Tikorangi The Jury Garden

The perfection of the fantail nest

Latest Posts:
1) Lagerfeld Rules – what the fashion maestro might say, should he ever turn his attention to gardening.
2) Despite the tendency in New Zealand to think that there is only one sasanqua camellia and that is the white Setsugekka, there are others and even some which are not white at all. Crimson King in Plant Collector this week.
3) Grow it Yourself – kumara this week. You have to get your timing right where we live because it needs maximum warmth over a relatively long period to get a good crop but it can be done.

And a second fantail nest, crafted in the fork of a magnolia stem

The Cyclamen hederafolium are a delight

Latest Posts:

1) Those who shun all of the vast oxalis family because of the abominable habits of a few miss out on the autumn delights like Oxalis massoniana.

2) Raised beds and to dig or not to dig – that is the question. It seems these days that the rage is for raised beds, irrespective of whether they are needed.

3) GIY broad beans – we are very partial to this crop in our household.

4) Common wisdom is that you should only grow plants well suited to your area and conditions but Real Gardeners know this is a fallacy. It is wonderfully rewarding to succeed with marginal plants. My latest garden diary from Weekend Gardener magazine.

5) Secrets of a Lazy French Cook – nothing whatever to do with gardening, this one. But one of my other activities is book reviewing – mostly recipe books and children’s books (in addition to the gardening ones I receive.) This one is an entertaining read and a handy starting point for classic French dishes.

There has not been a whole lot of gardening going on here in the last week or two – too much energy and time required to renovate our one and only rental house on our property across the road. I think the role of property owner and landlord is much over-rated. But I did finally get to visit New Plymouth’s much loved and awarded new bridge on its coastal walkway. And it is a sensation, evoking the rolling waves so close by. It is wonderful to see a bridge that goes way beyond utilitarian and is dedicated entirely to pedestrians and cyclists. On a gloriously sunny and calm autumn day, it was a magical scene which left me in awe at the beauty of the district where we live.

The lovely autumn peacock iris, Moraea polystachya, blooms for an exceptionally long time

Latest Posts: Thursday April 5, 2012

1) The pros and cons of the decorative, formal vegetable garden – the potager which seems to have become inordinately fashionable. Personally, we lean more to the meadow style of vegetable gardening.

2) The Ornamental Edible Garden by Diana Anthony and Gil Hanly reviewed. And well done to publisher Batemans, for continuing with some practices we used to take for granted in reference books but which others have done away with in the trend to over simplify for novice gardeners who get treated like children.

3) Brugmansia Noel’s Blush – huge trumpets in peachy pink.

4) Grow it yourself – asparagus. A crop for the long haul, this one, but ranks as my all time number one favourite vegetable.

A salutary lesson in why trees should never be allowed to fork close to the ground - half the totara split out

Latest posts:

1) Ugni molinae or the New Zealand cranberry – a plant that every good family should grow. When it comes to encouraging children to venture out browsing in the garden, it ranks right up alongside fresh peas as a must. It is also easy care and a small shrub so once planted, it will last for years.

2) Clematis tangutica I was a little taken aback to discover that it is regarded as a weed menace in some areas. It has never been a problem here and instead is a source of pleasure in late summer with its lovely pure yellow flowers and silky, tasselled seed heads.

3) Lower maintenance gardening. I am unconvinced that there is any such thing as a low maintenance garden. There are certainly high maintenance gardens, moderate maintenance gardens and lower maintenance gardens but drop down below that and you end up with no garden at all. This week’s column focuses on lower maintenance options as befits a rental property.

4) The Easy Fruit Garden by Clare Matthews might make fruit gardening easy for gardeners in the UK but has little or no application here.

Tikorangi Notes:

At least the falling totara missed the garage

The Picea omorika felled itself

Last week was all about Womad and the weather held for a magic weekend of world music in the beautiful venue of Pukekura Park. By Monday evening, the magic was all used up and a storm of reasonably impressive proportions hit. Even Spike the dog was unnerved when we heard the unmistakeable sounds of large branches cracking and breaking. In the morning, the damage was clear. A large gust had taken out half a totara tree which would be around fifty years old. The wind tunnel created then broke out part of a Picea omorika around the same age. In falling, the totara twisted a large amelanchier and some drastic remedial action will be needed to save any of it.

The clear lesson here is the need to keep trees to a single leader and a good shape from the start. Forked leaders create a point of weakness, even though it may take 50 years to reveal itself.

We escaped lightly. Friends around Oakura report greater damage. It is only a few weeks since Patea to the south bore the brunt of hurricane force winds. The mess here is largely superficial and with the very large trees we have here, we are relieved that it was not a great deal worse.

Damage to the multi forked Picea omorika several metres up

What can I say? One of life's more unusual experiences this week. Anda Union.

Is that a Mongolian by my washing line? Why yes, actually, he is.

Latest Posts:

1) Araucaria heterophylla commonly known as Norfolk Island Pine. All I want to do is to put a Christmas star on top each time I see one of these handsome landscape trees.

2) Grow it Yourself Fruit and Nuts by Andrew Steens – the latest offering in the New Zealand garden books market.

3) It’s a plant product so it must be natural and safe, right? Think again. Maybe natural, hardly safe Abbie’s column.

4) Onions. Are they worth the effort to grow?

Tikorangi Notes: Friday March 16, 2012

Each year at this time, New Plymouth hosts Womad, a remarkable event which brings a host of interesting world music performers and musicians to the area. This week we had the delight of hosting Anda Union in the garden giving a special performance for Tikorangi locals, including the two senior classes from the local primary school. These Mongolian performers keep the ancient music of their tribal homelands alive and this includes fascinating throat singing. It is like nothing else, really.

The whole experience was made more memorable because as soon as the musicians arrived, it was clear they wanted to see the garden. I took them on the short tour of the top garden (lunch, hosted by Todd Energy was awaiting them, to be followed by the performance). Their pleasure in seeing the garden was a delight, even if there were some language barriers.

The school children arrived a little early, while the adults were still eating. One of their teachers asked if they could also have a look in the garden so I headed off with them. They were entranced by the magical feel under the rimus (and some of the kids could even identify the trees). When we came to the path down to the park, these bright buttons of 8 to 10 year olds shrieked with delight and sprinted down the hill to play jumping games across the stream. We could have spent a great deal longer looking at different things. Glenys the Gecko was sunbathing on her tree and while it was possible to show her to a few children, pressures of time meant we had to head back to the marquee for Anda Union’s performance.

All this, and it was my birthday too. Mark, naturally, took credit for organising it all for my birthday, even down to the delicious lunch.

Anda Union - bringing the music of bygone Mongolia to Tikorangi.