Its been great to have Cecilia write the weekly email and I am very thankful that she has done so well and enjoyed the challenge. I am fascinated by the different perspective or spin that others find or know about plants; well I guess that we all come from different backgrounds and that is what makes it all so interesting. Who knows but perhaps we can foster an interest in some of the others in the team to share their passion and knowledge for plants in our regular correspondence.

I often wonder where my intrigue for plants comes from but apparently my maternal grandmother, mother and her sister were quite keen on plants and the garden and perhaps I inherited something there. I do know that it's always been there, and from a very young age too, I think that I am so fortunate to have found my own niche.  

On that note I know that Cecilia will be writing again while I sneak off to hide for another of those significant BD that has suddenly appeared on the horizon. I mean to say where does the time go! It just seems like yesterday (well maybe not quite) that Wairere was a very modest road-side stall selling herbs and we were very young and full of enthusiasm. Now it's grown into quite a significant plant place,  nearly 40 yrs later and me not quite so young but still plenty of go....  Haha

There is nothing like the taste of a peach, apple, pear, nectarine or whatever from your own tree in the garden, and I for one have a space dedicated to the growing of fruit. I really like the idea of being somewhat self-sufficient and so my orchard space is also home for a raised potager garden for my veges.  Raised because we have quite the rabbit problem and I don't like sharing, well only with my mother, friends and family. My tip here is is to make an orchard plan so that you know what is what for the future.

We are quite big here on many family members of the rose family or in proper speak Rosaceae. Off course the rose family includes many genus other than its name sake being Rosa or roses of which we have gained our reputation over the years. One could say that we have become specialists in other members of the rose family as in one example of Peaches whose proper name is Prunus persica and I was surprised to see that we had nearly 40 different cultivars ranging from the traditional to new arrivals and then there also the dwarfs.

Blackboy is a peach that I recall well from my childhood and that my mother used to bottle when we were living on the farm. Its a beautiful dark wine red peach both inside and out, delicious in taste especially straight from the tree and of course from the agee jar with ice cream. 

Golden Queen is another that has been around for what seems forever and has that classic golden peach that Watties has seemed to have made famous in cans. Again another that I remember being served for pudding straight from the jars but pretty tasty straight from the tree. Interestingly enough its the seeds from golden Queen peaches that are grown for roots stock for many other varieties ie, peaches, necatarines, plums and so on. Grown because they must produce a consistent root stock. But know that here there was only ever one Golden queen and the one you buy is grafted Golden Queen on Golden queen rootstock!

Gordons Glory another one that we have always stocked. Claiming good resistance to leaf curl and yum peaches with golden skin blushed with scarlet. Delicious and juicy flesh...  eat straight from the tree.

Garden lady Large yellow skinned fruit with sweet, juicy yellow flesh marked red. Freestone. Something special for the small garden or perhaps a container.  The pretty deep pink blossom in spring is beautiful. Deciduous.

Honey Babe A genetic dwarf peach that will grow well in warmer areas of NZ,  also suitable for container growing. Showy pink blossom in spring. The fruit has orange, juicy flesh with a sweet tangy flavour. Ripens in early summer. Plant in a well drained sunny spot. Deciduous.

Pixzee With beautiful pink blossom in spring, followed by fresh green leaves and then delectable full size freestone peaches in summer. The peaches are a warm golden yellow blushed red with freestone flesh that is also golden.  Happy in the garden or a container. Deciduous.

Some More recent arrivals 

Coconut Ice  White flesh. This exciting Peach variety was selected and developed by NZ Hort. Research.  The results are a beautiful looking peach with pink skin and crisp white flesh with just a hint of pink.  It looks and tastes great. Ripe towards the end of summer.

Sweet perfection Sweet Perfection is a new yellow-fleshed peach variety with good flavour and colour, and, best of all, resistance to Peach Leaf Curl. Can be grown with minimal spraying, may be suitable for organic growing. Non-furry, creamy pink skin, usually with a red blushed area.

Peacharine Healeys  This is actually a Peach/Nectarine cross with the advantage of being 'fuzzless' and bringing you the best of both delicious fruits. Medium to large fruit with smooth skin. Sweet and juicy yellow flesh. Ripens towards the end of summer. Self fertile.

Peachcot The peach and the apricot liked each other so much they got together and produced this delicious, smooth skinned golden fruit. The flesh is sweet and juicy with a firm texture. A regular cropping tree which is self-fertile.  Fruit matures in March. A fine dessert fruit.

Helleborus, Easy to grow, and since they are perennials, they will continue to bloom for several years. Tolerant to a wide range of growing conditions, hybrid Hellorus perform best when sited in partial shade in rich, moist, but well draining soil.

Chaenomeles, or flowing quince is a multi-stemmed decidious shrub with a somewhat messy growth habit. Beautiful red, orange, white or pink flowers to go with shiny dark green foliage. Related to roses, flowering quince has a thorny habit and easy-to-grow nature that makes it a good choice for barrier or border planting.

Strawberry Camarosa,  has large, conical-shaped, dark red fruit with firm flesh and excellent flavour. Great little plants coming away nicely with flowers as well. Grow in pots or in the garden but plant a few so that you can harvest a decent amount of strawberries.  1 or more plants $4.99 each, 20 or more plants  $4.00 each.

Kumara slips we don't have these in stock yet but the idea is to pre-order these for when we do which will be around Labour weekend and after when its warm enough to grow these here. We only take pre-order for these as they have a short shelf life to maintain as good slip to sell you.. If interested then do order online. Choose from classic red, orange and the gold. 

Broad beans, peas and Yams Todays is a day off for me as its my weekend on and I plan to be planting peas, broad beans and some yams. I think that the broad beans need to be in and on their way and so I need to get on with this email and get out there in the garden. Pre order and get these sent out or of course call out and check the garden centre out as well.

Potatoes Just a few varieties left but still a good time to get these into the ground.

Asparagus I am a newbie at this crop but last year I planted my first Asparagus plants. I planted quite a few plants as I adore fresh asparagus and wanted to make sure that we grew plenty of spears. I let them just grow over the last summer and this spring have been pleasantly surprised to see a few decent spears. I even cooked 6 spears the other night which is not bad considering that I didn't get around to mulching and feeding the crowns. There are areas with a couple of misses which I will replace this year, let them grow again to get some more vigor, but next year we will be eating our own. Plant 30 to 40 cm apart and make rows approx. 50cm apart. Plant in trenches with the crown located below the soil level as the spears grow from below. I will get on to the feeding and compost this year as looking after these will give us asparagus for years.

The potting season was pretty intense this year and no time to get into the garden and so its now full steam ahead getting all the pruning around this place done. Not to mention the constant rain. Its on the late side and so if you haven't done yours then best you get motivated and complete this project ASAP. The roses are all leafing and the fruit trees are all blossoming and pruning should have been completed a few weeks back but better late than never. I did think as we were late doing the pruning in blossom that you can at least tell what wood bears the flowers.

The same goes for feeding the garden with fertilisers to give it all a big kick start and some extra nutrients, not unlike a sugar rush. Rose ferts on roses  Camellia ferts on all acid loving plants, citrus fert for all your fruit trees and the rest some general fert. Slow release or pot fertiliser for all your pots and while you are at it slug bait for around all hostas and liriopes that have started to appear with new growths. I'll add all that to my list for today. Its going to a busy day.

I cant believe the weather that we have had this year I mean to say that it was mostly a drought right into June and then when it started to rain well Its forgotten to stop but hopefully its going to be a fine weekend for you all to get out into the garden and catch up like we are.

Have a great weekend.

Cheers Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team