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Friday 29th May, 2020

What makes up the walls in your garden rooms?

Hi

We are nearly there... the nursery is almost looking as it should for this time of year.. and totally gorgeous! If you have been here recently, you will have seen the big empty space in the centre (which is not quite as big as it should be as there are still roses sitting on it). This area is being prepared for the potting season which begins Tuesday with our first delivery of roses...the start of Rob Somerfields collection from Glenavon Roses. 

All the orders that were occupying our potting area have been reduced and moved so that we can now actually get potting and have space to place the new plants down once potted. Thanks to all of you who helped by providing a town address so we could dispatch some rural deliveries as they were taking up a lot of room. We have also had word that we can now start sending the remaining rural deliveries.... Wahoo!!!, it's going to be another big week in dispatch.

Ang has been making sure that the nursery now has all the plants that we would normally have in at this time of year. We are proud of our extensive selections of new season Camellias, Azaleas, Pieris, winter roses and all manner of citrus just to name drop a few.

The gardening team have ripped around and sorted all the hedges with a much needed trim and they are looking pretty suave, the hedges that is. Looking from my point of view... we have certainly made big inroads to making up those six lost weeks.

To that end I need the rest of that space in the garden centre and so all those remaining roses, sitting there taking up space they are not supposed to have, are all now half price... Not available by mail order so you have to pop out and have a reccy.

Is masculinity proven?

My poor male Idesia trees' masculinity was in question the other week with the sighting of a small number of berries it had produced...  Not my field of expertise but Virgina, on the other hand, is totally fascinated in the subject of plant genetics. She went and found some research on plant plasticity... LOL I couldn't even think what that means but I got a quick refresher on some stuff from 30 years ago when I did my studies by correspondence.

I will see if I can get by and make this simple for us all!  So flowers come as, what I call, perfect ie male and female in the same flower, I believe that Virginia called them hermaphrodite, of which many plants are.

Then there are plants that are monecious... which are those that have separate male and female flowers on the same plant. Dioecious plants have separate male and female trees and so our confused Idesia is an example of being dioecious. 

Now, just briefly, its not always just genetics that play their part here but also environment and change, or stress, in environment may have an effect of how plants behave. I think that if you go back so some school science it's called Genotype and Phenotype… which may have been our Idesias' response of producing some berries... after all, survival is what it's all about... anyways, that enough of that. 

What's in a hedge?
I have been a bit keen on Podocarps of late or, more correctly, I should say Podocarpus . They make awesome hedges and it's time to be getting new hedges into the ground now... in fact any plantings.  
Podocarps were probably around in the age of gondwanaland and dinosaurs....  and, by the way, many of this group of plants are dioecious though some are monecious and produce male catkins and a simple single separate flower and rely on the wind to get the deed done.  The large stands of Kahikatea behind us, at the garden centre, make lots of pollen in the season, but it's the fruit and seed that is so fascinating.. did you know that you can eat the orange part of the Kakikatea seed...  and the seed just seems to sit on top like a cherry on a cake, they taste a bit sweet and watery and I reckon you would need a lot for any real sustenance... Think I'll leave them for the birds.
I have never heard of any one using our native Kaiks for hedging but another fab Podocarp is our native Totara which just happens to make for a stunning long term hedge and a really good example of which can be seen at the Hamilton gardens. Now typically, these form a tall, bronzy, brown coloured hedge but there are a few cloned example of these like Matapouri Blue and of course a yellow leaved form Aurea. 

At the opposite end of the scale compared to Podocarpus Totara is Podocarpus nivalis... another native NZ totara but by comparison is very dwarf and would make an excellent Buxus substitute.. I have yet to see a hedge of this cutie but I do have some small standards of this at home and they are pretty neat, and I can vouch for the fact that they trim well and will be long term.
Podocarpus Gracilior or fern pine is another, non native, member of this genus that would be absolutely striking as a hedge with fresh, ferny, lime green leaves which are very attractive... as a plant it trims exceptionally well and will be long lasting as a hedge. I believe this choice will gain recognition as we see more examples of it in the landscape.
The holly genus is another group of plants that I really like and think are quite suited to creating an excellent hedge and they are not all prickly, as many perceive them to be. Ilex like full sun and well drained positions, they may be slightly slower to establish than other choices but are certainly great, robust and long term subjects that respond well to being kept clipped.
Ilex lago has a very attractive shade of green not to dissimilar to Bay trees  and with fresh lime green new growth. if you like something in the darker greens then consider Ilex Blue Prince.

I can't write a piece on hedges and not mention Camellias as these are also up there as favourite examples and the flowers are a bonus. Camellias again suit many condition and environments from semi shade to full sun. They are robust and handle constant trimming. They range from dwarf varieties that suit smaller hedges like Little gem and Moonlight magic, Sweet Emily Kate and Baby Bear to the classic sasanquas that we all know such as Early Pearly and Setsugekka.. there is also a whole range of the newer Paradise series sasanquas which all make for fab hedges.
Many other NZ natives make for quick growing screens and I imagine that most are familiar with the popular Griselinias, in particular Broadway Mint which is quick growing with fresh green leaves that have an attractive wavy margin. 
Pittosporums of all varieties are great for quick growing screens and shelters... Wrinkle Blue we have a deal on still normally $18.99 these just $14.99 and a good grade too.
Roses, roses, roses, all current seasons, now slashed by 50% 
It's no surprise that this season is rolling along quite differently from other years and due to lock down we missed our usual reduction sale for the last of the roses ..  the new seasons roses are due next week to be potted and I need the space that they are occupying. To that end it's half price for all current seasons roses that we have in the garden centre. We cant put these out for online sales as they have to come out of inventory to allow the new roses to display on our web page so the discount is not available for mail order. 

Peony prepacked tubers.  These need to go in the ground though you could keep them in the fridge for a few weeks prior if you weren't quite ready. 25% off as a lovely compliment to the roses. 
On the eve of Queens Birthday weekend, which I believe is the our first long weekend since lockdown, and one in which the rules are now so much more relaxed... from today gatherings of up to 100 are allowed so we are getting closer to normality. 
Take care be safe and have a great weekend 

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