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Saturday 10th June, 2023
Hi
Completing the last project
Oh my word, other than the Kings birthday Monday what a beautiful week it's become. The mornings have dawned with clear blue skies and followed through with what I want all winter to be, sunny and dry. It was the Tues after the stat day that the first of the roses arrived and these were a few standards, well some 1500 to get us going and there were a large group of Iceberg stds among them.
As I mentioned last week our new potting cover wasn't quite finished but being a glorious day and with a temporary set up, the team got cracking and churned out the first numbers in good time.
Thursday saw the roof set up being finished and the few last tasks are to create some approaches to the new concrete pad, ensure the wifi signal is there and to make a small area to set down some surplus trees which will all happen today.
Friday will see the guys relocate our temporary setup of the potting tables and arrange our new potting area to get ready for the rest of the roses. It's not just going to be a potting area but the space where all inwards plants be delivered to, accounted for and then brought into the garden centre on the Can-am bikes and train like trailers. These days the hort industry use these many tiered trolley system to deliver plants and of course the little wheels don't roll in all our gravel so we also now boast a concrete pad to facilitate deliveries.
The roses that were meant to arrive at the beginning of the week also arrived Friday and so come Monday we will be seriously into potting.
Its begun again, Rose potting
What's involved in potting season? This is the time of year, being the dormant season that all the rose growers can lift their crops and get them into garden centres and stores ready for you. For us, these all arrive here bare root and in bundles of five or ten and with a master label. I mean how could we cope with 24000 plants otherwise.
We have a team of root pruners that trim the roots to suit the planter bag they get potted into. The root pruners then tie on a colour label and a tie tag that has all the relevant details inclusive of barcode etc. The numbers are scanned into the system and the now ready roses are moved to the potting team (in alphabetical order) to get into bags.
Potting roses is a skill and one has to learn a technique. A bit like say using chop sticks if you haven't been bought up using them and a couple of days practice and wahoo we are smoking. A flick of the wrist opens a planter bag and in goes a certain small amount of potting mix, hold the bag open and suspend a rose into the centre, and fill the bag to the right depth with mix. A couple of sharp bangs on the table to settle the whole thing to the right firmness and on to the trailer. I'm a bit fussy and I do like it to be right, so in the centre, the correct depth in the bag and on the rose stock. Finally firmness, too soft and after 6 months they settle too low in the bag, too firm and well that takes extra time, and one does need the mix to be down from the top of the bag as this collects the rain and irrigation water.
The next new part is onto the new mule trailers and then pulled up the hill by the Can-am bikes. Ordered plants put aside in a secure area and the remainder onto the nursery beds all alphabetically.
It takes us the next 4 weeks to get all the roses in from all our suppliers and into place, so it may be a few weeks if your rose order is made up from different sources which is why the ordered roses are put aside until the rest have arrived.
What happening with Roses in the garden.
If you all stopped dead heading some weeks back, then your roses in the garden should all be looking some what winterish which is what you want. flowers all finished and some hips perhaps and leaves coloured and falling and hopefully looking half naked.
The Waikato is quite a warm climate and roses are easily inclined to keep doing their thing but you really need them to rest and perhaps have a winter like all other deciduous plants. It can be a bit tricky but the idea is to leave the roses alone and plan to prune late in the season. Here in the Waikato leave until almost late August or just before bud burst as in if you do too early because its warm they will quickly start to regrow.
Spray with Lime sulphur a couple of times. Lime Sulphur is quite a harsh spray, but perhaps the best for cleaning up fungal spores and insect eggs and certainly it will help the leaves all fall off which is desirable. It's worth noting that Lime Sulphur, not only smells like you can imagine, but could stain fences and walls etc, and burn leaves on other perennials or evergreen shrubs. Some will follow up lime sulphur with Copper oxychloride and conqueror oil after a couple of weeks have elapsed because of incompatibility.
If the lime sulphur and copper regime doesn't sound your thing then at least spray several times with just copper and conqueror oil which isn't quite as harsh. The copper should take care of the fungal spores and the oil for overwintering insect eggs and scale which will be on the older stems of your roses. I would try and get at least three sprays in over the winter and perhaps one after pruning.
Mix Copper and oil separately in the same tank so it happens as one task. Liquid copper should be easier to make into a slurry. Partially fill your tank and add the diluted copper now, continue to fill your tank to three quarters, dilute your oil before adding to the now two third full tank and then continue to fill, shake tank so that all mixes together and then spray.
There are a couple of coppers and oils that you can use, like Copper hydroxide and neem oil are the one used by those that like to be organic and of course Copper oxychoride and the mineral oil of Conqueror. All are good and in my head and are relatively safe to use.
Note here but the above spray regime is also suitable for all your deciduous fruits trees and also again prune late.
Rose pruning seems to be daunting for many and it doesn't need to be so. Over the next couple of months we have invited the Rose society out to share their expertise on their favourite subject being roses. Write all those questions down re, pruning and anything else you need to know because I'm sure they will have all the answers. Dates still to be confirmed.
Grasses, Flaxes, Libertias, Dianellas
If I generalise most plants such as grasses, flaxes, Dianellas and the like are sun plants and prefer a site that is sunny and with good drainage. Of course, like all plants there will be exceptions like say Carex secta which is a wetland grass and will enjoy most damp and even wet sites. The cool thing with grasses is the foliage type and they absolutely suit being mass planted and contrast beautifully with rounded leaf types. So if you are planning a low maintenance garden these style plants are a great choice.. Mass plant so that it covers all the ground to exclude light which will suppress weeds.
There is a really cool new range of Carex, well newish that have a neat cascade or rounded habit these include Evergold, Everrillo, Everlime, Eversheen and Feather falls.
Lomandras are an Aussie like grass and you will guess that this range of plants will enjoy lots of sun and good drainage. Many of these are quite large growing and suit being planted at one per metre but there are many smaller ones that seem to be coming through now. This means that you can create layers in the garden or even use them as a border.
Some of the bigger ones.....
Lomandra Tanika, This little Aussie is a great plant for mass planting in difficult spots. Tolerant of poor soil and coastal conditions, sun or part shade. The deep green narrow strap like leaves quickly form a clump. Small, yellow, fragrant flowers in spring.
Lomandra Lime Tuff, Lime-green foliage form an attractive clump and look good all year round. Little stems of yellow fragrant flowers in summer. Tolerates poor soil but likes good drainage.
Lomandra Nyalla, The blue-grey narrow strap like leaves quickly form a clump. Small, yellow, fragrant flowers in spring.
Some of the smaller ones....
Lomandra Little Con, Attractive, lime green needles of foliage that form a neat rounded clump. Once established is tolerant of just about any conditions including long dry periods.
Lomandra Little Tuffy, Fine lime-green foliage form an attractive clump. Little stems of yellow fragrant flowers in summer.
Lomandra Frosty Tops, Fine grey-green foliage with silver highlights and a graceful weeping habit. In summer little yellow spikes of fragrant flowers appear among the foliage.
Fingers crossed that the sun lasts for the entire weekend and dries all the gardens out so that we get out there and actually enjoy gardening. I know that the nursery is looking spic and span and is brim full of plants. A full range of hellebores and all of the latest ones, Camellias, Rhodos and lily of the valley shrubs also Azaleas to name drop a few other of our specialist lines. I must add that Ang wanted me to mention that she managed to get some white Kakabeaks for those that love this attractive native.
If you happen to be in the garden centre and see the huge empty space in the middle, know that its destined for all the new seasons roses. It will take us all of June to fill it up.
That's a wrap-up for this week and all that remains to say is have an awesome weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team
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