Saturday 15th April, 2023
Hi
It all begins in the Autumn, the best range going so waitlist whats coming!
Autumn seems to herald the start of our whole year in the nursery, and it's all begun with the arrival of the new seasons
Camellias. Then we have rolled into bringing in all our
Rhododendrons that have been carefully selected and ordered in previous months to have the best range possible. Next on the new arrivals are all of the
Pieris or
lily of the valley shrubs and the assortment here is pretty fine too. In fact it never gets better than now.
But it doesn't stop here as the six months from March see the arrival of all our stock that debuts just once a year. It's pretty hard to put an exact date on plants arrivals as you know we are dealing with a living product but we would expect the main season of
Citrus to be April/May sliding into June.
Then June, the potting starts with the all the
roses that Cecilia has carefully selected hitting the ground waiting for us to get them into bags, ready for all the our pre-orders and then into the garden centre.
Finally July is when all the
fruit and
ornamental trees arrive that have been sorted and organised by Blair, are unloaded and then again also root pruned and potted into bags.
Along the way there are all the other interesting products like
Garlic which is due to arrive shortly,
Printanor and
Elephant garlic. I know that its early to get this planted but if you don't get in you may miss out. Especially with the
Elephant garlic which seems to go super quick.
Printanor comes as heads which you split into individual cloves and plant. Choose from 100, 200 500gram bags and 1kg which is a lot of garlic.
Elephant Garlic comes as individual cloves in packets of five or ten. Bare root
strawberries, scheduled for June.
Delphiniums for August and then we move into the spring range of perennials and everything else.
Probably a very simplistic overview but my point here is that if you want a specific rose or tree and we have it coming then its worthwhile putting in on your waitlist so you get advised when it is in. Often we have limited numbers or some plants, or they have a short shelf life and then you get the best that we have and in the best condition.
Let try to unravel Mandarins from Oranges and Tangerines
Last week it was all about why
citrus are such fabulous ornamental trees, what the difference is between Flying dragon and Trifoliata rootstock and the effect on the tree and their general growing conditions. This week if you look around you will be starting to see the colour starting to show on the fruit of
Mandarins bringing about the Autumn beauty of
citrus. The colour of the fruit against that beautiful green glossy foliage is very striking.
My guess will be that the said
Mandarin will be of the Satsuma kind which is one of the main groups of
mandarins that seem to be the most popular for many reasons. Easy peel and real easy peel would have to be up there with being number one reason to have one of these in your garden. Now I asked myself what is the difference between
Mandarins,
Clementine's,
Satsuma's Tangerine's and
Orange's etc. and well whilst I thought I knew and probably in a broader sense I did.. But a quick google search actually clarified or didn't clarify (???) a few more thoughts for me which I will attempt to share.
Lets start with the thought that all Tangerines are
Mandarins but not all
Mandarins are Tangerines which must make them a type of orange. Though I guess that years of interchangeable language, size of fruit, shape of cultivars and like nearly all things in the plant world its not always cut and dried. In Fact I will go as far as to say that we use the term
Mandarins,
Tangors,
Tangelos quite loosely and probably based on the relative size of the fruit.
Oranges are next in size to the
grapefruit and have a thick skin but are round in shape, certainly sweeter than
grapefruit and sweeter on maturity.
Mandarins are a type of orange that includes all
Tangerines,
Clementines, and
Satsumas. They are generally smaller and sweeter than
oranges, somewhat lit flatter in shape depending on cultivar, have a thinner, looser skin that makes them generally easier to peel.
Tangerines or
Tangors are a specific type of (bigger) mandarin orange. They are a bright orange color, slightly tougher skins, and their flavor is a little less sweet and a bit more tart or what I consider and after tang but nothing like grapefruit. Examples of
Tangors are Seminole (Classic)
ugli's,
dweets.
Meets the Satsumas and the Wase's
Satsuma Mandarins are a specific type of mandarin orange, originating from Japan more than 700 years ago. They are a lighter orange, sweet, juicy, and seedless. They are also the easiest variety to peel with a skin that almost puffs over the flesh making it so easy to remove. I think that the
Satsumas are the easiest also to identify with their distinctive flat shape shape. My opinion is that the
Satsumas are all coming into their season right now, Don't be fooled by the orange colour as they will still be quite tangy and the longer you leave on the tree the sweeter they will be. I also believe that all
Satsumas, this is the general period that they will ripen though some cultivars will come in earlier or later but essentially its all the same 6 to 8 weeks give or take.
There's more to sex than the birds and the bees, and goes to show that all the
Satsumas are very closely related without the usual kind of hanky-panky.
Miyagawa originated as a limb sport,
Okitsu was a nu-cellular seedling from
Miyagawa,
Miho was another controlled seed pollination from
Miyagawa, process similar to
Okitsu.. I then wondered where
Silverhill fitted in and again, it is a nu-cellular seedling selection from a cross by a WT Swindle in Florida in about 1908 named and introduced about 1931. So when you are in the garden centre and I say that they are all very similar you'll understand why. LOL.
Its worth noting that whilst most citrus is actually seedless or mostly seedless that when planted in combination with other citrus can actually become more seeded than what we would sometimes like. Again I think that nature has a way of making sure that the next generation happens and we gain another yet another cross or hybrid.
Whats arrived this week
Gardenia veitchii standards.. we saw these getting put away and they are some of the best standard gardenias that I have seen.. they looked fab with decent bushy heads. Gardenias have great foliage and the fragrance of those white flowers is to die for.
On the standard front there also arrived some
Mixed up miss,
Bubbles and
touch of pink which you could maintain as a standard in the feature position. Alternatively they could be planted as a specimen tree with the trunk already formed and started for you.
Pittosporum Fankies folly. Not sure this one got its name but its one of the small ones that have been shaped as a ball or perhaps naturally grows like that but some trimming will enhance its natural form. Again fabulous well established plants that will look pretty instant.
You may know someone and there seems to be a shortage out there.
We are looking for some great people who want to work with plants and currently have advertised a position in our garden centre and more specifically in our mail order and dispatch team. Its a busy place with a lot on and the position entails picking orders packaging and creating labels. Check the position out on
seek or
Trade me or send me a your CV to lloyd@wairere.co.nz
Potting season will be here before I know it and this year we are on the look out for perhaps 4 potters to help us through this busy time. The season is approx 12 weeks long. Anyways just putting it out there.
School holidays are in full swing and the weather hasn't been too bad and so that means its perfect for getting in the garden and doing some Autumn planting. The garden centre is looking very pretty with all the autumn colours starting to appear and being so full of stunning plants.
Its not far away but just a reminder that Anzac day being Tuesday the 25th April that we will be closed until 1pm and open until 5pm.
The weekend is upon us again, have a great one!
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team
