Friday 15th May, 2026
Hi
Time for (a) change
Leaves are falling by the wheelbarrow full; both at home and here at the nursery. I love the slowing pace of life that autumn heralds as the trees and shrubs begin to fade and move to slumber in the winter. It makes me think of time to gather with friends and family as nights draw in and life slows its pace after the hectic months of summer. It's long walks with extra layers and fireside chats, firewood chopping and stacking. It's trimming and tidying in the garden with less time to spend on weeding and more on planting, planning and moving.
As our house has sold we are planning our move, and luckily have timed it well so that we can move a couple of plants with sentimental value to take with us. For smaller plants this can be as simple as digging the entire thing up to put into a pot, container or to heel in (bury in a shallow hole so roots are covered) in an unused area of the garden. At the nursery, our suppliers are lifting roses, fruit and ornamental trees at present for dispatch to us over the next few months. They often heel the plants in to protect their roots from drying out before they are dispatched. Here's a link to what that looks like at
Matthews Nursery. We are expecting some fabulous roses from Matthews this season.
"Fall, Leaves, Fall" a poem by Emily Brontë
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
If you have been looking at a certain plant in your garden and wondering if you can move it then the answer is...probably! Now's the time to consider if you would like to reposition some of your roses, shrubs and perennials. Most plants experienced slowed growth over autumn, so you can safely dig them out and reposition them. The key is to ensure that you get as much of a root system as possible and keep the root ball moist at all times. Watering before, during and after you move is helpful.
Another way to reduce the shock which plants experience when their roots are cut, is to use a product called
Vaporgard. Useful for evergreen plants in particular, this is a plant-based solution which you spray on the leaves of the plant (both sides) and it creates a see through film which reduces the water lost from transpiration without stopping photosynthesis. This is a great little item to help with protection from frost too, which is front of mind at the nursery at present. We use
Vaporgard on our citrus and a few other frost sensitive plants and the rest we cover with
Frost Cloth. The cloth provides a layer of air to protect the plant cells from freezing as the cell is mostly water and, as your Year 10 child can tell you, water expands when it freezes. Expanding cells can lead to exploding cells and is bad news for your plant. So, cover, spray or move your precious ones before Jack frost strikes.
Flax/Phormium
You may think that there is not much more to know about one of New Zealand's most common plants - the humble
Flax (Phormium), but you've got another think coming! Did you know that there are actual two types of flax grown world wide and our kiwi flax is not the same as the one in Europe, America and Asia which produces flax or linseed? Our kiwi version, also called harakeke, was named flax by early settlers because it looked similar to the one they were familiar with, but local Māori had been utilising flax for generations for weaving: clothing, mats, plates, baskets, ropes, bird snares, lashings, fishing lines and nets. The main benefit is the strength of its fibres, but these days you can see flax used in soaps, hand creams and shampoos. Historically, flax root juice was used as a disinfectant.
Plant breeders caught onto the fact that this plant was universally successful in growing throughout New Zealand and adaptable to many different conditions. As a result, nowadays you can find
Flax in a myriad of colours and sizes. They range in colour from dark almost black to pale yellow with cream stripes. In size, they range from dwarf varieties of only 30cm up to the cultivars of the huge swamp flax
Phormium tenax which can grow to 2m with towering flower spikes on top of that. So, it's horses for courses - choose the right type of flax for your situation so that you can experience success. The two main types of phormium which grow wild in New Zealand are swamp flax and mountain flax. The swamp flax is tolerant of poor drainage and grows tall (2-3m) and generally has a much stiffer leaf. Mountain flax, which is heavily hybridised, is a more compact form which grows to around 1-1.5m and has yellow flowers and slightly drooping leaves. Mountain flax hybrids include the four pictured below:
Here are four swamp flax and hybrids:
Autumn favourites
A plant that will catch your eye at the moment is
Nandina or Heavenly Bamboo. In winter its normal bright foliage of orange, red and yellow becomes a more intense "grab you by your throat" kind of colour. Fiery red, burnt orange and gold are the words to describe these plants and another key word is "tolerant". Nandina grow anywhere, for anyone, even if your fingers are a sad shade of black rather than green... "ya cannae kill it". Check out these varieties for different heights and shades. These ones are small compact plants reaching about 60cm or less.
Or for something a little bigger, try:
Hydrangea quercifolia: I was making a display of autumn colour by the shop and couldn't go past the
oak leaf hydrangea which were a rich shade of burgundy. These stunning plants not only have great seasonal colour in reds, burgundies and yellow but the leaf shape gives a contrasting texture and there is a creamy panicle of flowers to top it all off. They like the typical
Hydrangea conditions of dappled shade and will benefit from a limited cut back in July as they flower on old wood, so don't want a drastic haircut.
New at the Nursery
Helleborus/Winter Roses
Hybrid Winter Roses (Helleborus) give us such pleasure in winter when many plants have done their dash, so to speak. Now's the time these treasures come into their own as they produce bucket loads of flowers over the cooler months to delight us. We have some special hybrids in store which originate with breeders in Germany. This selection of winter roses are called Heuger Hellebores and the company that produces them was founded in 1950 in the north western town of Glandorf. These plants have been selectively bred to be extremely early flowering, have a compact habit and to turn their flower faces and stand up to face their gardeners. One of the ranges which they produce is called
Ice Breaker because they are so hardy as to tolerate the extreme conditions which Europe winters can provide. So there should be no problem growing these anywhere in our more temperate country!
For a splash of colour to brighten your pots and garden entrance how about a pretty Primula? These recently introduced
Elodie Doubles are just the ticket for the change-of-season-blues and are expected in the nursery soon. Plant with a handful of blood and bone or general garden fertiliser, and watch for slugs and snails, and you should have colour to last for months. Regular removal of flower stalks will encourage new ones to develop.
Enjoy the phenomenal weather while it lasts and hope you get a chance to get outside. Regards Tracy.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
