Saturday 20th July, 2024
Hi
Do the Magnolias know that it's not really spring yet?
If you think of June 20 as being the Winter solstice and the official beginning of Winter then we are only a third into the season and Spring is still officially months away. But here in the Waikato the signs of spring are so definitely showing with all the paper whites, Earlicheer and other Daffodils that are flowering and bringing their bright colours to this dingy, foggy wet weather.
Over the past week I have been watching my
Magnolia denudata alba blooms, those lovely icy-white cupped tulip-shaped flowers, start to emerge from those fat furry buds and thinking OMG that seems really early. It is probably one of the first
Magnolias to flower and certainly one of my favs (I'm a sucker for all
Magnolias and just love all the white ones). Here's hoping that we don't have any more really hard frosts to spoil the show.
If white Mags are your thing then check out
David Clulow which has much larger flowers, almost cup and saucer style, showing a hint of pink at their bases (as do the blooms of many of the whites). This one does flower a bit later and is reputed to be one of the best whites.
Gere, another pure white that is very similar to
Denudata alba, has the reputation of flowering a few weeks later, waiting for better weather maybe?
Milky way is another star from the Jury family, bred right here in NZ. A medium sized deciduous tree with a full compliment of big beautiful cup-shaped blooms in mid spring. The flowers are white with a blush of pink at the base. Perhaps one for my garden, if I can find the space to plant another tree.
The other one that I see that is starting to show colour in the display garden is the dark wine red one called
Vulcan.
Vulcan is also one of the magnolias that have been bred by the Jury's. For those that love the deep dark wine reds then have a good look at one called
Black Tulip. This beauty is exceptionally dark ruby red and has quite the distinctive cup/tulip shaped blooms.
There are a couple of others of note to me in these rich dark shades and one is
Burgundy star, that is a tad more columnar in tree form and has very dark burgundy flowers. This was also bred in NZ by Mark Jury.
Deryk is another NZ dark red magnolia and this hybrid originated from Magnolia Grove as a chance seedling.
Deryk was named in honour of Deryk Lawrence who along with his wife
Nancy spent 20 years developing a lovely garden south of Te Puke where they developed several magnolia varieties from seedlings that grew there. Deryk named one of his seedlings after his
wife. It would seem that the magnolia
Genie is responsible for some of the genes in Deryk's Hybrids and hence they tend to be smaller growing trees.
Time to organise the the nursery now
It's about getting everything in its own place so that we can all find it, and the guys have started today with the
peaches.
The
peaches that we eat are a Prunus too and their Latin name is Prunus persica. They first originated and were domesticated in an eastern province in China. The species name refers to their widespread cultivation in Persia/Iran, then later in Europe and then later still in the 16th century in the Americas. The other connection that is worth noting is that peaches, along with many other stone fruit, belong to the rose family. And so, this nursery specialises in the namesakes of roses and many others fruit trees that also belong to the Rosaceae family such as
pears,
quinces,
almonds and
apricots, not to mention berries such as
blackberries and
raspberries.
Some of the older more traditional cultivars
Black boy A stunning peach with a dark wine coloured outer and inner. The rich, juicy, textured flesh is absolutely delicious. One of my favourites. If there are any left over after raiding the tree (which I doubt) they also bottle well. Low chill requirement so is suitable for most areas in NZ
Golden queen NZ's favourite peach. As the name suggests this is the Queen of peaches with firm, tasty, golden yellow flesh. Great for bottling or eating straight from the tree. Crops well, ripens in late February/March. Cling-stone. Low chill requirement so is suitable for most areas in NZ
Paragon 'Paragon' is a proven commercial and home garden variety that produces regular and reliable crops of extremely juicy Peaches that are ripe around February. The skin is deep yellow mottled with red when ripe and the yellow flesh is very sweet
Some Newbie cultivars
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.
Flatto Sweet Bonnet Flatto Peach. Large crops of sweet and tasty yellow-fleshed fruit from about mid February onwards. The fruit weights about 120 grams and has the traditional, easy to eat, flat shape. Perfect for snacks and lunch boxes.
Snow Grace Selected by NZ Horticultural Research this white fleshed peach is a prolific 'cropper' with good sized round, red blushed fruit. Sweet and juicy with very low acid. Clingstone. Deciduous. AKA Hortsummerwhite.
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.
Some hybrids as a result of some hanky panky with peaches
Peacherine 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.
Dwarf Peaches even
Peach Bonanza Dwf Std A genetic dwarf Peach tree that will provide you with a bonanza of delicious juicy peaches in summer. The fruit have yellow skin with a red blush and the flesh is a pale yellow. With pretty pink spring blossom and lush green foliage this tree is highly ornamental as well as productive. Self fertile.
Peach Garden Lady Dwf Std Dwarf. 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. Low chill requirement so is suitable for most areas in NZ.
Peach Pixzee Dwf Std Dwarf Peach. 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.
Just a reminder that we are a few days behind in dispatch
Dealing with large numbers of trees is keeping our staff in packaging and freight busy too. If you are expecting an order to be sent to you, it will probably take a little longer than usual at this time of year. Please bear with us and believe we are getting plants ready to send as quickly as we can.
Rose question and Answer time
The next Rose session is this weekend and there is one final one the following Sunday. It's your chance to meet with the Waikato Rose society Rosarians and get the lowdown on all things roses. Come armed with all your questions and they will have an answer for you. Just rock on in and you will find them in the roses. Rain or no rain they will be here and we will find somewhere dryish for you all.
Saturday 20th July 1.00pm to 3.00pm
Sunday 28th July 11.00am to 1.00pm
I managed to get all my home orchard pruned the other day when it was gloriously fine and sunny. It's time though to remove a few non-performers and I have made a list of what I am going to try in their place.
Last weekend of the school holidays and it's looking a tad wet so don't prune if it is, but save it for a fine day or weekend.
Have a great weekend, all the best from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
