By ABBIE JURY

In our Taranaki Rhododendron Festival over the past eighteen years, we have often heard talk of small gardens and how much people like to see them because they can relate to them. To be honest, we have felt a little defensive about this because our own garden is anything but small.

We open around six or seven acres of garden and are working on a further couple of acres of garden to open in a year or two. I stayed polite when faced by the garden visitor last week who said that some of the gardens were “so large they are parks, not gardens”. I had not thought to define a park or garden by size alone. I had always thought that gardens had areas which are intensively planted and gardened, while parks are essentially lots of trees and larger shrubs without the same level of detail.
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By ABBIE JURY

I try to be very selective about issues on which I express an opinion publicly beyond my gardening columns, but I was sorely tempted when I read a letter to the August issue of the New Zealand Gardener magazine. Written by New Plymouth’s foremost member of the Gnome Garden Brigade, the writer claimed that the heavily ornamented gardens being promoted in the Fringe Festival now on here were “unique to Taranaki” and that they provided a “cultural experience”.

My pen itched to reply. All I wanted to say was: “I hope not. How embarrassing.”

The Fringe Festival (dubbed the Cringe Festival here) is running alongside our well established Garden and Rhododendron Festival which finishes tomorrow. It grew out of gardens which were declined by the established event and tended to attract those who favour ornaments over plants. In the case of the letter to the Gardener, discretion ruled and I kept silent (until now). But it did spawn many running gags here. We were a bit concerned about the rumours of the conversion to radical Islam and the establishment of sleeper cells of gnomes waiting to be activated by Al Qaeda. Foreign Affairs, we hypothesized, might put out a warning to garden visitors asking them to be their eyes and ears this year. But should any visitor encounter gnomes wearing backpacks or heavy anoraks, they were under no circumstances to approach either the gnome or the garden owner. The advice would surely be to exit immediately and call the counter terrorism unit.
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By ABBIE JURY

Deadheading is in full swing. I hadn’t really thought about how much time we spend deadheading here until I was out amongst the roses one evening.

I am pretty vigilant about deadheading the roses. Most of my roses are repeat flowering types so deadheading is particularly important. And in our no-spray regime, it gives a chance to take off the blackspotted leaves and constantly prune them back to new leaf buds. The new growth compensates for the laissez faire regime in their management. I give them a heavy and rigorous winter prune, but while deadheading them I am continually summer pruning at the same time and they respond well. And I have learned to keep the prunings separate. Being compost nuts, most vegetable matter goes onto the compost mountains but nobody appreciates rose thorns.
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By ABBIE JURY

The ugliness of having tenants set up a drug operation and trample our happy memories of a house which used to be our family home is starting to fade a little now, thank goodness. It has taken up a lot of time and caused us huge stress and we are nowhere near finished with the fallout yet. But at least we can find aspects to laugh at.

Because of the first stage methamphetamine production that took place there, the house is now tainted with the term of “P House”. I was over with a photographer friend who was recording the damage and she was delighted when I pointed out a random outcome of having two male tenants. Clearly they had a policy of not overstraining the septic tank so they were in the habit of relieving themselves at various points just out from the house, including from the decking. Human urine is rich in nitrogen and the grass is outstandingly lush in that particular spot. Photographer friend recorded the scene – she felt we could use it as a joke Christmas card. Our Pee House.
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By ABBIE JURY

I recall writing several weeks ago that the camellias were looking great and making a rash statement along the lines of petal blight be damned. I still thought camellias were a great plant. As the season has progressed, I have had to review that position.

An unusually warm and calm spring has rewarded us with a splendid display of magnolias, but alas the petal blight has been dreadful. I had thought that as it is a fungal problem, dry conditions may have reduced its impact this year. No. And the lack of wind has meant that the affected flowers have stayed resolutely attached to the bushes.
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