Plant Collector: Koelreuteria paniculata

Koelreuteria paniculata - it may be a long wait for flowers in our climate

Koelreuteria paniculata – it may be a long wait for flowers in our climate

There is nothing rare about the koelreuteria which goes by the charming name of the “Golden Rain Tree” or, apparently, “Pride of India” despite the fact it comes from China. The golden epithet does not refer to the lovely golden leaves which colour-up even in our temperate coastal conditions, but to the summer flowers. Alas we have not seen these on our tree, despite it being about five metres tall and well over a decade in age. It appears that we may not ever get many flowers because this is a tree adapted to an inland or continental climate. It likes a cold, dry winter and hot, dry summer – neither of which it gets at our place. However, it is pretty enough with its fresh spring foliage and its golden autumn colours for us to keep it in the garden.

When the flowers pass over, it develops showy pinky-brown seed pods – referred to in the literature as “inflated and bladder-like”, which sounds less appealing than they look.

There is another koelreuteria species, K. bipinnata, which is sometimes referred to as the Chinese flame tree. It is not as common as K. paniculata and is more spreading, growing wider than it is tall. Its flowers, foliage and seedpods are similar although it usually flowers later in the season, heading into autumn. It is probably just as well it is not so common here because it appears to have invasive habits in certain climates and would probably prove equally problematic in areas of this country.

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

Garden lore

“My garden, that skirted the avenue of the Manse, was of precisely the right extent. An hour or two of morning labour was all that it required. But I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of, who had never taken part in the process of creation.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse (1846).

002 - CopyAutumn planting

Autumn is the best planting time. That is not garden industry hype to encourage sales. It is simple fact, though often ignored by gardeners who only get inspired in spring and therefore drive peak sales at that time of the year. When you autumn-plant trees and shrubs, which includes all hedges, roses and fruit trees, they have time to establish their root systems during late autumn and winter before all their energy goes in to spring growth and flowering. This makes them much better placed to withstand the stress of subsequent summer heat and possible drought.

We are still very dry for this time of the year but there is much less evaporation happening as temperatures have cooled. Make sure you soak the root balls of the plants thoroughly before planting. This is best done by plunging the entire plant, pot or bag and all, into a bucket or tub of water and leave it there until the bubbles stop rising. This can take at least 20 minutes. If your soils are still bone dry, place the plant in the hole and then fill it up with water before you back fill the soil. With the light rains we are getting, this is probably enough to keep the plant moist without additional watering, until wetter times return.

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

A Case of the Emperor’s New Clothes?

Cordyline Red Fountain (ours) and Cordyline Design-A-Line Burgundy - identical DNA

Cordyline Red Fountain (ours) and Cordyline Design-A-Line Burgundy – identical DNA


The saga of Cordyline Red Fountain continues.

Gobsmacked we were by the decision of the NZ Plant Variety Rights’ Office to grant equal legal protection to Cordyline Roma 06 (also known as Cordyline Burgundy). It seemed that they were determined to find differences where none existed and as far as we were concerned, Cordyline Roma 06 was a generic copy with no unique, distinguishing characteristics. We could not understand why our repeated requests for a blind trial to see if the two were distinguishable were ignored.

Well, ain’t DNA just a wonderful thing? We were wrong in describing Cordyline Roma 06 as a generic copy. Not a copy at all. It has absolutely perfectly matched DNA to Cordyline Red Fountain. Identical DNA.

We had plants DNA tested in a specialist DNA laboratory in Australia. The comparator variety, Cordyline Pinot Noir showed in excess of 5000 markers of difference. Cordyline Red Fountain and Cordyline Roma 06 showed… none. None at all.

This surely disproves the claim made repeatedly by Malcolm Woolmore that he went back and repeated the original cross. We were always sure that was not true, because of aspects of that original cross known only to us. He did not have access to the original breeder plants we had here, so he would have used different parent plants and the DNA would have shown that.

So what now? In the light of this independent, scientific evidence, will the NZ Plant Variety Rights’ Office review the original application and data submitted and reject the original proposal? This is what we thought should have happened from the very beginning. DNA evidence is now deemed sufficient to send somebody to jail for life in murder trials. We are not suggesting that this would be an appropriate action in this case, but we are waiting to see what will happen next.

New Zealand is a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties in Plants (UPOV) so this situation will not sit in isolation but is already receiving international scrutiny.

Cordyline Red Fountain and Cordyline Burgundy - side by side garden centre plants, apparently with identical DNA

Cordyline Red Fountain and Cordyline Burgundy – side by side garden centre plants, apparently with identical DNA

Our towering pines

The rich tapestry epiphytes that has developed over many decades

The rich tapestry epiphytes that has developed over many decades

If asked to name the tree least likely to be planted in a garden today, I bet most New Zealanders would say Pinus radiata. Is it our most despised plant? Maybe it is just that familiarity breeds contempt since we have made this tree our own utility, forestry tree. Believe it or not, back in 1838 you would have had to pay between 21 shillings (an old fashioned guinea, no less) and 100 shillings (or 5 pounds sterling) to buy one in England.

I have a personal interest in the humble pine tree because we have an avenue of them which are now somewhere over 140 years old. I looked at them with new respect when colleague, Glyn Church pointed out to me that all the really old Pinus radiata and the old man macrocarpas in this country would have protection orders slapped on them in their native territory. For these two species, so strongly represented here, are native to a small part of the Monterey Peninsula in California where they are referred to respectively as the Monterey Pine and the Monterey Cypress. They grow somewhat larger in our conditions.

The tops are not things of great splendour, but these Pinus radiata are now over 140 years old

The tops are not things of great splendour, but these Pinus radiata are now over 140 years old

The tallest of our pines must be around 50 metres now. They’re a motley bunch of trees. One or two are handsome from top to bottom. A couple are dead and have become skeletons. Some have much better crowns than others and many of them lean out at odd angles. There are masses of interesting epiphytes which have taken up home on the branches and forks in the trees, mostly collospermum and astelias spread by the birds and ferns dispersed by the wind. We have nigh on 40 of them in one area of the garden, planted originally as wind-break in double rows at about 3 metres spacings.

There is nothing at all unique about our pine trees here beyond the fact they are still standing and we have turned the area beneath into long avenue gardens. Ours are by no means the oldest in the country. That honour goes to a single pine tree at Mount Peel Station in Canterbury. It was apparently planted as a three year old seedling in 1859 so is at least 15 years older than our ones.

It did not take long for the earliest trees of Pinus radiata in this country to start showing their potential as a timber source, especially as our new colony had been ripping out the native forests at a rate that was alarming even back then. In the 1870s, large quantities of pine seed, mostly P. radiata but also other species, were imported and distributed widely. It is likely that our pines date back to these seed importations. If so, they were merely a few dozen among anything up to 500 000 seed distributed.

Pinus muricata, lesser known here and probably the same age as the radiata pines

Pinus muricata, lesser known here and probably the same age as the radiata pines

There were actually about 48 different species of tree introduced at that time through official channels. One of them was the lesser known Pinus muricata, or the Bishop Pine, also from California. We happen to have a little row of four P. muricata. To the untrained eye, they look like slightly more compact, smaller growing radiata pines. We don’t know anything about the history of our muricata but it would seem likely that they, too, date back to those 1870 seed importations.

Would I ever recommend anybody these days to plant Pinus radiata as an avenue? Well, no. Our avenue of rimu trees dating from the same time are much more impressive, rock solid and long-lived. But we see some merit in our crusty old pines which have wonderful fissured bark and add a solid presence to the landscape of our property. Fortunately, Pinus radiata tends to break up and drop in pieces over time, rather than keeling over in its entirety. We get a fair amount of firewood on an ongoing basis and the pine cone production is prodigious.

Zephyr the dog photobombs yet another garden shot - the leaning trunks of the old pines

Zephyr the dog photobombs yet another garden shot – the leaning trunks of the old pines

In the past four decades, three have fallen. The only really alarming one was the latest a few years ago which snapped off at about 5 metres up. Turns out the trees have all been topped at that height – maybe a century ago.

We have lost count of the number of garden visitors (all older men) who have surveyed our pines and said: “Oh, they’re a problem. They’re at the end of their life. How are you going to get those out?” Of course the general view in this country is that any Pinus radiata over the age of about 40 is past its life span.

We can’t take them out even if we wanted to. We can’t get heavy machinery in. They would have to be done by huge Russian logging helicopters and we aren’t millionaires. We plan to just leave them to their own devices and to continue cleaning up the fallen branches. Common old pines they may be, but they are part of the history of our place and part of the history of this country, too.

We have, however, had a discussion on what to do should one of us be standing in the wrong place if one falls. Run towards the trunk, is my theory, because that is the thinnest section, and then decide at the last second whether to throw oneself to the right or to the left.

References:
http://friendswbg.org.nz/PINUSRADIATA.html (Friends of the Wellington Botanic Gardens).
Horticulture in NZ 1990 Vol 1, No 1 republished on http://friendswbg.org.nz/PinusRadiatatoNewZealand.pdf

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

Plant Collector – Acer griseum

Acer griseum - it's mostly about the wonderful bark

Acer griseum – it’s mostly about the wonderful bark

Mention maples and most people think of the fresh spring foliage, the burgundy lacy look of some patio maples all summer and the glorious autumn colour. It is all about the foliage but not with Acer griseum which has nondescript green leaves all summer. No, it is primarily about the bark.

Often called the paper bark maple, Acer griseum is one of the best ornamental bark trees in the world. The old bark peels back in shiny, curled layers to reveal a matt skin below and it is all in glorious copper tones, often described as cinnamon in colour. The sight of light glowing through these bark curls is nothing short of magical and it is a visual delight which lasts all year.

It comes from Central China and it was not introduced to the west until the turn of last century, 1901 to be precise. It was clearly an immediate success because within 21 years, it had been given an Award of Merit by the Royal Horticulture Society in the UK. While it will get some height, maybe 8 metres over time, it remains generally narrow in form so doesn’t take up much space. The bark starts to show within 3 or 4 years of planting. Apparently it will colour up much better and put on a good autumn show of scarlet in cooler climates though I can’t say I have ever noticed it colour here.

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