After my tongue in cheek column about glow in the dark plants, scientist daughter has been emailing me information about the fluorescent protein. Bottom line is, dear Reader, the technology is here and is already routine in genetics. Not perhaps for a low tech plant breeder in Tikorangi, but the fluoro green pigs in Taiwan were pretty amazing. Green all through too, even to their internal organs. Zebra fish are now available overseas in genetically modified, iridescent pink, glow in the dark stripes. All from a gene isolated from jellyfish which converts to a protein and allows the development of a range of different colours. I mention this in case you don’t like green.

Before you throw your hands in the air in horror, the advantage of a fluoro green pig is in tracking the development of new cells (medical research of huge potential for many people) without having to resort to invasive techniques on live pigs. So there are pros and cons of glow in the dark piggies though I suspect a glow in the dark zebra fish is solely of novelty value, just as a glow plant would be.

But back to nature in our own garden. Some years ago, I landed the task of writing garden descriptions for nigh on seventy different gardens which stretched my vocabulary somewhat. Leaving aside the plethora of tranquil havens and peaceful retreats, a very large number of gardens wanted to highlight their birdsong. I recall having a discussion as to whose gardens in particular we would allow to include birdsong as a special feature, given that it did not seem to be unique at all. When Mark read of a garden proudly proclaiming over 30 different bird songs, he spent some time listing all the ones we have and came up well short, even when he cheated and included birds that do not sing.

But how many gardens have a family of resident moreporks? We have been delighted this week to have a family of five take up residence in one of our trees. Momma, poppa and the three young ones hang out together during the day in the castanospermum (commonly referred to as the Moreton Bay chestnut). While the parents sleep, the young ones are wide eyed and nervous, watching us watching them. Moreporks are as cute as any owl with their great big eyes giving them a perpetually startled appearance and their round, fluffy bodies. We are entranced. In the evening they fly around catching moths and if you watch a lighted window long enough, you may see the flash of wings as they swoop in to catch the fluttering prey. In the day they just hang about, their mere presence upsetting the tuis and other birds which fly under their roosting tree. You can hear their agitated chatter.

In our park, Mark is keeping a watchful eye on a nesting kereru. These clumsy big birds appear to have small brain power (dinosaurs of the ornithological world?) and are remarkably useless at building secure nests and raising young successfully. For years, Mark has been attempting to gently protect nesting wood pigeons and this year’s family is no exception. They have a flimsy nest built at eye level in a large holly bush and as it is highly likely that the baby will fall out and land on the ground sooner, rather than later, Mark has constructed a fence to protect it from predators. Festoons of bird netting a safe distance out, supported by poles and pegged to the ground will be sufficient, he hopes, to keep out rats, our lethargic ginger cat, wild cats and other predators for long enough to enable him to carry out a rescue should it be necessary.

This security netting took him the better part of half a day to install. As it is white bird netting, he came up feeling rather pleased that he had created something that reminded him a fairy castle. I went to have a look and it reminded me more of a shroud. Garden visitors assumed it was something to do with gathering the seed of the plant it surrounded. Baby kereru is now on the move. It can’t fly yet but it hops around the tree so is highly likely to end up on the ground soon. Maybe the combined efforts of its parents and Mark will keep it alive long enough to achieve independence.

We have yet to find where the quail are nesting but Mark is worried because they make nests on the ground and he envisages a distressing flurry of loose feathers should we get them with the weed eater. Commonly referred to as Californian quail, we have welcomed a resident pair into our garden. Not only are they endearingly attractive but their sounds of communication are gentle on the ear. We would be delighted if the population increased. We haven’t had resident quail in the garden for many years so the continued survival of this pair is a hopeful sign that the predator population is not too bad.

The rosellas may have signed their death warrants. Bright and attractive they may be with their jewel like plumage as they flash through the trees, but the news from a colleague that they ate every single bud of his Magnolia Vulcan this year did not endear them to us at all. New Zealand may rue the day that these Aussie imports were allowed to get well established in the wild here. And while their death warrants may be signed, how to carry out the executions is a different matter altogether. They are very quick birds.

While we would love to have a resident kaka, our friend and colleague at Oakura is rueing the presence of one in his garden. This particular visitor clearly disapproves of the introduction of exotic species. It has inflicted considerable damage ripping off large chunks of bark from rare conifers. We think we could forgive it, should it decide to move to our garden. These very rare birds have an amazing call but are seldom seen on the lowlands.

If you want to read a little more about the glow in the dark pigs, go to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4605202.stm

Garden ornamentation is a matter of personal taste. It is a pretty clear statement about the owner, just as the interior of somebody’s home gives a very good indication of the personalities and interests of those who live there.

I talked about my conversation with the landscaper in a recent column where he gave me food for thought on relationships of space and gardens. Another comment he made also made me stop and think. Waving an arm airily down a potential vista, he threw off the comment, “and you need a focal point at the end. A plant will not give a strong enough focal point.”

Hmmm. I know what he means. It is hard to get a plant which makes a strong visual statement twelve months of the year. But we struggle here with dropping inorganic focal points into our garden.

We have had many conversations about sculpture in gardens. There are a number of gardens around the country which feature sculpture and some where an annual exhibition of sculpture is a major visitor drawcard. A piece of sculpture can certainly provide an instant focal point and there are any number of splendid garden photographs which focus on examples of this.

It is just not a look we favour personally. A splendid piece of sculpture shouts “Look at me! Look at me!” The garden and the plants become support players to this new star. We are happy to see the garden as the stage, but prefer special plants to be the stars. Ornamentation we see as part of the stage setting or, to extend the theatre analogy, as taking on a cameo character role. So we are more likely to drop it discreetly into the undergrowth so it is a surprise discovery.

It is, as I started, all a matter of personal taste.

Mark’s rule of thumb is that any garden feature should have a logical sense to it and an appropriate identity. So a gazebo or summerhouse should be in a place where the owner is most likely to use it which may not be where the designer might think it will look best as a feature. Similarly, seats should be in the best locations for sitting which is not necessarily the same thing as being in the best locations as focal points. For the same reason, Mark opposes using ornamentation which is a direct copy of overseas styles in our garden. Too derivative. So we will not be getting Italianate statues, Asian figurines or Grecian urns. He wants carefully chosen pieces which are relevant to us and to the country we live in. So we remain steadfastly in the “less is more” school of garden ornamentation at this time.

Readers who have the October issue of the New Zealand Gardener to hand might have noticed the photo feature entitled “Pastoral Artistry”. I really like the large black spider’s web with paua shellls shown in a Paekakariki garden. It was created from a coil of black rope found washed up on the local beach and is now a garden feature well anchored in its local environment. I also like the windy wandy bullrush sculptures shown, just as I have always admired the nikau sculptures outside Wellington City Council even if the other half’s response was to ask why I might want bronze nikaus when we have plenty of the real thing.

But no matter where your personal taste lies, there are some standard guidelines for the use of ornamentation in gardens. Placement – if you are going to create a feature or a focal point it needs to be in a position that justifies being highlighted. And the object that is the feature also needs to justify its existence by being worthy of being made into a star attraction.

Stark white and bright colours look best in cutting edge, new or hard edged gardens. They just look garish in older, softer gardens whereas they can look dramatic in more contemporary settings.

Wit and whimsy are great if they are one-off, original wit and whimsy. Take a look at Paloma Garden in Wanganui for genuinely creative wit and whimsy. But anything mass produced, by definition, is not original and is unlikely to be creative. You can not expect to buy quirkiness at the Warehouse.

Ornamentation used to be the preserve of the well heeled and rank and file garden owners simply could not afford it thirty years ago. Now every man and their dog has big pots everywhere, repro classical sculptures and garden seats – some more stylish than others. In this embarrassment of riches, it is really hard to predict what will become the valued antiques of the future, but we would hazard a guess that in New Zealand gardens, it will be ornamentation that reflects our own country and style, not that copied from overseas.

By ABBIE JURY

When I went into print a couple of years ago being very critical of Maggie’s Garden Show on TV, it frankly never occurred to me that the replacement programme that was to come could be so much worse.

Ground Force, the new Friday night gardening show, makes us think that maybe Maggie Barry was all that stood between us and the philistines and we should thank her in retrospect for attempting to keep some hint of horticultural merit.
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