Author Archives: Abbie Jury

Unknown's avatar

About Abbie Jury

jury.co.nz Tikorangi The Jury Garden Taranaki NZ

Garden lore

“If gardening isn’t a pleasure for you, chances are the work will merely give you a rotten disposition. If you’d rather be golfing or fishing, get a bumper sticker that says so, and forget gardening.”

Elsa Bakalar A Garden of One’s Own (1994)

014
Dividing plants

If you have been buying perennials recently, you can often divide these immediately and plant double the number. This is Hosta June which showed more than one growing point. I cut it down the middle, making sure that each side had both leaves (which means growing tips) and roots. I find a meat cleaver is easiest for this operation although a carving knife will do. Some people use a sharp spade but it is harder to get the cut in exactly the right place because you have less control over the spade.

Plants which are in full growth, as most perennials are in spring, will recover more quickly. Just make sure you plant them into ground which you have prepared well by digging it over thoroughly and preferably adding compost or humus. Water the plants in and keep the moisture levels up for the next few weeks. You need to give them a good start because you will have shocked the plant by cutting it in half.

Commercially, these plants are generally divided in winter with much more precision and controlled conditions (which will generate many more plants) but for the home gardener, dividing it in full growth can give good results and it is easy to see what you are doing.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Where to start? Childhood success in gardening

Lobelia and pansies - two choices among many quick maturing annuals

Lobelia and pansies – two choices among many quick maturing annuals

I was chatting to a Waikato reader this week and we got on to the subject of encouraging children to garden. It’s not rocket science. Setting up your child for success will breed enthusiasm and confidence.

Our three progeny are well and truly adult now (and gardening adults at that) but they were whizzes at school garden competitions, sand saucers, miniature gardens and floral art. In self defence, I have to say they never won any of the calf rearing cups and ribbons (their experience was at rural schools) and success in the lamb-related sections was rare. But at anything to do with gardening and flowers, they were winners. We set them up for success.

Back in the days when rural schools here promoted competitive school gardens, I was once asked to judge the winners. These were little plots at home where the children grew flowers, herbs or vegetables. Goodness me, they were all raised from seed in those days, organised at a subsidised rate by the schools.

I still remember that judging round as I visited maybe 20 different garden plots. The saddest sight was that of a sole child of older parents. They had a lovely house and garden and poor daughter had been banished to a hidden, shaded spot out the back so as not to spoil the overall appearance of the property. She was doomed to failure.

Children’s gardens need to be in the best possible position where they are in full view and walked past all the time, not hidden away. Think of it like the wretched trampoline that dogs so many parents. If that is hidden away from view, it is not used anywhere near as much as if it is in prime position. As every parent knows, the years of childhood seem long at the time but in retrospect they have flashed past. Tramps, sandpits, paddling pools, plastic toys and their ilk don’t combine with the beautiful house and garden but they are transient. Children’s gardens are in the same class. Celebrate them. Don’t hide them away. Put them in a prominent spot by a main access path in full sun.

Rural families may have a damaged farm trough to recycle as a child's garden but move it to a sunny, prominent spot

Rural families may have a damaged farm trough to recycle as a child’s garden but move it to a sunny, prominent spot

Children like a defined space that is their own. A raised garden bed may be just the ticket but is not necessary. Defining an area with stones or bricks may suffice. Our youngest had a successful garden in a cracked farm trough which had been recycled as a sandpit and then had a third life as his vege garden. I mention this for rural readers who may have suitable farm trough lying around which they can move to the right position.

Keep the size manageable. Generally a metre square is all a small child needs, maybe two square metres for one who is a little older. Getting too large can become daunting, especially when it comes to weeding.

Guarantee success by preparing the soil. Digging it over, making sure it is friable without huge clods and adding compost or sheep pellets means that most plants will grow as required. It is too much to expect young children to be able to dig a garden. That ability comes with experience. If time allows, letting the first flush or two of weeds germinate and push hoeing them off saves an awful lot of weeding later on. Odds on, however, most children will be too keen to get planting and not want to wait for that process but at least rake the surface level for them.

If you are starting on a patch of lawn, make sure you remove all the turf first rather then digging it in.

The purist in me says that children should be encouraged to learn how to grow plants from seed. The realist says that times have changed and for a first experience, it gives a quicker result to start with punnets of small plants. The middle ground is to do a mix of purchased seedlings and seed that can be direct sown into the ground. Just avoid seeds that need to be started in individual pots or seed trays.

Let your child choose what they want to grow. Herbs often appeal to older children. Oreganum, marjoram, thyme, chives and parsley are good options. Coriander can be direct sown. If flowers are the choice, guide them to quick maturing annuals. Pansies, lobelia, nigella, petunias, alyssum, ageratum – the list is long. Let your child choose maybe five different ones. Most children I have seen like to plant in patterns.

Quick maturing vegetables are the way to go with children

Quick maturing vegetables are the way to go with children

When it comes to vegetables, quick maturing is the way to go. Lettuces or Asian greens are good options. Radishes are the classic choice but few children like eating them. Peas and dwarf beans can be direct sown from seed. A Sweet 100 tomato is a good choice, but keep it to just one strong plant. By mid to late summer, it will probably take up the entire patch but by then, many of the other crops will have finished and interest may have waned.

Success breeds enthusiasm. Set your child up for success from the start even if it involves some work behind the scenes.

First published by Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Garden Lore

“Earthworms are used by research scientists looking to improve human medical conditions because their bodies have many similarities with our own: nervous system, blood vessels, haemoglobin, kidney-like organs prgans producing urine… But don’t get too worried about the weird relations you never knew you had because worms also have five hearts and both male and female reproduction organs, they breathe through their skins and when they want to eat they stick their throats out of their mouths to grab their food. It’s going to be a while before they start moving into houses and driving cars.”

Niall Edworthy “The Curious Gardener’s Almanac” (2006)
???????????????????????????????
Narcissus Fly

Photo credit: Sandy Rae, Wiki Commons

Photo credit: Sandy Rae, Wiki Commons

Narcissi flies are on the wing now and will be laying eggs in the withering crowns of certain bulbs. Narcissi (daffodils) are a prime target but they also attack hippeastrums, snowdrops, snowflakes, hyacinths and I have seen them attack Scadoxus katherinae. Bulbs which are close to the surface are particularly vulnerable. The fly (which looks like a cross between a very small bumblebee and a blowfly) lays its eggs on the spent foliage. When the egg hatches, the larva crawls down and burrows into the bulb, eating it from the inside out.

Mark stalks them in the rockery every fine day with his little hand sprayer of Decis (a synthetic pyrethroid,the same as is in fly spray) but if you are not inclined to spend the time on the hunt (there is an element of the thrill of the chase going on here), you can take other steps. Remove the dying foliage as soon as it starts turning brown -it has fulfilled its purpose of replenishing the bulb for next season – and lay additional mulch over the bulbs to get a greater depth. If your bulbs are in containers, remove them to a shady position immediately. These varmints prefer a sunny outlook, in our experience. Dig and divide clumps which have become so congested that they are pushing themselves out of the ground and replant them so that they are fully covered. Left unchecked, narcissi fly can multiply to the point where they can decimate a patch of bulbs to the point where you will get no flowers at all.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Staghorn fern or Platycerium

Our giant staghorn fern or platycerium

Our giant staghorn fern or platycerium

In some parts of the world, these are all referred to as elkhorn ferns. I guess we are more familiar with stags than elks in this neck of the woods. The leaves are generally seen as resembling antlers. The general wisdom in NZ is that there are only two varieties – the staghorn and the elkhorn but in fact there appear to be nearer 20 different ones, hailing from the tropics and subtropics in a band around the globe, central to and south of the equator. Best guess is that this one is P. bifurcatum which is native to Java, New Guinea and the east coast of Australia. This tells you that it is frost tender.

The platyceriums are all ephiphytic and are widely grown as houseplants. This particular plant, after decades in our woodland area, measures about a metre across and a metre deep, holding the rather slender host tree in an all-round embrace. It draws all the nutrition and moisture it needs from the air. We give it no attention at all beyond an annual tidy up when I remove the dislodged foliage that has fallen from the trees above. Staghorns are sold from time to time and often grown as house plants in chillier areas. Just wire it to a support of some assortment. Grown as a houseplant, it will need more attention because it won’t be receiving the nutrition and moisture but there are plenty of references on how to care for them in a controlled environment.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Why viburnums send a shiver down Mark’s spine

Viburnum plicatum 'Roseace' - pretty as a picture

Viburnum plicatum ‘Roseace’ – pretty as a picture

In times gone by, we used to retail plants from here seven days a week for much of the year. My Mark was a reluctant retailer at best, though his plant and gardening knowledge is immense and he was perfectly capable of giving good advice if he liked the visitor. Alas, too often he would comment wryly: “That was one who put the cuss into customer”. He certainly never subscribed to the view that the customer is always right.

The mere mention of viburnums sends a shudder down his spine, even after a fair few years. A couple came in asking for Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’ which they had seen growing in a prestigious garden. Mark checked that they understood this was a white lacecap variety and they assured him they knew what it was. Turned out they had no idea at all. Some time later, when the plant came in to flower and was not the common white snowball bush, the husband dug it up from the garden, put it in a supermarket bag and brought it back wanting a refund. He’d probably only paid $15 for a big plant of it. It was of course correct to its descriptive label (we take pride in such matters) and a fine specimen but it just wasn’t what he thought it would be. It is a bit like opening a packet of lollies, tasting one and then expecting to return the open packet many weeks later because you didn’t like the flavour.

I felt sure ‘Mariesii’ should be in flower for me to photograph – it is a beautiful big white lacecap flower on a large shrub with fresh green, pleated foliage and it tends to grow in layers like a cake. Mark and I agreed we must have it planted somewhere. We just can’t quite remember where. That is the problem of a big garden lacking records. It will have to wait in anonymity until we stumble over it again.

What started me thinking about viburnums were two plants which are looking particularly striking this week – ‘Roseace’ and one with the difficult name of V. sargentii ‘Onondago’. It took me a while to commit the second name to memory.

‘Roseace’ (sometimes ‘Rosacea’) is the pink form of the classic pompom viburnum, which is usually the form known as V. plicatum ‘Sterile’, or the Japanese snowball. It is a sport which was sold widely two decades ago and it forms a large, deciduous shrub to over 2 metres tall with an abundance of pretty, peachy-pink snowball flowers. That is at its best. Being a sport, it can revert to the more dominant white. We found this to our cost when we propagated a fair number from our main plant and then had to wait until they all flowered because only some of them came pink. Mark went through the original plant and pruned out all the white sections a few years ago but I see it is rather patchy pink and white again, though nevertheless very pretty and showy.

V. sargentii 'Onandago'

V. sargentii ‘Onondago’

‘Onondago’ is different, being narrow and upright. Its fresh spring foliage comes out deep maroon and lacecap flowers (like flat hydrangea blooms) have the tiny fertile flowers in deep red in the centre, surrounded by a ring of larger white sterile flowers. It is a selection out of the US National Arboretum in Washington and, being a seedling not a sport, it is very stable.

Viburnums come from a large family with over 150 different species identified. Most are from the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere so are generally hardy and are of the shrub/large shrub/small tree type. There are evergreen, semi evergreen and fully deciduous species. I am pretty sure it was the evergreen V. tinus I saw grown quite widely throughout Hamilton making a small tree that flowers in spring.

Balls of delicious fragrance from one of V. carlesii hybrids

Balls of delicious fragrance from one of V. carlesii hybrids

Earlier in the season, we had the somewhat short-lived delight of the waxy, fragrant balls of a couple of different ones. I am pretty sure they were ‘Anne Russell’ and x carlcephalum – both are hybrids from the Korean species of V. carlesii. We have them planted beside the driveway and the scent is easily as strong as a good daphne with more spectacular flowers, though their season is much shorter.

Most viburnums are very easy to grow, being not at all fussy about soils and conditions. They are a bit of an unsung hero, really, making good backbone plants which star when in flower and behave themselves for the rest of the year. Some of the deciduous varieties also give good autumn colour in inland or colder climates.

Just try and find out what you are buying before you plant it and don’t expect to dig it up and return it bare rooted because you made a mistake. Mark might have been more understanding over the ‘Mariesii’ had the customers been a little less know-it-all at the time of purchase. Instead he was intensely irritated, scarred now by the memory.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.