Saturday 6th July, 2024
Hi
Polyanthus or Primrose? They're both types of Primula
Ang bought some flowering
Primulas the other day, and that did beg the question are they Primroses or Polyanthus? I'd say Polyanthus, but I imagine that it's one of those botanical dilemmas. Google does say that a Polyanthus usually has one stem with several blooms atop, and this stem is taller than the leaves, whilst a primrose has shorter stems, each with one flower. These have short stems with many blooms and whilst on the subject, they are a mixed colour batch and so you will have to come and see for yourselves.
Having said all that, it brought back memories of the days that I worked at McMillans in Ohinewai and Noel bred the best and fanciest of all polyanthus back in the day. It was a fascinating process to watch as he made all these very planned crosses between different blooms to try and get a desired result. First up he had to emasculate the plants that were going to produce the seed and then with a little brush dab some male pollen from the desired cross. It was all very carefully documented and labelled and quite frankly a process that I was pleased not to be a part of.
However, I can say though that I spent many an hour deadheading and removing spoilt leaves of the said polys so as to keep them in the very best condition for sale. A tip here to keep your polys and primroses looking their very best, is to not cut the flower stem or the leaf when they are spoilt but to pull out gently the entire piece. When I look at today's polyanthus I feel like I see some of the genes coming though from that hybridizing that Noel did all those years ago.
You could say that today's rose breeders go through a very similar process but the life cycle of polyanthus to reproduce is so much faster and so you get the results much more quickly. Rose growers will take years to bring a new plant to the table with high health and free flowering characteristics that we all want for our garden. I imagine that it takes a year to produce the rose seed that then has to be sown, grown and then flowered. This could take several years and then more years as it is trialled for performance. A shout out to our NZ breeders like
Rob Somerfield and
Bob Matthews who have dedicated a life time to the rose.
Here are some of our current rose breeder's roses that are popular today
We apologise if you recently received a message from us to say we cannot supply a rose that you were expecting this year. One of our contracted growers had a really bad year weather-wise, and decided their roses just weren't up to scratch as a result. They decided not to supply us, and unfortunately, that means we can't supply you. Sorry! Happily, we do have a huge range of other roses if you would like to choose replacements. See
here.
Koromiko, Veronica, we are talking Hebes
Hebes. What's not to like about this diverse genus of plants? Old name used to be Veronica, which I believe was before my time. Belong to the Scrophulariaceae or, to give that some perspective, the snapdragon family and I guess if you look closely the blooms do look like many tiny snapdragons. Generally
hebes are all pretty easy to grow. They like open sunny positions and good drainage, probably not a plant for wet feet or shade. They come in all sizes, shapes, leaf and flower colours and make for good shrubs in the garden.
Of course, as with most genera, there are many species and there are approx 90 to 100 species of these now popular garden plants. Descriptions and images of a small selection are provided below, but we have a great range in right now and so follow the
link to see them all.
Hebe Wiri mist Evergreen Hebe which is considered one of the best. Hardy, compact with dainty fresh green foliage and short spikes of white flowers which completely smother the plant from late spring through until summer.
Hebe Violet Cushion It has masses of Violet flowers in late Spring- Early Summer that will completely cover the foliage and then the plants will repeat flower again in Autumn.
Hebe Pretty N Pink has a low spreading habit making it useful as a ground cover. It has small dark green leaves and pretty and plentiful racemes of bright pick flowers appear in Autumn and Winter. The flowers deepen in colour to burgundy tones in cooler weather.
Hebe Macrocarpa Var Brevifolia A hardy little native Hebe that thrives in coastal conditions as that is where it is found naturally. Emerald green foliage and bright magenta blooms from winter to summer. Likes the sun and must have good drainage. The name 'brevifolia' means short leafed.
Rose society event next week on Wednesday 10.30 to 12.30
Time flies and we are almost at the first of the dates when the Waikato rose society will be joining us at the nursery for a couple of hours to talk all you could want about roses.. Whether it be pruning, selection or how to grow show quality blooms, they will have all the answers. If they are anything like me then they will have plenty to say on a subject that is dear to their hearts
If you can't make Wednesday then we have a couple of other options on weekends further down the track. We have strategically tried to cover Sat or Sunday availability, so please mark these dates in your diary.
Wednesday 10th July 10.30am to 12.30pm
Saturday 20th July 1.00pm to 3.00pm
Sunday 28th July 11.00am to 1.00pm
On the potting front
The
roses are all done and dusted and looking great in the garden centre. We have started our spraying regime as you should be in your own garden with copper and oil. We still have to re-block them into strict alphabetical order and of course we now also go through and tidy their tips back to a bud from where they have been machine pruned in the field.
We are now knee deep into potting fruit and ornamental trees and have quite a selection out there in the garden centre. I would guess that we are half to two thirds the way through. From my perspective it's logistically a big deal as we get through the trees, sorting out all the presold, some of the waitlisted and putting the remainder out into the garden centre. Again, the next huge task is to get them all into some logical and alphabetical order so that they are easy to find.
All that said, we have a great team that are doing a fabulous job of getting through what is quite a daunting task of scanning them in, root pruning, potting and then getting them away to their respective places.
I can't believe where the time goes, not only is it the weekend again but the school holidays have come around as well. A humdinger of a frost here this morning and hopefully another glorious day. Lol here is hoping the weekend is just as stunning.
I need to get down to the potting bench today, so here is wishing you all the very best weekend again.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
