saved the day even though I'm sure that she secretly didn't believe me LOL
Our friends have been at us for years to go to the Wearable arts event in Wellington for years and I have to say that it was just the experience ... totally amazing and I had no idea that it was going to be so fabulous.. If you haven't been, then put it in your page of events to go to and check out the gardens at the same time..
Not only that, I not so sure that, what they say about the weather in Welly is, well.... so bad, as it was fine and beautiful the whole time that we were there.
The Botanic garden are quite fabulous and well worth a visit if you are down that way but I will say that they are on quite a steep hillside so be prepared to do some decent walking... I think that we must have done some 20 km a day around the city each day as everything is all quite close really.
Running around the nursery seems to keep me in shape and I'm sure that some days we do some 20 km here as well... without measuring, a return trip from one side to the other would have to be 1 km and how often do we do that... one of the reasons that we all have radios to call each other.
On that note we have one of our software Gurus visiting from Adelaide which is all very exciting, we have been associated with Allan for some 15 years now... and he keeps an eye on everything to make sure that its all systems running.. Then there is also Jerram who tends to sort a myriad of other stuff to ensure that all of the other technical stuff is working and also been with us for as many years.
As we all know the techno stuff keeps changing at a constant rate and we all have to keep up as best we can and keep looking to improve our systems, communications and procedures.
So to that end it was a meeting date with the team of techno whizz's to pave the way for the next few years...... There is always a project!!! There were many ideas on the agenda from perhaps an update for the email news, functions of the operating systems to those like the necessary financial reporting. All that aside it my excuse for a late email..
The fanciest of the
Clematis are the Hybrids
They have finally arrived and that are the fanciest, well in my opinion of the Clematis family. These Clematis have the reputation of the largest and most brightly coloured flowers of this group of plants. They can be a bit tricky to grow but so worth the effort and once established reappear every year with saucer sized flowers.
I have them in the garden appearing through the foliage of roses like Warm welcome and Graham Thomas as the attractive purples look amazing through the yellow and orange toned roses.. The clematis use the roses as support to climb or you could equally use an obelisk or just bamboo canes made into a tripod, just like The English garden books do.
Plant the roots with a cool root run or use some stones or bricks to help cool the spot and prevent future root disturbance, plant slightly deeper than the container and this will almost be the only time I say to do this. I also would recommend planting with some friendly fungicide like Bio Fungicide granules which will help prevent wilt infection...
Hosta's making an appearance here but there are heaps more coming
Hostas are just stunning, well that is if you have a bit of a leaf fetish and I most certainly do. I'm sure that you will be just waiting for the new seasons arrival of these and they started to roll in as of Friday. Don't forget that the slugs love them as much if not better than I do and they must be like new seasons asparagus is to me...
Just as a refresher, Hosta's enjoy semi shade or dappled light positions that are not too dry and have a reasonable moisture content... Good compost and sheep pellets will certainly make the spot a lot better for these leafy subjects. I feel that the green, grey and darker leaf shades will tolerate more direct sunlight as opposed to the golds and variegated which may do better in more shade.. Hosta's do look amazing mass planted especially when next to drifts of say evergreen ground covers or plants like Bergenia Gardenia radicans, winter roses and the like.
Our biggest range is of the $8.99 grade and if you get 10 or more then they become just $8.00 each.. click the link to check the entire range but know that there are still plenty more varieties to arrive that weren't quite ready yet.
I don't know what has happened that is different from any other year but the Prunus Awanui in the garden centre this year have been or are still just stunning. Then I look a bit further and see that the Prunus Accolade are just about to peak in bloom and when I was standing underneath them the other day they were just humming with bees. Mountain Ice is another one looking stunning right now and its like a white Awanui with masses of single white blossoms that just smother the tree... another really good choice About to flower will be Tai haku, Shirotae Mt Fuji and Shimidsu sakura.. Just so that you know there are also plenty of Prunus superba being one of the campanulatas which the Tui's really enjoy and these were amongst the first to flower in the season.
Everyday that I walk past the roses there are more and more flowers coming. I imagine that realistically it will be another week to ten days and the place will start to be a mass of flowers. If you like to look and choose in flower then now is the beginning of the time to do this but another 10 days will make all the difference.
The weekend is now half gone and just Sunday to relax and enjoy, school holidays are on for another week yet, so hopefully the weather will be fine so that the kids can be outside helping in the garden instead of being inside on their devices LOL. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend..
Cheers
Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere Team
