Saturday 24th June, 2023
Hi
It has been a day of working from home which is a tad difficult in light of how many roses need potting and many hands make for light work. But it made sense to stay in and not cough and splutter around the nursery, take some time, and get back on track quicker than not. After all I want to be on form for the weekend. Not always the easiest thing for someone of my generation and if you know me everything is at yesterday's pace. In some ways it's good as it's a miserable day and the guys will be testing out the new potting area and how to work under a large, covered space which we have never had before. I must say it will take a bit of time as we seemed to make the smaller space we had before work quite well and now with all this extra room, well we still have to learn to organize it.
As I look out the window at the trees around the house it never ceases to amaze me that they all lose their leaves at such different rates. Take the flowering cherries that we have here,
Prunus Awanui is totally naked or bereft of leaves., Then there is
Shimidsu sakura which have coloured nicely and half fallen and as I look to
Prunus Felix Jury whose leaves have hardly coloured at all, with many still green and almost hardly any have fallen. Admittedly they are all different species and cultivars but are all the same genus. Interestingly enough,
Felix Jury will probably drop its leaves quickly and then turn around and flower being the first one in bloom beating all of the flowering cherries.
Then there are the driveway trees and both the
Tilias (or Limes) and the upright
hornbeams both went a nice shade of yellow which always surprises me as we don't really get that dramatic drop in temps here in the Waikato for Autumn colour. The
Tilias have completely lost their leaves and the hornbeams , well just kind of started but that's normal for
Hornbeams and
beeches to hang onto their winter leaves until spring.
The
Wonder tree in the main carpark is just losing all of its leaves now and will soon be a total picture of those fabulous hanging berries which incidentally look way cool in a vase. I think that it looks pretty neat even when the leaves are on the turn as they are yellowish, and you can see the red berries in amongst.
Ornamental trees are coming and so if you have a driveway to do or just need a feature tree then now is the time to be checking out the website.
Who would have thought and how cool is this
I wanted to know more about the Matthews "My" series and the best way to find out was with a conversation with those that created this amazing new range of stunning roses. Samantha took the time to tell me the story and about a facebook post that I guess she did for Mother's Day. I think that it tells the story beautifully and so here it is direct from the people themselves. Thanks Bob, Kath and Samantha
My Mum was a seedling first hybridized in our 1999 breeding programme. In the following years it made it's way along with thousands of other seedlings through our initial selection process, then into our spray-free trial area. During this time in the mid 2000's Bob decided to plant some of his trial seedlings in his Mum's garden to brighten her day after the loss of her beloved husband Tom. Pearl soon fell in love with the beautiful, forever flowering apricot coral floribunda and declared it her absolute favourite! (for those of you who knew Pearl, she did not mince her words so Bob paid attention!)
At the time that colour blend was not so popular, but nonetheless as it was his Mum's choice Bob budded it up again in the trials. There we all fell for the endlessly flowering, super healthy rose and the decision was made to release it! Bob naturally called it 'My Mum' for Pearl, who was pretty chuffed - she loved to see it blooming en masse in the nursery! It was introduced exclusively to New Zealand garden centres in winter 2012. Ever since then we've been blown away by just how many people cherish this rose, as we do now in loving memory of an amazing woman who lived to 99+ years old!
The legacy of 'My Mum' continues today with the 'My Rose Collection' range developed by Bob & daughter Samantha. The collection includes roses bred from 'My Mum' making them extra special varieties to our family. As we look toward the future we can't wait to share more of these beautiful creations with rose lovers all over New Zealand & the world, for many more Mums to enjoy. Happy Mother's Day!
Interestingly enough I had already made the observation that there appeared a similarity in the style of flower of this range, being that gorgeous old fashioned or vintage style bloom which I particularly like. Of course, many of these roses are totally new to us and I don't know them first hand though we did have a few last year and they did really well in the nursery.
Now there many that have the pro noun "My" and it's a fabulous choice to give for those special occasions, rather than say a bunch of flowers, being a living gift that blooms year in and year out.
My Mum has gained huge popularity as will
My Dad,
My Grandma and
My Grandad.. I know that one of the team here has an eye on having a
My Grandad being just recently reaching the Grandads club. Check these ones out below but there are many more.
My Mum Floribunda.. The colour of the abundant blooms is a blend of coral, salmon, apricot and pink. Vigorous and healthy with a nice even growth habit and scent.
My Dad Floribunda with a special name My Dad, combined with amazing fragrance this rose delivers abundant clusters of deep golden yellow blooms which fade to cream on the outer petals as they mature.
My Grandma has multi petal vintage style blooms, of a gorgeous rich lilac pink with divine, intense fragrance. High health
My Grandad Radiant smoky orange blooms produced in spectacular clusters which glow in the garden. Repeat flowering
Here are some others from the My Mum lineage
Vintage Miss A rewarding rose of rich shades of pink and tones of apricot. Vintage cup shaped flowers with a delightful soft fragrance makes this creation hard to resist. Repeat flowering.
Wish come true Exquisite soft lemon to creamy white cupped blooms create a magical garden display with refreshing fragrance, free flowering, superb health and glossy foliage.
Check out the roses online
Got Questions on Roses ? Pruning, Varieties, Care or Feeding
Then mark these dates in your calendar and come on out to the nursery and get the lowdown on all things roses from those that one of their favourite things is to grow perfect roses. With thanks to the
Waikato Rose Society members who give up their time to spend with our clients and share their knowledge.
Thursday 13th July 10.30 - 12.30
Sunday 16th July 11 - 1pm
Saturday 29th July 1 - 3pm
It's that time of year and so I hope you are managing to get those lime sulphurs or copper and oil sprays onto your roses though it could be a tad tricky with all that precipitation that keeps falling out of the sky. There is still plenty of time to prune your roses so don't stress. In the Waikato and probably in reality for most of NZ just before bud burst which is usually late August. So, if you want some free tips or just some reminders, then come out on one of our July sessions. I know that the guys come out armed with material so that you can actually visualize the different age and types of wood.
I heard a rumour that we were going to have a dry winter and we did have a really lovely spell the other week but that has gone to custard as the block of land out the back goes under water for the umpteenth time. Tony had to go out and rescue his young stock this morning as they were all standing nearly knee deep in water. Luckily the favourite and leader one named Stan led the way to dry (well not under water) land.
I guess that it's going to be too soggy to actually do gardening this weekend (I mean that it's not so much fun when it's so wet) but it could be an ideal time to spend on our web site checking out the roses and trees and planning for when the weather does improve.
Otherwise, enjoy the weekend and take some time out.
Cheers Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team
