Tag Archives: Taranaki gardens

Plant Collector – Prunus campanulata

It took many attempts to capture the tui in the campanulata cherry

It took many attempts to capture the tui in the campanulata cherry

The cherry trees which have been in flower in recent weeks are the campanulata or Taiwanese cherries. Sometimes you will still see them referred to as Formosan cherries which may require a lesson in history for anybody under the age of about 60. True, the colours can be a little harsh in carmine pink, cerise and sugar-candy pink tones but on a bleak early spring day, who is going to quibble about the mass of flowers which appear on bare branches? The biggest bonus of the campanulatas is their attraction to tui who feed on the nectar. Our native birds are wonderfully unconcerned about whether or not their food sources are indigenous plants. We can have upwards of 30 tui bickering and squabbling for territory in a single tree, but they don’t stay still long enough to count accurately.

Campanulata cherries are not as hardy as the later flowering Japanese types but this is rarely a problem except in the coldest parts of the country. They are also more disease resistant and healthier in our climate and don’t succumb to the dreaded witches broom which can be a problem in other types. If you plant several (and being a tree of light stature, they are easy to fit in alongside other trees), you can have them flowering in succession over many weeks which keeps the tui at home. The big disadvantage is that many forms set seed freely and germinate readily. They are such a problem that they are on the banned list in Northland unless it is a known sterile form which doesn’t set seed. If you border native bush or a national park, make sure you search out forms advertised as sterile but otherwise you just have to be vigilant with your weeding.

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

Snow!

A blizzard, we decided yesterday morning

A blizzard, we decided yesterday morning


Mark's very small snowman

Mark's very small snowman

Yesterday it snowed. We were simply astounded. For years, I have been saying it never snows here and until yesterday, it never had – not in Mark’s memory or indeed in the time of his late father so that has 100 years covered. A little of it even settled on the ground, albeit for a couple of hours only. Mark was so excited he rushed out to make a snowman. A friend scoffed at the photo on Facebook, saying it is the smallest snowman she has ever seen (he did not have a lot of snow to work with!) but at least it fits in the deep freeze and Sydney-based daughter thought we could bring it out at Christmas.

Today it is just very cold. We think there must have been some overnight snow, judging by the white dusting on the roof tiles but on the ground, it is more about ice and frost. More snow is possible, according to the forecast. There will be damage in the garden – none of our material is hardened off to very cold temperatures but at this stage it does not look devastating. The same can not be said about the nursery remnants we still have. Most of it is under shade cloth but that has not been enough protection for the vireya rhododendrons (badly hit by the severe frost last week and no doubt even sadder after the last two days). We are philosophical – we used to produce about 4000 vireyas at a time for sale – which meant up to 10 000 plants of various ages and stages on the floor of the nursery. There are maybe 100 now which look burned and crispy. The palms are also deeply unhappy with the conditions. Mark’s precious large Caryota (fishtail palms), the Dypsis baronii and many others show damage, but should not be fatally chilled.

So much for global warming. I think we already knew it meant more extreme weather events rather than rising temperatures! The novelty of a winter chill and a one-off event of snow may wear off very quickly indeed.

Snow, not frost, in the front garden

Snow, not frost, in the front garden

Tikorangi Notes: Thursday August 12, 2011

Signs of spring - the campanulata cherries are in flower

Signs of spring - the campanulata cherries are in flower

Technically it is still winter here but we are rocketing into full spring and the garden is looking very colourful. The campanulata cherries are opening and at times can appear to be dancing with the movement of the nectar feeding tui. They don’t sit still for long enough to count (and are very difficult to photograph because they move so quickly but we do seem to have them by the score (as opposed to just a few).

Beautiful but the flowers are too floppy

Beautiful but the flowers are too floppy

More magnolias are opening by the day as are spring bulbs and even the early rhododendrons. The early white michelias are flowering. We have rows of these and they look splendid and smell divine. But Mark is very picky. There is only room to name one, or maybe two at the most, and plants such as the one in the photograph are destined forever to be just part of our windbreak hedges. Its flowers are simply too floppy. The cultivars Mark selected for further trialling and the one that has been selected for release in the next year or two have much cleaner flowers which are displayed well. They are a big improvement with blooms which hold up and show excellent form.

The garden is open now but if you wait another week or so, there will be a better display of magnolias out. Mind you, the snowdrops will have finished by then but other spring bulbs are opening day by day. For us, this is a time of year we glory in. For details on plant sales this week (personal customers only, though we will hold orders for later collection if they are prepaid) click through to Tikorangi Diary.

Tikorangi Notes: Thursday July 29, 2011

New Zealand Woman's Weekly on magnolias - Burgundy Star, Black Tulip and Fairy Magnolia Blush in the photos

New Zealand Woman's Weekly on magnolias - Burgundy Star, Black Tulip and Fairy Magnolia Blush in the photos

I think I have only bought the NZ Woman’s Weekly twice in my life – both times because I knew gardening stories of interest to us were included. It bills itself as “NZ’s No.1 Royal Mag” and I just think I am not amongst their target demographic. But it is very popular so the colourful double page spread on magnolias this week, written by Denise Cleverley, was gratifying to see, given that it focuses quite heavily on our Jury magnolias.

Schefflera septulosa - distinctly worse for the frost

Schefflera septulosa - distinctly worse for the frost

An abnormally heavy frost this week has left us ruefully contemplating the damage. In colder climates, plants are better acclimatised to lower temperatures but here it tends to be so mild that they are not hardened off and extreme events can cause a lot of damage. How much is damage which the plants will outgrow and how much is loss by death will become clearer soon. It is not so bad in the garden where there is a lot of protection afforded by the trees but under the shade cloth in the nursery and out in the open, it is a bit of a sorry sight. Schefflera septulosa does not normally sport the brown velvet look. I think Mark ranks it as the second worst frost he has ever seen here – a ground frost of around -5.5 degrees.

Mark has been experimenting in his glasshouse with passive heating. He hopes to apply this on a larger scale in the near future (I think this means a much larger glasshouse in a new location) partly because he is determined to grow more tropical fruit including his beloved pineapples. He has moved in some largish containers of water and has built a compost heap from dung and straw in the glasshouse. Fortunately it no longer smells and it does appear it is working to raise the temperature and to prevent it losing all the heat overnight. I am just looking forward optimistically to future harvests.

The white sapote - now a winter fruit staple here

The white sapote - now a winter fruit staple here

However, we don’t need a glasshouse for the white sapote or casimiroa edulis which we can grow in a protected position outdoors and which rewards us with a very good crop of ripe fruit in mid winter. They have the texture of a ripe rock melon and taste a little like vanilla custard – delicious.

The weekly blurb on plant sales highlights Hippeastrum aulicum this week (I felt the need of something bright and cheerful on the coldest day of the year) and one of my most favourite camellias – dainty little C. minutiflora.

And on a very cheerful note, yesterday I was offered a new garden writing contract. Not with our local paper, the Taranaki Daily News, which is determined to press on without me but that is fine because the new contract offers a much better platform. Until it is signed and sealed, I won’t say with whom but it feels good to be back in the mode of thinking about regular contributions and deadlines. It will be three pieces a week which will then appear as a regular feature on our website.

Tikorangi Notes: July 18, 2010

Magnolia Black Tulip is just starting to open

Magnolia Black Tulip is just starting to open

Latest posts:

1) Clean and green in New Zealand? Not as much as we claim and, alas, not at all if you look at the common treatment of our rural road verges.

2) Digging and dividing clivias – one in the Outdoor Classroom series of step by step guides.

3) Mid winter photos – on our new Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/thejurygarden I have to admit, however, that I have not been out with the camera on the rain sodden days when we threaten to wash away and there have been rather a lot of those lately. We had a massive 237ml in June alone (or about 9½ inches for those still on imperial measurements) and we won’t be far off that in the first half of this month. Our winters can be wet. But the snowdrops don’t mind and it has only been the two hailstorms that have damaged the early magnolia blooms.

4) Nothing whatever to do with gardening (but I am guessing some readers also have other interests), I have just launched a separate website devoted to book reviews of a non gardening nature: www.runningfurs.com For some years, I have reviewed books, firstly for the Taranaki Daily News but these days for the Waikato Times. I have always had a particular interest in children’s books and in New Zealand fiction. I went back to the children’s books a few years ago because I thought we might be lucky enough to receive the gift of a grandchild at some time in our lives and our book collection could do with updating. There is no sign of any grandchildren any time soon, but I keep the best books and pass on the others. These reviews, along with a few on books for adults, did not sit with the gardening websites so I have not done anything with them before. But the advent of The Naughty Corner by Colin Thompson made me want to table these reviews for others – it is quite the funniest picture book I have read in a long time.