Category Archives: Tikorangi notes

Tikorangi Notes: Tuesday 11 October, 2011

Notable, perhaps, for a total absence of any PC thinking here!

Notable, perhaps, for a total absence of any PC thinking here!

Tikorangi Notes: Tuesday 11 October, 2011

I am a little late with the links to latest posts this week. They were available on Friday as usual but I was in Hamilton speaking at the Waikato Home and Garden Show – where I found a wonderful example of absolute lack of any hint of political correctness. Golliwog scarecrows – gollycrows, perhaps. I am guessing that the creator had simply no concept whatever of the debate two decades ago about Little Black Sambo, the Black and White Minstrels and golliwogs which forever labelled these as monuments to racial stereotyping.

Latest posts:

1) Cyrtanthus falcatus – a first flowering for us of this interesting large bulb and member of the amaryllis family. We must have waited well over a decade for this event.
2) Kicking off the debate here on the difference between maintenance and sustainability in the garden – Abbie’s column.
3) Grow it Yourself looks at potatoes this week.

Rhododenrons Floral Sun and Rubicon

Rhododenrons Floral Sun and Rubicon

Tikorangi Notes: Tuesday 11 October, 2011

Arisaema sikkokianum

Arisaema sikkokianum

As the magnolias pass over, it is the time for rhododendrons and the mid season bulbs to come into their own. While the soft golden tones of Rhododendron Floral Sun and the pure red of Rubicon side by side may lack subtlety, they present an eye catching combination in our carpark. Rhododendrons often have a relatively short time in full bloom but the anticipation of fat buds showing colour and starting to open extends the flowering season substantially. It is also arisaema time for us. A. sikkokianum is not the easiest variety to keep going as a garden subject and it needs to be increased by seed as a rule, but it is one of showiest species in flower with its pure white spadix and its bloom held above the foliage. A. speciosum is not as showy but is trouble-free to grow and settles in most comfortably for the long haul. It has very curious burgundy snake’s head flowers held just below the tall, open foliage.

With our annual garden festival now just two and a half weeks away, the pressure is on the groom the garden to pristine standard for the 10 days which is our peak time for garden visitors. Formerly referred to Rhodo Festival, this year its full name is the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular (!). More details at www. gardenfestnz.co.nz.

Tikorangi Notes, Friday 30 September, 2010

The ephemeral delight of the erythroniums in flower this week

The ephemeral delight of the erythroniums in flower this week

Latest Posts:
1) Magnolia Athene in all her glory in Plant Collector this week and gratitude for the mid season varieties.

2) New Zealand’s Native Trees by John Dawson and Rob Lucas. Thank you Craig Potton Publishing for not cutting corners, simplifying and dumbing down on the assumption that most of us have the mental capacity and experience of a child.

3) The differing agendas of gardeners, novices and designers (or why I am happy to accommodate plants with a scruffy period which includes deciduous plants and bulbs)

4) Grow it Yourself topic this week is Mark’s absolutely most favourite vegetable – sweetcorn.

5) Clearance special this week is Magnolia grandiflora Little Gem – a snip at $12 but very limited numbers.

6) In Praise of Plunging – a traditional technique from the UK which has its relevance here, in our conditions too.

The pink puffery of Magnolia Serene

The pink puffery of Magnolia Serene

I suggested to Mark that the start of a new year here was marked by the magnolias and early spring but he was pretty adamant that it is the snowdrops that herald the new beginning. The snowdrops have long finished, most of the narcissi are passing over and while the magnolia season continues, it is on the wane – the opening of Serene heralds the end of the season because it is the last of the major ones to flower for us. But temperatures are rising, the rhododendrons are opening and other new plants open every day. The trilliums are a triumph for us here. We are not natural trillium territory (bar two days this winter, we lack the winter chill they prefer) and have to choose planting situations carefully.

Showing off: the trilliums

Showing off: the trilliums

Each flower may be only three petals but when you get the deep red ones blooming with the light passing through, the effort is well worth it. The erythroniums are in full flower. If we don’t get torrential rain, we may get two or even three weeks of pleasure from these short-lived, dainty delights. The countdown to our annual garden festival at the end of October is on so the pressure is mounting.

In a rash moment, I agreed to present at the Waikato Home and Garden Show next Friday and Saturday. My main presentation is entitled “What Makes a Good Garden” (Friday at 12.30 and Saturday at 2.30) and I am also doing a presentation on our annual festival (styled the Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular this year but we will say no more about that, formerly known as the Taranaki Rhododendron and Garden Festival) at 6.30 on Friday and 4.30 on Saturday.

Tikorangi Notes: Friday 23 September, 2011

Looking a little like a froth of pink candy floss this week - our magnificent Iolanthe (again)

Looking a little like a froth of pink candy floss this week - our magnificent Iolanthe (again)

Latest posts: Friday 23 September, 2011

1) Tropaeolum tricolorum, a distinctly refined member of the nasturtium family in Plant Collector this week.
2) Yates Vegetable Garden – yet another NZ gardening book in that folksy-wolksy vein that NZ publishers think is all we can cope with these days.
3) Managing bulb meadows and drifts – Abbie’s column
4) GIY Peas A little introduction to growing peas in warmer climates.
5) Even we can lower our sights – the first of our clearance specials. First up a splendid hedging line of Camellia Jury’s Yellow.

No apologies for continuing to lead with Magnolia Iolanthe this week. In a season which will not rank as memorable for magnolias, Iolanthe has not wavered or faltered and is simply beautiful. The first flowers on Serene are just opening – she is always the last of the season to flower for us. The magnolias will be drawing to a close in a matter of weeks, but the rhododendrons are coming into their own. The camellias battle on, badly affected by petal blight but doing their best. Mark uses the blower vac on them to blast away the blighted blooms which otherwise refuse to fall. It is such a disappointment, is camellia petal blight, but there is no point in railing against something we can not alter.

Tikorangi Notes: Friday 16 September, 2011

Magnolia Athene in our park this week

Magnolia Athene in our park this week


Latest posts:
1) The yellow Camellia chrysantha – looking rather more spectacular in the photo than on the bush. Plant Collector.
2) Trees for small gardens – Abbie’s column.
3) In praise of Bok Choy (aka Pak Choi) (this weeks GIY).
4) Tikorangi Diary with effusive praise for Magnolia Iolanthe and a plaintive complaint about people who can not read the important notes on our website explaining repeatedly that we do not mailorder or courier plants.

Magnolia Iolanthe in all her magnificence this week

Magnolia Iolanthe in all her magnificence this week

Tikorangi Notes: Friday 16 September, 2011

While much of the country is in the grip of rugby world cup fever (save us should the All Blacks fail to deliver the silverware. Elections have been lost on less and the country may plunge into deep depression), it is magnolia time here. I read a colleague advocating planting magnolias at the bottom of a slope so you can look down on them but I disagree. I love looking up through them from below and I prefer my magnolias displayed against a blue sky rather than framed by other greenery. With some of our trees around 60 years old now, they have considerable stature. In fact the original plant of Iolanthe has a diameter of about 10 metres – that is a lot of Iolanthe on show. The other mid season magnolias – Athene, Lotus, Milky Way, Atlas and the like- are all opening and the coming week will be one of the highlights of our gardening year.

Tikorangi Diary, September 9, 2011

Magnolia Felix Jury in its glory now

Magnolia Felix Jury in its glory now

Latest Posts: Friday 9 September, 2011
Back in business! Today sees the resumption of weekly series of posts, but this time first published in the Waikato Times. It feels good to be back into regular writing to deadlines, believe it or not.

1) Plant Collector – campanulata or Taiwanese cherry trees and a photo of a feeding tui which represents about the 40th attempt to capture the moment.

2) Blighted! I don’t even like buxus hedging, but in deference to all the searches I see looking for information on wretched buxus blight, herewith the essential information as far as I can decode it.

3) Finocchio – the first of a new series looking at a different vegetable crop each week.

4) The constructions at Paloma Gardens – not from the Waikato Times, this one, but a piece I wrote for Weekend Gardener looking at the constructions and creations of the enterprising Clive Higgie. It was very interesting watching Alan Titchmarsh talking about the Victorian garden on TV last week. There is a shade of those Victorian gardeners to Clive – the flamboyance, the drive to be genuinely original and the passion for collecting plants which are different, new and interesting.

Prunus Te Mara and a seedling magnolia in our carpark area

Prunus Te Mara and a seedling magnolia in our carpark area

Tikorangi Diary: Friday 9 September, 2011

The abnormally cold weather of late winter may have taken out the early magnolia display (well, it did, to be more precise) but a week of mild weather has brought on the next flush of blooms and the garden is full of colour, flowers, fragrance and birds. This is when magnolias which flower down the stem (like Felix Jury) come into their own. The first blooms were taken out by the weather, but fresh flowers have opened and they look wonderful whereas cultivars like Lanarth, which only set buds on the branch tips and open all at once, was a non-event this year. If you want to see the magnolias and early spring garden, we are offering one free adult garden entry with each magnolia purchase today and this weekend. You can check out what we have available under Plant Sales.

Prunus Te Mara has never looked as good. This is a semi evergreen cherry and I had been threatening it with the chainsaw because I was underwhelmed by it. The winter chill this season took most of the foliage off and the flowering is considerably more impressive. I would guess that this is cherry better suited to areas with colder winters.

Moraea spathulata

Moraea spathulata

In the bulbs, it is Moraea spathulata which has been a minor triumph. It is not that it is meant to be difficult to grow, just that it has taken several attempts to find the right place for it in the garden. Apparently the front row of the rockery suits it just fine because it is flowering in a most obliging fashion. M. spathulata grows from a bulb which is similar to its more refined siblings, villosa and polystachya, but it is evergreen and its exceptionally long, strappy green leaves can be a little scruffy in the wrong place. I can forgive that when I see the delicate yellow iris blooms.