Tikorangi The Jury Garden

Latest posts:
1) April 16, 2010 There are times we have regretted letting our purple bougainvillea reach its natural massive proportions but it is a splendid sight in flower.
2) April 16, 2010 There are no like for like replacements for the ever handy (if a little dull and clichéd) buxus hedge.3) April 16, 2010 Making the most of mild autumn conditions in the garden – what to do in the Taranaki garden this week.

Our venerable old man pines against the blue sky of autumn

The common reaction from New Zealanders to our massive, but elderly pine trees is that we should be taking them out immediately because they are dangerous but we are fond of their scruffy majesty on our south eastern skyline. Planted in a double row around 1880 by Mark’s great grandfather, they were originally a shelter belt and will rank amongst the oldest specimens in the country. Californians are often impressed because these Monterey pines tower around 50 metres or over 150 feet high which we are told is unusual for their homeland on the Monterey Peninsula.

Our Monterey pines - not all are exactly at right angles to the ground

But to New Zealanders, they are just crusty old Pinus radiata, a cultivar the timber industry has made our own as a very quick turn around, low grade timber crop covering vast acreages.

Occasionally we lose a pine tree – running about once every fifteen years at the moment – and the last one dropped itself in the one clear space that we would have chosen had we deliberately felled it, doing minimal damage as it crashed down but gouging out a 30cm deep indentation on the ground. Because they started life as a shelter belt and are planted in more or less straight rows, they now give us a woodland avenue below to grow frost tender material such as vireya rhododendrons, cymbidium orchids, monstera delicosa and a range of woodland bulbs. Such is their location, they would have to removed by logging helicopter but we are happy to live with them as a characterful backdrop.

Latest posts:
1) March 26, 2010 The colchicum autumnale are at their very best this week.
2) March 26, 2010 I think it is a myth that the mixed border is easier to maintain than a proper herbaceous border – Abbie’s column.
3) March 26, 2010 Dealing to the dreaded cabbage white on brassicas and other garden tasks for this week.

The small pictures of autumn - Moraea polystachya

Autumn is the season that makes us feel just a little forlorn here. In winter (which is fairly short and certainly not cold by international standards) we are always busy preparing for spring. Spring is abundant with flowers and certainly the prettiest time here. Summer is for sitting in the shade sharing conversation and a bottle of wine while enjoying the warmth. But autumn just means it is going to get colder and wetter sooner than we would like. It is not even as if we get good autumn colour, or much autumn colour at all for that matter. New Zealand’s native flora is all evergreen so our landscapes are dominated by green foliage twelve months of the year. And good autumn colour requires sharp changes in temperature as a trigger, best complemented by forests of deciduous plants. We just drift so slowly and imperceptibly from one season to another, particularly in our mild coastal location, that few plants get the message right.

But what we do have are autumn bulbs. Cyclamen hederifolium, Moraea polystachya, the nerine sarniensis hybrids, colchicums, Haemanthus coccineus and ornamental oxalis are coming into their own and make very pretty pictures. They offer some compensation for the fading summer and remind us why, in a large garden, we treasure the very small seasonal pictures that the bulbs contribute.

The autumn cyclamen flower for a satisfyingly long time

Latest posts:
1) March 19, 2010: The simple purity of Lapageria alba and praise for the Chilean climbers which are almost never without a flower for us.
2) March 19, 2010: Outdoor Classroom on lifting and limbing – aka: a little bit of judicious pruning can make a significant difference.
3) March 19, 2010: In the Taranaki garden this week : With autumn approaching rapidly, we offer advice on garden tasks for the week ahead, including our usual plug for green crops and compost, along with advice on using animal manures.

The growing collection of birds's nests

We have recently started a little collection of birds’ nests here and Mark is regretting that he did not start recording his observations years ago so he could chart the changing materials our feathered garden inhabitants have used over the years. While we try and minimise litter here, it is frankly alarming to see the number of Tuflok labels, plastic ties and budding strips that the birds find to line their nests. They are also stripping the threads of fibreglass from a clear roof here. I was particularly taken by the little chaffinch nest constructed from dried grass and lichen and lined in what looks like dog fur (I did trim our long haired sheltie for summer) but which Mark disappointed me by telling me was in fact the fibrous thread from our tree ferns (pongas). We have been bringing in the abandoned nests we find in good condition and arraying them under cover up the vinous stems of Tecomanthe venusta.

Latest posts:

March 12, 2010 The ephemeral delight of Rhodophiala bifida in late summer.

March 12, 2010 Early autumn garden tasks for this week.

March 12, 2010 Who should pay when a garden is uneconomic to run? Transferring the costs of running Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust to the wider public.

The case of the nonconformist sunflower.

The non conformist sunflower

As anybody who has ever grown sunflowers knows, the flowers face the morning sun. All but this one. In a row of sunflowers standing around two metres high, all are obediently lined up to curtsey to the east, bar one which is defiantly facing west. Theories abound. It has a contrary nature. It is a northern hemisphere sunflower, confused by the southern orientation. It was planted back to front. Mark is of the opinion that the other flowers voted it to be the watch flower to ensure there are no ambushes from behind. I just think it wants to be different.

February 26, 2010 Monarch caterpillars and butterflies – a safer mid-life obsession than buying a Harley-Davidson.

February 26, 2010 Flowering this week: Justicia carnea (the candlewick bedspread of the plant world).

February 26, 2010 In the Taranaki garden – garden tasks and hints for the coming week.

There are good reasons why we are always green in Taranaki. In this case it was summer rain yesterday morning – around 10cm in a very short space of time. The water disappears nearly as quickly as it arrives and within ninety minutes of taking this photo, the sun was shining again and the flood waters had receded entirely.