Tag Archives: gardening

Introducing Roma Red – our latest camellia

Roma Red - our first new camellia release for a decade

Roma Red - our first new camellia release for a decade

Camellia Roma Red in full bloom

Camellia Roma Red in full bloom

The first new camellia we have released for a number of years – in fact the first since Camellia Volunteer in 2001. Nobody could accuse us of naming and releasing new cultivars willy nilly. Roma Red has been a long time in the trialling process. The original plant is clipped as a lollipop standard and we have admired its good, red formal blooms for many years. Trials showed that it sets excellent flower buds on young plants and has pleasing compact growth. The flowers are formal and red – very red on the parent plant, tomato red even. In container grown plants, the red can take on a slightly coral tone but perfection is hard to find and we remain confident than when planted out, that true red will reign supreme.

Roma Red is available from selected independent garden centres this season or we have a few plants available here.

Tikorangi Notes: Monday 6 June, 2011

Latest Posts:
1) What does your lawn say about you? (Subtitled: a plea for sustainability in lawn management). Abbie’s column.

2) Plants that Delight – a reprint of an article featuring my seven favourite plants in the latest Weekend Gardener – although a cynic might suggest that this is in part the seven plants for which I had good photos. When Mark is asked what is his favourite plant/magnolia/michelia/camellia/rhododendron, he is inclined to reply: “Whichever is in flower this week.”

3) Tikorangi Diary No. 2. What we have been doing in the garden last week, including praise for our big walnut, Freshford Gem, and a lament for what has happened to the garden pages in our local paper. My ruggedly independent advice for garden tasks for the week has been replaced by garden tasks as recommended by a local garden centre: you need three different fertilisers when planting your roses. I have not heard of chitting garlic prior to planting before and you are meant to get out and spray all your deciduous plants with copper now to hasten leaf drop. We blenched at the prospect in a garden our size. Besides, I rather thought deciduous plants dropped their leaves when they were ready to. My beloved Plant Collector has been replaced by a shopping reporter. My columns and Outdoor Classroom have been replaced by low grade stories about people who have gardens of some description but no particular skills and no interesting insights. Sigh. Serves me right for having an argument with the deputy editor.

Luculia pinceana Fragrant Cloud

Luculia pinceana Fragrant Cloud

Tikorangi Notes: Sunday 5 June, 2011

How lovely is the luculia? Well relatively lovely if it is the garish little, candy pink Luculia gratissima Early Dawn and particularly lovely if it is the wonderful Luculia pinceana Early Dawn or Fragrant Pearl.  These somewhat tender Asian shrubs are a feature of our early winter garden.

Alas Mark found the first instance of camellia petal blight today – in a japonica. It seems to appear earlier every year. We have never seen it in sasanquas and I was a little surprised this week to hear of claims that in warmer climates, sasanqua camellias are susceptible. We would really like to hear confirmation from anybody who has actually seen it in sasanquas (as opposed to having heard reports of it). We had thought that these Japanese camellias were resistant. Blight has certainly never shown in ours and we are reasonably eagle-eyed on the matter.

What does your lawn say about you?

The front lawn - a support player, not the star

The front lawn - a support player, not the star

A gardening newsletter arrived this morning and it contained a quote: “Lawns, hedges and edges… these are what make a good garden.” No. I do not agree. Lawns, hedges and edges are what make a tidy garden and that is something entirely different.

The person being quoted was Sue Macfarlane of Winterhome Garden near Kaikoura. I have been to Winterhome and I really liked it. This was surprising because it is a garden which makes heavy use of low buxus hedges and I am not the world’s greatest fan of the use of this device to define spaces. But what I remember of Winterhome is the use of long vistas and enticing avenues which draw you down to explore with a sense of anticipation, which was well rewarded in this garden. There was a confident use of space and distinct changes of mood and style. It was carried off with panache.

But I don’t remember anything about the lawns at Winterhome and as far as I am concerned, that is entirely as it should be.

I do not understand the obsession with lawns in New Zealand. To me, it smacks of a suburban obsession which has nothing to do with gardening. When you visit a garden, if you remember the lawn it is for one of two reasons.

Either it is a rank and unkempt assemblage of ill cared for low growing green plants, probably infested with flat weeds and onehunga weed, desperately in need of some mowing, edging and a little weeding.

Alternatively, it is a pristine velvet sward of such immaculate perfection that it is a feature in itself. And to Mark and me, that is as bad as the unloved lawn. Perfection shouts: unsustainable garden practices! Heavy use of selective sprays! Unacceptable use of synthetic fertilisers! Summer watering which washes the chemicals even further afield! Removal of all clippings! Dethatching every year!

I remember interviewing for a commissioned piece, profiling a garden for a national publication. The owners were terribly proud of their lawn and claimed that garden visitors often said they wanted to take their shoes off and luxuriate in bare feet on the grass. I caught Mark’s sideways glance to me and later he expostulated: “You want to take your shoes off and expose your bare skin to the chemical cocktail on those lawns????”

In a good garden, as far as I am concerned, you should not notice the lawn. Grass is a bit player, the chorus line playing a support role. It is there to fill in spaces and to make the surroundings shine. Tiny town gardens may do away with lawns. My mother always dispensed with all grass but that was because she would rather garden than mow lawns and she never, ever, ever managed to get a rotary lawnmower started (not even a brand new one) so the only choices were a handmower or no lawns. She chose the latter. But in bigger gardens, grass gives a breathing space, a sense of open-ness and simplicity which is a sharp contrast to intensively planted areas. In a family garden, it is the place for the trampoline and the cricket or badminton set, or for the dogs to run.

According to “The Curious Gardener’s Almanac”, over three-quarters of the garden chemicals sold in Britain are for the improvement of lawns. That was in a 2006 publication. And the British are nowhere near as obsessed with lawn perfection as we are in NZ and also in USA so our percentage may even be higher. How can that be justified?

We have lawns here. In fact we have quite extensive lawns. The one in front of the house is substantially larger than a tennis court. We mow them religiously every week on the Rolls Royce of lawnmowers which cost more than our car (it is a Walker Mower from the US). But we use a mulcher deck on the mower. We do not remove the clippings so we do not need to pour fertilisers on to replace the goodness from the clippings stripped off. Mark will spray occasionally (very occasionally) and we try and keep the flat weeds and onehunga weed out, often by handweeding. Beyond that, as long as it stays green and cuts well, we can live with a bio-diverse green sward. And should we chose to gather our clippings, we could spread them in the vegetable garden without causing problems to tomatoes and capsicums (there is a good test for the toxicity of your lawn clippings).

We also have grass, as in our park. It has a major colonisation of daisies which look particularly pretty in flower in spring. And we have moss in shady areas. But all these grassy areas gives the framework and breathing space in the garden, obligingly filling their support role without wanting to be the main act.

The final words on lawns and grass belong to vintage Alan Titchmarsh – a doyen of English gardening. He published a seriously funny book in 1984, called “Avant –Gardening, A Guide to One-Upmanship in the Garden”. I inherited a copy from my late mother. I found a second copy for a friend, believe it or not, in a second hand bookshop on the Greek island of Patmos so clearly there are other copies kicking around in odd places. I am not sure aforementioned friend appreciated what a gem this book is but never mind. Of lawns, Titchmarsh wrote: “ Avant-gardeners do not have lawns; they have grass…. Gardeners with large plots should devote a good sized area to unmown grass where wild flowers and bulbs can be allowed to flourish. The more this site is criticised by tidy gardeners the better. A bit of name-dropping will get you out of tight corners. Try: “Christopher Lloyd does it at Dixter, you know.”

The trouble is that in this county, it is just as likely that your critic will never heard of Christopher Lloyd, let alone Alan Titchmarsh. But maybe we will come of age and review the elevated status we place on the unsustainable ideal of the perfect lawn.

Plants that Delight

This article was first published in the Weekend Gardener Magazine, issue 316, June 2 – 15, 2011

Bromeliads - a vriesea

Bromeliads - a vriesea

Bromeliads
Generally speaking, I am not a fan of prickly, spiky plants (I have always felt that yuccas in particular were aptly named) but I am willing to make an exception for the bromeliad family even though it means donning protective gear when it comes to working amongst them. We use them extensively in dry woodland conditions and for much of the year they just sit around being extremely undemanding, bar the occasional clean up to remove accumulated debris.

It is when they flower, that bromeliads look exotic. The range of blooms is extraordinary and there is nothing quite like them. Some of them have strange, flattish flowers which might be cast out of thick wax, dyed in parrot colours. What is more, the flowers last for ages. I haven’t timed them but we are into months, rather than weeks. This one is a vriesea of some sort but we have never become experts on the genus, despite growing a range of different ones. Our cool, frost free, high shade conditions keep them looking particularly lush. With some of our plantings dating back to the early 1950s, we would rate them as one of the lower maintenance garden plants.

Bromeliads are readily available and many are easy to multiply for the home gardener. If you want to learn more about bromeliads, check out “Bromeliads for the Contemporary Garden” by Weekend Gardener writer, Andrew Steens.

Meconopsis

Meconopsis

Meconopsis
The simplest poppy form – a mere four petals surrounding a ring of golden stamens – is always charming, no matter the colour. When it comes in pure blue, it enters a league of its own.

Coming from the Himalayas, these are plants which are happier in much drier, colder conditions. We have to work at keeping them going here, where we have high rainfall, high humidity and generally mild conditions. They certainly don’t seed down and naturalise for us as they will in parts of the South Island but when they come into flower each spring, it is worth every bit of effort.

We don’t generally let them flower in the first year because if they put their effort into setting seed, the young plants tend to die. If we delay the flowering, we have more chance of some at least becoming perennial, albeit still comparatively short lived. Fresh seed is easy enough to raise but best done in seed trays and not merely broadcast to the ground with a wish and a prayer.

Meconopsis are available in New Zealand both as seed and as plants. If you have a choice, Meconopsis x sheldonii shows a little more vigour than either grandis or betonicifolia. All come in blue, though there are also white, pale yellow and red meconopsis which are nice to add in to a garden but no replacement for the beautiful and eye-catching blue.

Magnolia Felix Jury

Magnolia Felix Jury

Deciduous magnolias
How could I be a Jury and not put deciduous magnolias in my top favourites? These trees are surely one of the most spectacular on the planet when in full flower, though it has to be said that the bigger the flower, the better in terms of impressive display.

Magnolia trees just get better with size and age which seems entirely appropriate for a genus which is ancient – so old that it does not even have proper petals. What we usually call petals are in fact tepals. They evolved before bees so originally adapted to be pollinated by beetles – hence the fact they have pollen but no nectar.

To get maximum flowering, select a variety which sets flower buds down the stem rather than just on the tips. Some varieties like the purple Lanarth can take your breath away but only for about 10 days. Others, like Iolanthe or Felix Jury, flower over many weeks, extending the display. Indeed, spring flowering on Iolanthe extends over at least eight weeks from first to last bloom and there is the bonus of random flowers over summer.

Daphne genkwa

Daphne genkwa

Daphne genkwa
A daphne with no scent? Yes, but it is so spectacular in flower that the absence of fragrance does not seem to matter. It is also deciduous, which we do not expect from a daphne and it flowers before it comes into leaf so all that is visible is a mass of graceful whips smothered in lavender blue flowers.
I think you can never have too much blue in a garden. It is a colour that complements all others and while I will admit that genkwa is not a pure toned blue, it is still blue enough for me.

D. genkwa is not easy to propagate and is generally increased from root cuttings. Neither is it easy to get established. In fact it is definitely on the touchy side. This plant was a particularly fine specimen but outgrew its allotted space so I pruned it after flowering, as you do. It promptly died, to my great disappointment. I am trying again, but this time as specimen shrubs with plenty of space to grow so they will not need to be pruned. Daphne genkwa is available in New Zealand but is not standard garden centre fare so you may need to find an obliging operator to order it in for you. It is a Chinese shrub and, being deciduous, it is generally rated as hardy.

Narcissus cyclamineus

Narcissus cyclamineus

Dwarf narcissi
In a large garden with some enormous trees, we love the tiny treasures that give detail to the bigger picture. We also have more success with the baby narcissus than with their larger cousins. They don’t seem to be quite so vulnerable to the dreaded narcissi fly, possibly because many of them flower earlier in the season.

These little cyclamineus seedlings always make us smile. With the reflexed skirt of petals, they are rather reminiscent of floppy eared dogs with the heads out the car window and ears streaming behind in the wind.

We grow a whole range of different dwarf varieties – species, named hybrids and unnamed seedlings, tucked into positions around the garden. The first to bloom are the Narcissus bulbocodium citrinus or hooped petticoat types which can show colour as early as late April while others continue the display through to late September. The best known dwarf variety is probably Tete-a- Tete, but there are innumerable others which are offered for sale from time to time.

Cyclamen hederafolium

Cyclamen hederafolium

Cyclamen species
These little treasures mostly hail from southern Europe and northern Africa but some varieties are particularly suited to New Zealand gardens.

The most widely available variety is Cyclamen hederafolium (formerly known as neapolitanum) which puts its first flowers up in our garden in January and flowers through until May or even June. After that, the marbled, heart-shaped leaves are attractive in themselves. C. hederafolium comes in shades of pink and pure white. Following on from them, we have a lot of success with C. coum in winter and C. repandum in spring.

Cyclamen are particularly successful planted in drifts on woodland margins in dappled light but they are pretty adaptable in a range of conditions as long as they have good drainage. They are easy enough to raise from fresh seed if you know of anybody with plants and they grow to form tubers which are like round, flattish discs.

Rhododendron Yvonne Scott

Rhododendron Yvonne Scott

Rhododendrons
Unfortunately, the glory days of rhododendrons have been and gone in this country, but we would not be without them in our garden. Our particular favourites are the nuttalliitypes with their large, waxy trumpet flowers, most of which are scented. Combine that with big, heavily textured leaves (the technical term is bullate foliage) and the most beautiful cinnamon brown bark which peels off in long tendrils leaving a shiny trunk behind.

Add in the fact that these plants show generally healthy characteristics in warmer climates. They can get a touch of thrip but nowhere near as much as colder climate plants and they are not susceptible to the brown crisping round the edges of the leaves which disfigures so many varieties.

If I could only grow one rhododendron, R. sino nuttallii would be my first choice. Sino just means it comes from China (there is another Himalayan form). Fortunately we can grow many so we have a fair range of the nuttalliis and their hybrids, including the lovely and distinctive Yvonne Scott. Huge lime green buds open to lime flowers which fade out to white within two days, but keep the green flare in the throat. Mi Amor is probably the most widely available nuttallii hybrid on the market. While we might not rate it as the best, nuttalliis are not readily available so you might have to grab whatever you can find.

Tikorangi Garden Diary number 2, June 3, 2011

A magic run of autumn weather has seen all three of us out in the garden every day. Temperatures remain very mild even though we are now technically in winter. I am nearing the end of my marathon on the Avenue Gardens – another two weeks of reasonable weather and it may be done. We are not big on measuring (and counting plants does not even enter our orbit – we can never believe people who boast that they have 245 roses or 415 rhododendrons. Who can be bothered counting?). But reading a brag book boast by somebody else, I had to pace out the Avenue Gardens to see if I was exaggerating my current task. It measures somewhere over 4300 square metres which I think converts to over an acre of intensive garden. No wonder it is a major task.

Dividing the streptocarpus

Dividing the streptocarpus

Today has been lifting and dividing streptocarpus – members of the gesneriad family. We are not big on bedding plants here but the streptocarpus survive well in reasonably hard, woodland conditions. They have tiny root systems and seem to muddle on very successfully despite benign neglect so I am hoping they may thrive in freshly tilled soils. They are frost tender and more commonly grown as house plants (like their siblings, gloxinias) but add a touch of the exotic as garden plants.

Mark has been doing a weeding round. He is the Chief Weed Controller here and takes his role very seriously. In a large garden, weed control is the first line of defence against the encroaching wilderness that hovers forever on the boundary, waiting to make inroads. We admit to using glyphosate. There is no way we could maintain the garden without it. The push hoe is fine in summer for the veg garden and for emergency intervention, but glyphosate is indispensable. Mark lives in fear that research may one day rule that it is unsafe, but as long as we can believe that it is not an environmental threat, we will continue its use. The aim here is always to avoid any going to seed. Good weed spraying should be as close to invisible as possible, which means getting the weeds when they have just germinated and never, but never, spraying edges. Various edging tools were designed to get clean, crisp edges, not weedkiller which leaves an unsightly dead fringe.

Bigger is better when it comes to walnuts. Standard walnuts to the right, what we think is Freshford Gem to the left

Bigger is better when it comes to walnuts. Standard walnuts to the right, what we think is Freshford Gem to the left

We are drying walnuts and have a good crop from our large walnut this season. As far as we know, it is Freshford Gem, an Australian selection. It is far more rewarding to work with big nuts, rather than the standard size so if you have a choice when it comes to buying trees, chose the ones that boast very large individual nuts.

I was just ever so slightly put out this morning to read the garden pages of our local paper (until last week, I contributed the bulk of copy) and to see that my beloved Plant Collector column has been replaced with indecent haste – by a shopping reporter. Sigh. Gone is the freedom I had to write about any interesting or appealing plant, regardless of whether it was available to purchase or not. Now garish synthetic clogs are the order of the day. It must be a sign of the times. The Philistines have taken over.