Tag Archives: Abbie Jury

Blighted!

Fortunately not our garden, but it has been pretty discouraging for the friends whose garden it is. Buxus blight on the rampage.

Fortunately not our garden, but it has been pretty discouraging for the friends whose garden it is. Buxus blight on the rampage.

I am not the world’s greatest fan of buxus hedging. But I have some sympathy for the multitude of gardeners who are watching their prized box hedges turn brown. Judging by the Google search terms, it is an alarmingly common problem at the moment. “My buxus has no leaves. Is it dead?” Basically, yes. Buxus is an evergreen plant which never loses all its leaves. “Buxus turning brown.” It is dying. If it is any consolation, Prince Charles is reportedly having the same problem at Highgrove.

The problem is buxus blight – cylindrocladium. It is a fungus so it spreads by spore and it has dispersed extensively across the globe. It is particularly troublesome because it is not affected by temperature – hot or cold, its progress is undeterred, particularly in wet or humid conditions. I have yet to see any information on how far the spore can be carried by wind but it is more likely to be kilometres rather than metres. So unless you are in the country, isolated from other buxus, odds on that your buxus will become infected sooner or later, if it isn’t already. You will know if you have it. The leaves turn brown and fall off and it can spread rapidly. Left to follow its natural course, it is generally terminal.

You can treat buxus blight but you don’t seem to be able to eradicate it. This means you will have to continue treating it for the life of the plants. The best you can hope is to hold it at bay because the spore can survive for a year, maybe two, on the dead leaves and I defy anybody to succeed in removing every single blighted leaf.

A blight upon your buxus

A blight upon your buxus

If you are going to try and salvage your existing buxus, first up you need to thin and clean out the accumulated debris. I am well aware that this is easier said than done, especially when you have a mature hedge which has become so dense you can almost sit on it. A blower vac is pretty much the one only way to go with blasting out the debris, which must then be removed. And thinning is a painstaking task with secateurs. What you are trying to do is to enable the leaves to shed water as quickly as possible and to allow more air movement. These techniques may slow the spread but they won’t treat the existing condition. You will have to spray. It is a fungus, so you need an anti fungal spray. I don’t know of any specific sprays developed to target this condition, but any of the broad spectrum fungicides might work. Anecdotally, I am told that copper works but I am guessing that you have to get it in the early stages for copper and you may have to spray more frequently.

The bottom line is whether you are willing to commit to repeated spraying to save your buxus hedge. For us, the unequivocal answer is no. We just think it is really bad environmental practice. There is evidence that repeated use of copper is not good for the soils. Amongst other things, it kills earth worms which leads to soil compaction and copper residue is cumulative over time. An occasional application is fine, but committing to ongoing spraying is different. Besides, the whole thing about buxus was that it required minimal maintenance – a clip twice a year kept it in shape. Would you choose it knowing that it requires frequent spraying just to keep it alive?

Suffruticosa (the very low growing baby one) appears to be the worst hit, probably because it is the densest grower. Sempervirens is also badly affected and that is by far the most common form around. Be wary of advice that the Asian forms from Japan and Korea don’t get blight. They are Buxus microphylla and microphylla var. koreana or Buxus sinica. Being larger leaved and a little more open in growth, they may shed the water more quickly and be less affected but overseas research says that no buxus species are immune.

It should be pretty obvious at this point that there is no point whatever in taking out affected plants and replacing them with fresh ones of the same variety. The problem is not the individual plants – it is the fungal spores swirling around.

As if the news of buxus blight is not bad enough, there is a further quandary when it comes to a substitute. Put simply, there is no like for like swap. Space does not allow me to look at the alternatives here, but if you want to know more, you will find some options on Buxus Alternatives for Garden Hedges. The bottom line is that there is no other single option which is cheap to buy, grows in sun and shade, has good dark green colour, will re-sprout from bare wood and only requires clipping once or twice a year. Personally, I think it is an opportunity to stand back and rethink garden designs which have leaned far too heavily on defining form by endless box hedging and I will return to this theme in the future.

If you haven’t got buxus blight, be grateful and be vigilant.

(first published in the Waikato Times and reproduced here with their permission)

Grow it Yourself – Florence fennel or finocchio

In this country we have been a bit slow to catch on to the European favourite of finocchio or Florence fennel and it is only very recently that it has sometimes become available at the fruit and veg counter. But we rate it very highly as a crop to grow at home and regard it somewhat like celery to eat (which is not at all easy to grow well). It can be finely sliced or grated and eaten raw in salads, it is delicious roasted whole like a parsnip or used in stirfries. It is genuinely versatile and has a good crisp texture raw or lightly cooked without the strong aniseed aroma of the seeding fennel (which is foeniculum vulgare). Florence fennel is foeniculum vulgare azoricum and it produces a fleshy, bulbous base to the stems. This is the section that is eaten.

It is not difficult to grow and it holds well in the garden. As with most vegetables, it needs to be sown into well cultivated soil in full sun. As it germinates, thin out the baby plants to about 20cm spacings. The thinnings can be eaten as fresh greens. Seed sown now will be ready to harvest in summer. We usually sow again between the end of January to early March for winter harvest. It is pretty forgiving as a crop so timing is not critical but seeds sown from late October onwards will tend to bolt too quickly in summer, before they have formed the edible bulb. However, if those plants are cut back and left, they will come again and be edible the following winter. The fluffy green tops look similar to ordinary fennel but lack its flavour so are really only good for a garnish. If you can’t find seed at your garden centre, try Kings Seeds or Italian Seeds Pronto who both have websites for on line ordering.

(first published in the Waikato Times and reproduced here with their permission)

The constructions at Paloma

First printed in the Weekend Gardener issue 322 and reproduced here with their permission.

Clive Higgie and his slightly surprising small companion, the irrepressible Pablo.

Clive Higgie and his slightly surprising small companion, the irrepressible Pablo.

Over the years, Clive and Nicki Higgie have amassed one of this country’s foremost collections of plants and turned them into a remarkable garden at Fordell, near Wanganui. With his farming background, Clive is both practical and innovative and enjoys turning his hand to both construction and sculptural installations for the garden. He is not afraid to mix and match different styles and the results can be both surprising and original.

Some of Clive’s work is edgy, even flamboyant, and pushes boundaries in unexpected ways. A plain board fence at the entrance has been transformed into a statement by using witty wall writing – it is rather too whimsical and well executed to be described as graffiti.

The seating deck built out over the large pond area is also a little edgy. There is something a little insecure about sitting in such an exposed position even if the water is shallow. Clive says he made a few design mistakes on this small platform, particularly making it so low that leaves accumulate below the deck. Clive also constructs the seats. He calls them his Barebum Chairs, which I originally misread as Ba-ree/-bum.

The boathouse is a work in progress. Showing typical ingenuity, Clive has used a concrete water tank as foundations for the structure. The roof is made from fibreglass matting coated with acrylic while the balls are ceramic.

The Iona Cross is distinctly monumental construction made by Clive, standing nearly two and a half metres tall. It is concrete and was poured flat before being moved to its location. By contrast, the Polynesian influenced vertical panel was boxed up and poured in its final location. These are just two of a series of installations surrounding his earth labyrinth which reference the ancestry of Clive and Nicki’s first grandchild.

Paloma Six

Clive is pleased with his recent constructions of simple concrete plinths. “I add a bit of oxide to colour the concrete and to stop it being that glaring white of fresh concrete. I really like the plinths. Sometimes a small vase or sculpture can get lost in a garden setting but the plinths make them stand out.”

The ribbed pillars have a clear debt to ancient times but have been created using labour saving modern techniques. The mould was simply a product called baby iron (small profile corrugated iron) bent in a circle and filled with concrete. These have reinforcing rods down the centre and are boxed up and poured in their final location.

Paloma orange

Elsewhere in the garden, Clive has made extensive use of pillars constructed from terracotta field tiles. He first saw the technique used at Tupare in New Plymouth. He explains: “The pipes are irregular so I mortared them together before filling them with concrete. The mortar joins give structural strength. They didn’t do that at Tupare and many of their pipes had cracked and split.”

Not all construction is in concrete. Clive used ponga longs of irregular shapes and sizes to build a simple stumpery installation. The pongas vary from waist height to around 3 metres.

In his new Garden of Death, his friend, sculptor Steuart Welch, made the hanging crucibles which he calls Dracula pots. Clive has filled them with bleached animal skulls to complement the theme of the garden which is based around the social history of poisonous plants.

The attractive large planters came from a quarry stone crusher and, originally, the smooth sided bowl fitted inside the ribbed one, breaking large stones down to form road gravel. Being magnesium steel, they were of no scrap value but now contain large plantings of ornamental oxalis.

Clive is pleased with his simple solution for the side gate leading from the lower garden to the Matchless Arboretum. Because sheep graze beneath the trees, it is important that the gate be kept closed. A simple system of a counterweight pulls it shut behind visitors.

Paloma Gardens are open to the public all year round. For further information, check out their website: http://www.paloma.co.nz, email clive.nicki@paloma.co.nz or phone 06 342 7857 For my earlier story on Paloma, check Breaking the Mould of the Modern New Zealand Garden – the Dreams at Paloma.

Ideas to Import

Simple ideas from English gardens. First printed in the Weekend Gardener, issue 321 August 25 to September 7 and reprinted here with their permission.

Lutyens steps at Hestercomb

Lutyens steps at Hestercomb

Lutyens steps at Great Dixter

Lutyens steps at Great Dixter

Nobody does statement garden steps quite like the great English architect Edwin Lutyens did. Outward facing semi circles lead you into the steps from both sides with the transition of a full circle in the centre. These examples are from Hestercomb and Great Dixter.

Discreet and informal seating for up to seven people in the outer reaches of the garden at Helmingham Hall. The tree trunk sections are set at the same height and backed by an informal brush barrier which frames the seating area. The view from the seating area is across a recent freeform earth feature towards the Tudor deer park.

The simple device of subtly shaping the cross beams of this pergola at Hestercomb gives a lighter, more graceful effect as well as guiding the eye down the long view.

It is clear that this path is closed in Beth Chatto’s garden and the use of fresh saplings (probably hazel) forms a discreet visual barrier. Traditionally, English gardeners have used stakes and supports in their natural form, harvested from their own property, rather than the common use of imported bamboo, tantalised timber or metal stakes used in New Zealand.

A rustic, low wooden fence built like a gate is an attractive, permanent means of holding back the floppy growth from falling over the narrow paths at Great Dixter.

Using small, square cobbles makes the most of what is otherwise a rather insignificant small stream at Lamorran Garden in Cornwall.

Adding a return to this seat at Great Dixter makes it a generous and attractive feature rather than just another wooden garden seat. It does not, however, increase the seating capacity.

A short lesson in hooping, no less

Hooping the long whips on the apple trees

Hooping the long whips on the apple trees

Many woody plants concentrate their hormones at the tips of branches. If you bend the branch closer to the horizontal, then the hormones which lead to flowering are more evenly dispersed along the length which encourages the growth buds lower down to flower and grow.

Our Friend of the Garden, Colin, braved the snow and frost this week to come and stay and he has pruned the apple trees. He has hooped over some of the long whips to encourage the plant to push out growth buds along the length, which should result in the production of stronger fruiting spurs to replace old, spent spurs.

Hooping roses which put out long growths increases the flowering markedly. It is a technique I first saw done at Ayrlies Garden (back in the days when Neil Ross was head gardener there). It takes up a lot of space but is worth the effort. I tie the long whips down to wire hoops in the garden. Many of the David Austin roses put out long whips which are ideal for hooping.

Hooping the roses to maximise flowering this season

Hooping the roses to maximise flowering this season


Using a simple wire hoop to tie down the long rose whips

Using a simple wire hoop to tie down the long rose whips

It is of course the same principle as using espalier techniques to increase cropping. Espalier is not just a space saving exercise in keeping plants as close to flat as possible. It can also maximise fruit yields in a restricted space. You need to make sure that ties are flexible so they don’t cut in and damage the branches – stockinette or similar. The apple hoops were secured with a tapener or tying machine which staples a small piece of flexible plastic tape in place.

Postscript: A man on a mission, Colin is now hooping the raspberries. This is a particularly strong growing variety and this hooping is in part to keep the growth under control and to prevent them making an escape out the top of the raspberry cage. It should also make picking easier.

Any woody plants which make long, whippy growths can be hooped to maximise flowering and fruiting. Colin, a retired horticulturist of vast experience, assures me that when it comes to fruiting plants, the redistribution of the plant’s hormones achieved through hooping encourages leaf buds to form flower buds as well which increases potential fruit yield.

A man on a mission, Colin is now hooping the raspberries

A man on a mission, Colin is now hooping the raspberries