Saturday 11th March, 2023
Hi
A wander through the roses and I spied this selection of all very different roses. Come and check them out as there is still heaps of choice and all 25% off
I went for a wander through the roses yesterday to see what was what and perhaps what I could tempt you all with. Take it from me that they are all looking pretty damn fine on the whole as they are all coming up to their third flowering for this year. The top dress feeding and spraying has paid off!
Liz and Gay were busy as beavers amongst those said roses, doing what they do, as in deadheading if needed. We also find that if we keep the roses with some space between them or even just a turnaround they tend to keep better form. Of course, they are also sweeping and picking up the leaves that may hold disease and remove them. It's quite the task but the end result always looks really fabulous.
On that note I made some selections while wandering around, based on that there were quite a few in stock and I contemplated the fact that there is a huge diversity in the form of different roses. I guess because mankind has dabbled in the breeding of roses for centuries aiming for that perfect bloom and or plant.
Ballerina is one of the first on my list and this one is a hybrid musk and I had to have a couple of these in my own garden. Dated 1937 so really not too old but older than me, haha. Firstly Hybrid musks are really really adaptable roses in that theses can be used as a small climber or a shrub rose in the garden because of their particular growth habit. You could even trim this one into a hedge. I have chosen to grow
Ballerina along a post and rail fence at home and so 1. 5 by 1.5 approx at maturity. Super healthy foliage and has just masses of cluster of small flowers in pink and white which are just stunning...real flower power (small flowers en masse are just spectacular). Will repeat flower too.
Next on my random list of roses is
Lest we Forget which is a fab rose and another that I would recommend.. This one is a modern floribunda bred here in NZ and dates 1998 and so a reasonably new one.
Lest we Forget makes a tidy bushy of around 80cm with healthy foliage and stunning clusters of rich velvety red as you would expect. This rose has a great habit and if you wanted a hedge of roses this would be another goodie.. plant at 80cm apart. Most modern roses will repeat well but if you remove each flush will be back in flower in 7 weeks.
Mme Alfred Carriere is one I remember from my first nursery job. from 1879 and called a Noisette rose.. This one is a climber with quite an upright habit and will easily grow 3 metres high and wide. Milky white flowers that are blushed with dusky pink and a lovely fragrance to boot.. Some will like the fact that this one stems are relatively thornless and another interesting point is that
Mme Alfred Carriere will cope with some shade.
Mary Rose is a David Austin, must be one of the earlier ones from 1983. Mary Rose in true Austin style has masses of classic old fashioned flowers in a very pretty shade of pink. Austin roses were bred to look old and repeat flower and are all mostly with fragrance and
Mary rose is no exception.. Classified as a shrub rose and will look pretty in the garden.
Wedding Day.. You will never forget the rose
Wedding Day in full flower. As you would expect it has masses of single white flowers with yellow stamens showing and all over the plant. One main flowering that will be followed by those gorgeous roses hips as its second performance ( look cool picked in a vase in Autumn) Wedding day is a vigorous climber and so it does need some space... so plant where it can do its thing and remember that this one flkowers on previous seasons wood.
Amberlight 1985 and a hybrid tea and so has those florist like blooms and those flowers are such an amazing blended shades of apricot amber and pink as its namesake
Amberlight.. A smaller rose bush of around 80 cm with healthy foliage, great form flowers and repeats.. Just imagine a bed of Amberlight
Every one will know
Iceberg with its classic floribunda / cluster flowers in icy white, but wait there is more. There is also
Brilliant pink and
Burgundy in the same size bush, with the same healthy growth and repeat flowering habits.. Iceberg has gained huge popularity because is just so easy. Again another one that if pruned after flower will give a full flush in 7 weeks .
If the roses that you are after are not in stock then now's the time to waitlist them from our 2023 stock order due in June.
New seasons camellias start next week .
We will start to receive in our new season Camellias as of Tuesday next week. We have a huge variety arriving in various different grades, check out our
Camellia page to view the whole range.
The new software aka The Waitlist and why
The new software upgrade aka known as the "Waitlist", allows you to request plants that we are expecting into stock at the approximate date stated on our website. Once you request the plants, you are put on a priority list and will be offered the plants before they are put into the garden centre for general sale.
Now as with all thing living crops, maybe earlier or later but our plan is to let you know by email when these are imminent by approx 7 days so that you are notified and the plants go into your shopping cart so that you can commit to those items.
Its also worth noting at this point that it may not be possible to hold plants waiting for other plants on your waitlist that may have different arrival dates to become available. We have found over the years that we physically cannot do this due to space and the perishability of the product we deal with.
It now means that when the plants arrive, they go straight to dispatch or our collections area and then the remainder of the arrivals can go straight to the garden centre and be available to all who come in. In the past when we put all plants aside that that were on back order (old system) customers circumstances could have changed and we were double handled inwards stock. There was also the problem of maintaining quality whilst being held in a separate position in the garden centre until all the orders had been confirmed.
As with any change, I am sure that there are, and still we be some teething problems as we all come to terms with this new way of doing things. We are doing this now in our quietest time and hopefully as we get busier, we will have it all sorted, If we haven't got it quite right for you initially then I do apologise in advance.
Whats coming up to Waitlist
On that note Ang was advised from one of our suppliers that they have had a great crop of
Shallots,
Garlic Printanor and
Elephant. It was so good that they have advised us of this so that means that we can have it available on our website with a due date and you can all pre-order on your waitlists for when it arrives.
Feijoas. It's hard to believe that it's Autumn but soon these fruits will start to fall, and the demand will happen for plants. To grow your own feijoas is so easy whether as a stand alone or as a hedge. Remember that its worth planting a couple of different plants for pollination.
We haven't had many stock of these of late but there is a good range coming. Named
Feijoas have a reputation for the quality of their fruit as they have been bred for size and flavour.
Dwarf citrus these are on flying dragon rootstock which will reduce the overall height by approx one third as opposed to trifoliata which is normal height. these plants are general smaller and may be slower to reach a mature height.
The new dispatch shed nears completion as the roller doors go in today, Next week it will be the electrics and moving the wifi across. We completed this weeks dispatch in there though still operating the paper work out of the old shed. The best part is that we now have the main drive through the garden centre again though the bob-cat has to come back and tidy this up. It was tricky not being able to drive through the middle.
Its has a real autumn feel right now, the mornings have been so much darker and there is a coolness to the evenings. The trees have really started to change colour or more to the point showing that their leaves are showing their age and that there job is almost done for the season.
It is also my fav season as the days traditionally are sunny and warm and the last week or so has been really nice to be out in the garden or in the Garden centre.
Autumn the best time for planting whether it be trees, fruit trees hedges roses as the ground is warm and yes of course still moist from out wet summer. There are plenty of deals going on here right now so come and check them out.
Have an awesome weekend!
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team
