Category Archives: Tikorangi notes

Tikorangi Notes: August 27, 2011

Magnolia sargentiana robusta came through last week's winter unscathed

Magnolia sargentiana robusta came through last week's winter unscathed

The reticulata camellias are in full bloom

The reticulata camellias are in full bloom


R. protistum var. giganteum "Pukeiti" - with the frosted version just visible behind

R. protistum var. giganteum "Pukeiti" - with the frosted version just visible behind

Tikorangi notes: August 27, 2011
Last week it snowed, followed by a frost in the coldest few days we can ever remember. This week it is indubitably spring. Certainly there is damage in the garden – many of the early magnolias and michelias did not appreciate it at all, though M. sargentiana robusta appears to have come through unscathed. The same cannot be said of the big-leafed rhododendrons. I was searching to find an undamaged bloom and Mark felt that one of my shots of an R. grande hybrid showed we could rename it as Hokey Pokey (a reference to a favourite NZ icecream which has streaks of butterscotch coloured candy throughout). The big leafs have gone the same way as Magnolia Lanarth – 2011 may be the least memorable flowering ever. The campanulata cherries are alive with native tui, the reticulata camellias are in peak flower, the lovely daffodils continue to flower in succession and, just to prove that even in frost and snow, our climate can’t be all that bad, a vireya rhododendron, R. konori, is flowering beautifully and completely untouched in the rose garden area.
The beautiful, fragrant and touchy vireya R. konori flowers on regardless

The beautiful, fragrant and touchy vireya R. konori flowers on regardless


Mark has been poddling about with his calanthe orchids while I am grooming the rockery. Winter pruning is complete (fruit trees, hydrangeas, roses, wisterias and the like). Now we are laying mulch on many of the garden beds – we favour our home made compost for this.
Our first garden visitors for the season have started arriving but if you want to see the magnolias at their peak this year, hold off for another week or two to allow more to come out. That said, Magnolias Felix Jury and Black Tulip are recovering well from the earlier ravages by the weather and there are some lovely flowers showing now.
Magnolia Black Tulip - for those who prefer a more understated size of flower

Magnolia Black Tulip - for those who prefer a more understated size of flower

Snow!

A blizzard, we decided yesterday morning

A blizzard, we decided yesterday morning


Mark's very small snowman

Mark's very small snowman

Yesterday it snowed. We were simply astounded. For years, I have been saying it never snows here and until yesterday, it never had – not in Mark’s memory or indeed in the time of his late father so that has 100 years covered. A little of it even settled on the ground, albeit for a couple of hours only. Mark was so excited he rushed out to make a snowman. A friend scoffed at the photo on Facebook, saying it is the smallest snowman she has ever seen (he did not have a lot of snow to work with!) but at least it fits in the deep freeze and Sydney-based daughter thought we could bring it out at Christmas.

Today it is just very cold. We think there must have been some overnight snow, judging by the white dusting on the roof tiles but on the ground, it is more about ice and frost. More snow is possible, according to the forecast. There will be damage in the garden – none of our material is hardened off to very cold temperatures but at this stage it does not look devastating. The same can not be said about the nursery remnants we still have. Most of it is under shade cloth but that has not been enough protection for the vireya rhododendrons (badly hit by the severe frost last week and no doubt even sadder after the last two days). We are philosophical – we used to produce about 4000 vireyas at a time for sale – which meant up to 10 000 plants of various ages and stages on the floor of the nursery. There are maybe 100 now which look burned and crispy. The palms are also deeply unhappy with the conditions. Mark’s precious large Caryota (fishtail palms), the Dypsis baronii and many others show damage, but should not be fatally chilled.

So much for global warming. I think we already knew it meant more extreme weather events rather than rising temperatures! The novelty of a winter chill and a one-off event of snow may wear off very quickly indeed.

Snow, not frost, in the front garden

Snow, not frost, in the front garden

Tikorangi Notes: Thursday August 12, 2011

Signs of spring - the campanulata cherries are in flower

Signs of spring - the campanulata cherries are in flower

Technically it is still winter here but we are rocketing into full spring and the garden is looking very colourful. The campanulata cherries are opening and at times can appear to be dancing with the movement of the nectar feeding tui. They don’t sit still for long enough to count (and are very difficult to photograph because they move so quickly but we do seem to have them by the score (as opposed to just a few).

Beautiful but the flowers are too floppy

Beautiful but the flowers are too floppy

More magnolias are opening by the day as are spring bulbs and even the early rhododendrons. The early white michelias are flowering. We have rows of these and they look splendid and smell divine. But Mark is very picky. There is only room to name one, or maybe two at the most, and plants such as the one in the photograph are destined forever to be just part of our windbreak hedges. Its flowers are simply too floppy. The cultivars Mark selected for further trialling and the one that has been selected for release in the next year or two have much cleaner flowers which are displayed well. They are a big improvement with blooms which hold up and show excellent form.

The garden is open now but if you wait another week or so, there will be a better display of magnolias out. Mind you, the snowdrops will have finished by then but other spring bulbs are opening day by day. For us, this is a time of year we glory in. For details on plant sales this week (personal customers only, though we will hold orders for later collection if they are prepaid) click through to Tikorangi Diary.

Winter? Who says it is still winter? Tikorangi Notes: August 4, 2011

The first flowers opening on Magnolia Felix Jury this morning

The first flowers opening on Magnolia Felix Jury this morning

After a bitter cold couple of days last week and a frost which has done a relatively alarming amount of damage, this week it seems as if spring has arrived with the start of August. The sky is blue, there is enough warmth in the sun to see our Lloyd make his appearance in shorts (neither Mark nor I are that hardy) and the magnolias are opening.

We advertise that the garden is open from the start of August, but if you want to see the magnolias at their best, keep watching here (or follow us on facebook.com/thejurygarden). We are picking that the first flush of magnolias will peak in about a fortnight. We usually get two peak flowerings here – the early ones which are heavily dominated by the best reds and then a few weeks later, the mid season varieties in early September. Vulcan is currently flowering, Black Tulip is just opening and we have the first few flowers on Felix Jury which just keeps on getting better every year.

In plant sales this week, we look at Black Tulip and at camellia hedging options. We were both amused and quietly chuffed to learn from a garden article in The Telegraph that Mark’s Magnolia Black Tulip had been presented to the Queen last year. Henceforth, we shall refer to it as a magnolia fit for a queen. It was quite a gratifying Telegraph article really, with high praise for Mark’s new Fairy Magnolia Blush which is just becoming available in the UK.

Tikorangi Notes: Thursday July 29, 2011

New Zealand Woman's Weekly on magnolias - Burgundy Star, Black Tulip and Fairy Magnolia Blush in the photos

New Zealand Woman's Weekly on magnolias - Burgundy Star, Black Tulip and Fairy Magnolia Blush in the photos

I think I have only bought the NZ Woman’s Weekly twice in my life – both times because I knew gardening stories of interest to us were included. It bills itself as “NZ’s No.1 Royal Mag” and I just think I am not amongst their target demographic. But it is very popular so the colourful double page spread on magnolias this week, written by Denise Cleverley, was gratifying to see, given that it focuses quite heavily on our Jury magnolias.

Schefflera septulosa - distinctly worse for the frost

Schefflera septulosa - distinctly worse for the frost

An abnormally heavy frost this week has left us ruefully contemplating the damage. In colder climates, plants are better acclimatised to lower temperatures but here it tends to be so mild that they are not hardened off and extreme events can cause a lot of damage. How much is damage which the plants will outgrow and how much is loss by death will become clearer soon. It is not so bad in the garden where there is a lot of protection afforded by the trees but under the shade cloth in the nursery and out in the open, it is a bit of a sorry sight. Schefflera septulosa does not normally sport the brown velvet look. I think Mark ranks it as the second worst frost he has ever seen here – a ground frost of around -5.5 degrees.

Mark has been experimenting in his glasshouse with passive heating. He hopes to apply this on a larger scale in the near future (I think this means a much larger glasshouse in a new location) partly because he is determined to grow more tropical fruit including his beloved pineapples. He has moved in some largish containers of water and has built a compost heap from dung and straw in the glasshouse. Fortunately it no longer smells and it does appear it is working to raise the temperature and to prevent it losing all the heat overnight. I am just looking forward optimistically to future harvests.

The white sapote - now a winter fruit staple here

The white sapote - now a winter fruit staple here

However, we don’t need a glasshouse for the white sapote or casimiroa edulis which we can grow in a protected position outdoors and which rewards us with a very good crop of ripe fruit in mid winter. They have the texture of a ripe rock melon and taste a little like vanilla custard – delicious.

The weekly blurb on plant sales highlights Hippeastrum aulicum this week (I felt the need of something bright and cheerful on the coldest day of the year) and one of my most favourite camellias – dainty little C. minutiflora.

And on a very cheerful note, yesterday I was offered a new garden writing contract. Not with our local paper, the Taranaki Daily News, which is determined to press on without me but that is fine because the new contract offers a much better platform. Until it is signed and sealed, I won’t say with whom but it feels good to be back in the mode of thinking about regular contributions and deadlines. It will be three pieces a week which will then appear as a regular feature on our website.