Plant Collector: Schima wallichii subsp. noronhae (probably)

Schima, probably noronhae

I went on a bit of a search for the accurate species name of this tree in flower here, trying to sort out whether it was Schima wallichii or Schima noronhae. The naming of plants can be a fluid affair with reclassification happening often but schimas are more like quicksand than fluid – described by the most recent, authoritative tome on trees (New Trees) as simply a mess. What we do know is that it is that schima are a somewhat tender tree family from subtropical and tropical Asia and this particular specimen is rather large now. We live in a two storied house with reasonably tall gables but this tree is now closer to a third story level.

The little white 5-petalled flowers are pretty enough en masse this week, but it is the new growth at the end of October which I like more. The fresh young leaves are bright lime green and it is like a large beacon in the distance. Soon after the new leaves arrive, it drops all its old leaves in a whoosh. It is an evergreen – it is never totally bare, but most evergreen trees gently shed old leaves all the time, not in one hit. We have a number of schimas here (S.khasiana is even larger) but as far as we can make out, this one is S.noronhae. They belong to the theaceae family and are distant relatives of both camellias and gordonias. Schimas are commonly raised from seed – there don’t appear to be named clones yet though in time, no doubt there will be selections made to be grown by people with plenty of space and very mild conditions.

In the Garden: January 7, 2011

• Now is the time to get straight on to dividing and replanting autumn bulbs because they will be starting to come into growth very soon. Belladonna lilies and nerines both get planted with their necks above ground level. Cyclamen hederafolium (I spotted the first flower this week), sit just nestled into the soil, like round discs. Their roots and their flowers both come from the top so it does help to get them the right way up. Ornamental oxalis and colchicums (autumn crocus) are other common autumn bulbs to divide now.

• Summer is the best cherry pruning time to avoid the dreaded silver blight getting in to the cut surfaces. If you have a flowering cherry with patches which did not flower last spring and the leaves are clustered much more densely, you have witches broom which needs to be cut out before it takes over the entire tree. Unfortunately the very popular Prunus Awanui is susceptible to witches broom, as are many other ornamental cherries of the Japanese type.

• You can cut most hybrid clematis off close to the ground if they have finished flowering or are looking mildewed (powdery white leaves). Feed them, keep them watered and they will grow again and flower in six weeks. This works for most of the large flowered types.

Arum lilies may be prized as cut flowers overseas but one look at the root system shows why they are a noxious weed on the banned list here

Arum lilies may be prized as cut flowers overseas but one look at the root system shows why they are a noxious weed on the banned list here

• If your New Year’s resolution was to start a vegetable garden, start preparing the ground now for planting winter vegetables soon. It needs to be in full sun. If you make the effort to get the soil right, it will pay dividends. If you are starting with lawn or grass, skim off the turf before you start digging and stack it to one side to rot down. Then start digging, and digging again to get the soil light and friable. Add in compost or manure and then leave it all to settle, push-hoeing off any germinating weed seeds as they appear.

• Garlic can be harvested now, but leave onions until the tops turn brown and bend down. To store garlic for the rest of the year, it will need drying – plaiting and hanging is the traditional method but you can also lay it out in a well ventilated area. Super fresh garlic is delicious to use in cooking.

• Arum lilies are a menace and on the banned list. I dug out a few remnant plants of the green and white flowered form called Green Goddess. You can see in the photograph how the roots are a rhizome with a multitude of little round babies ready to detach from the main body and to grow. These need to removed from the site too or they will continue to cause problems. We put them out in the rubbish, rather than trusting to the composting process and I will keep checking the area on the look out for babies germinating.

A laissez-faire approach to summer care for apple trees

Step by step instructions for pruning apple trees in winter are available here.

1) Apple trees can survive and continue to crop despite total neglect, but you will get much better results if you give them some attention. This huge old Granny Smith apple tree has not been touched for many, many years and shows why it is better to start with grafted apples on dwarf root stock. This tree is destined to be cut out in favour of our smaller trees which are easier to care for.

2) Apple trees are currently sporting their new growth which shows as long leafy whips. It is this growth which will give replacement fruiting spurs next summer. Ideally, you should be replacing all fruiting spurs on a two to four year cycle – cutting out old clusters and allowing fresh ones to take their place.

3) Trim the long whips back to about half their length to encourage the fruiting spurs to develop. Surplus whips can be cut right back to a bunch of fruit. You want to keep the tree open and uncluttered to allow the fruit to ripen well.

4) If your apples are looking too bunched up, it is best to thin out the fruit so that those that remain will be better quality. The tree will drop some surplus fruit before it is ripe, but thinning ensures that you keep the best specimens and stops the weight from breaking branches. Cut off very small or deformed fruit, reducing bunches to between two and four fruit. Some people recommend taking out the centre apple from a bunch to give those around it room to develop fully.

5) Codling moth is the single biggest problem and the caterpillars can take out an entire crop if left unchecked. They burrow into the apple, leaving nasty black tunnels. It is too late this season to try organic controls (pheromone traps and collars on the trunk of the tree). You need to start earlier in spring. We are resorting to insecticide spray this year to try and break the cycle. December to February are the times for spraying. It is recommended that it be done fortnightly but we will only do it once or twice.

6) We do not carry out a rigorous spray programme so our trees show black spot, mildew, leaf curl and various other afflictions but we still get crops of apples. Traditional practice is to spray with both insecticide and fungicide every 10 to 14 days after the blossom petals have dropped until harvest – ask at your local garden centre for appropriate sprays. Spraying will give heavier crops of more attractive fruit but we are willing to trade that off by having additional trees and not spraying much at all. The leaf curl shown here is caused by a tiny orange midge and is easily dealt with by cutting off the tips of the branches and burning the leaves.

Tried and True – Helleborus orientalis

Helleborus orientalis - gentle and understated garden performers

Helleborus orientalis - gentle and understated garden performers

  • Winter flowering.
  • Require very little care and maintenance.
  • An undemanding plant for filling spaces.
  • Very hardy evergreen.

 

Helleborus orientalis are not from the exotic Orient. In fact they are native to areas of Turkey and Greece which may explain their tough constitution. They are often called winter roses, presumably because they flower in winter and are easy to grow. Their link to roses is as remote as their link to the Orient. They are an enormously obliging and gently understated plant, with pretty cup flowers which face downwards. These are not plants for deep shade – keep them to the margins of bush or woodland or even the open because they need reasonable light levels and can cope with full sun. Easy-care plant and leave specimens, they don’t appreciate being lifted and divided but are happy to be left to their own devices with the occasional feed.

There has been an explosion of different hellebore cultivars on the market in recent years, many of them orientalis hybrids. Some of the frilly doubles are very pretty, some are just average doubles. The really good dark maroon and slate colours will be better if you live inland and can give colder conditions. The simplest seedling forms are just single flowers in shades of pink, white and green, with or without freckles on the inside. Floating blooms in a glass bowl is the usual method of displaying them once cut.

Helleborus orientalis sets seed freely but the seed will not come true to its parent and you will get considerable variation. Push hoe or weed out surplus germinating seed to prevent too much competition. Aphids can make the spent flower head their home so it is often advisable to deadhead once at the end of the flowering season in spring. We cut off all the old foliage in mid autumn which gets rid of any lingering aphids and also exposes the pretty flowers to view before the fresh foliage appears.

Tikorangi notes: December 31, 2010

LATEST POSTS: Friday 31 December, 2010

1) A pink flowered cordyline from Australia – C.petiolaris in Plant Collector this week.

2) Decoding the jargon of garden design and probably ensuring that I remain off somebody’s Christmas card list – Abbie’s column.

3) Garden tasks this week including dealing with the explosion of blight and mildew we can expect with current high humidity levels.

The colours of a New Zealand Christmas - at least in the upper half of the North Island

The colours of a New Zealand Christmas - at least in the upper half of the North Island

TIKORANGI NOTES: Friday 31 December, 2010

The colours of a New Zealand Christmas – a clear blue sky and the red pohutukawa flowers. It was a bit of a close-run thing this year with a week of dreary weather and far too little sun in the lead-up, the roses taken out by too much rain and the Christmas lilies looking distinctly weather-marked but the day dawned fine and we could lunch outdoors.

After a visit to friend and colleague Glyn Church today, we are thinking that we should be using more hydrangeas in the summer garden, particularly the smaller growing lace-cap serrata types. Glyn has a fine collection of hydrangeas but it was the serrata that kept attracting our attention.