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Saturday 26th August, 2023

Hi
Getting the nursery into order so that we can find them all !!!
Put away the Vitamin D tablets, well for this week at least, as there have been two if not three glorious sunny days here and that sure makes a difference to how we all feel. Call me a plant nut but you can also see the plants, well our roses at least, literally responding to the beautiful sunny days as well, so much so that you can practically see them growing. The season moves on and with the potting almost done and dusted it's time to get the last task done of getting all the stock in regimented alphabetical order. 
As I write this Cecilia, Gay and Liz are out there doing their amazing job of removing any dieback and rotating all the roses into their rightful places. Our spray program is on track with the roses sprayed last Sat evening just before the rain and a follow up again on Tues once the rain had finished so that our rose plants are looking amazing.
It's not just the roses we need to get into some rightful order but also all the fruit trees; apples, pears, plums, nectarines, peaches, quinces and figs to name a few. Shane and Jeffery have busy over the past few days making sure all the stock is in the garden centre and in ABC order.
The ornamental trees have to have some sort of law and order too and the easiest place to start is usually to group all of the same genus together, or logical types of trees. It's like, get all the Magnolias together and then put them into alphabetical order. There are exceptions when a tree is smaller than the rest and has to go to another area, otherwise it just gets smothered by the bigger plants around it. The stellata magnolias are a good example of smaller as they are usually smaller by comparison but also grow into a smaller tree, so often we have these in a separate place.
 
The maples are another quite varied group ranging from the weeping dissectums and these have been organised by Blair into low work and high worked grafts. Crimson queen and Viridis are a couple of examples here.
Then there are the smaller growing Acers that are grafted on a small stem so that they start with some initial height. I thought it would be a good idea to group the maples into those that become small trees of around 4 metres and separate them from those that grow into large specimens thus making it easier for our customers to find what they are looking for.

 
The other new factor this year is we reversed the trees from where they have been traditionally to a new space on the opposite side. Its been interesting working with this new area as its quite a different shape from what we are all used to, challenging our thinking and ultimately how we put them down. However they will all have more sunlight than where they were previously and I don't think that they will blow over so readily.
Newly arrived 
Delphiniums from the Dowdswell stables. You get quite a lot of bang for your buck with these gorgeous queens of the perennials as they flower way more than I had ever perceived.  If you have established plants in the garden already, be on the lookout, as I can almost guarantee that the slug and snails will find them before you, and to the plants demise (that thought goes out for your hostas too and their pips will be plumping up ready to unfurl).
Delphiniums need, full sun, good rich soil and available moisture and will reward you with very generous tall spires of often the most amazing blue, white, purples and pinks. Once the flower spire is spent, remove, and you will get subsequent flower spikes right through into the autumn.
 
Double hellebores from the famous Clifton house are famous but you have to come out and see these for yourself.  They are mixed colours, shades and forms, including anenome types as well as some of their fancy singles. There are still plenty of other hybrid winter roses with their attractive leaves and fancy flowers to choose from. 
The first of the new season federation daisies have just arrived in. Daisies make for great fillers and are always in flower just remember that they like the sun. Armerias are pretty with their pompom like flowers held high above their foliage on tall stems. There is a whole range of these that weren't around when I started in the plant trade and they are stunning, again they like the sun.
 
New season hydrangeas have been potted too, but we were lucky enough to get a large grade of hydrangeas that have been ex cut flower production. These are in ezi lift bags and as you can imagine are just huge and pruned ready to do their thing. Hydrangea Alpengluhen, Bridal Bouquet, Holstein, Merveille Sanguine and Princess Beatrix are all of the large grade plant varieties.
 
My hot picks from a wander around.. There is just so much to look at.
Standard Podocarpus gracilor.  These look amazing and we have grown them on ourselves.  An exotic type of totara but with long graceful needle like foliage. These clip amazing well, form a very attractive head in a fresh green and are perfect as a feature topiary. Great for those full sun positions.  
I couldn't go past these when they were on offer and are something a bit different, being standard Cotoneaster horizontalis. Horizontal growth habit that cascades from the top of a 90cm standard will create a different feature in the garden.
Prunus persica cascade or a weeping cascading peach tree that will smother itself in blossoms. Spectacular in full bloom and will make for a feature in all gardens.
Pyrus salicifolia pendula or weeping silver pear  A special tree with long narrow silver-gray leaves that are covered in a silky down. The overall effect is graceful and arching. White blossom in spring followed by small inedible fruits. Quite stunning placed against a dark back ground or soft and sensual combined with white.
 
Cercidphyllum jap pendulum One for the connoisseur.  A delightful pendulous deciduous tree with fresh green rounded foliage that turns shades of smoky pink and butter yellow in autumn.  Also at this time of year the tree gives off a sweet spicy fragrance that some folk say smells like burnt sugar!  Definitely a sweetie.
Sophora japonica pendula The 'Japanese Pagoda' is a stunning weeping tree with branches that cascade to the ground. The deep green oval leaflets turn soft yellow in autumn. In summer creamy white pea like flowers appear in large clusters on mature trees.  A special feature tree for the garden or a container. 
Witch hazel or Hamamelis are flowering right now with their unusual spidery flowers in either yellow or a brownish red shade. These make for a great taller shrub in the garden providing early late winter early spring flowers. Check out Jelena, Diane and Arnold promise
 
Happenings locally to mark in your calendar
Antique and Collectable Fair  Woodlands Estate 42 Whitikahu Road, Gordonton Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September 10am to 4pm  Entry $3.00 per person or any enquiries to Nick 0274430018
Up the garden path  Katikati Garden ramble  by the Rotary Club of Katikati,  4th and 5th of November, 9am to 5pm.  Wet or fine. Tickets available in Katikati from The Arts Junction or buy online www.katikati.org.nz/katikati-garden-ramble
Garden tasks for the weekend 
Spring growth is on its way and you can tell because all the buds are plump and fat. Pruning needs to be completed now if you haven't already and if its finer and dry then perfect to get this completed. It's time to feed everything with the appropriate fertiliser and for plants it's the sugar fix that they need to get cracking. Your roses will love a handful of proprietary rose fert as will citrus and fruit trees, Camellias and, in fact, everything. Compost, garden mix and all organic fertilisers will be welcome too. On that note, Ang has added to our range of Compost Nutrient Enriched - 40L and Potting mix to include  Organic Fruit and Vegetable Mix 30L and Garden mix.
Get out the slug bait out as Hosta's, liriopes, Mondo, Delphiniums and all things that slugs and snails find the new growth on tasty will soon be  damaged before the leaves even unfurl. Make sure that you apply around the susceptible plants but also in the host plant areas like agapanthus, day lilies and hedges. Plants like liriopes can have all the old damaged growth removed  to allow the new leaves through but don't forget the slug bait as once damaged they stay manky for the whole season. I usually apply slug bait regularly as one application is not enough.
Get repotting those plants in containers that need to be potted up to the next size or root pruned and maintained. Pots are totally reliant on you for nutrition and so it's a good time to feed them all. Just make sure that you use fertiliser formulated for pots, always a slow-release type and often 3, 6 or 9 month. Having said that, I always try to feed every quarter to keep ahead of food requirements. Golden rule here is only use proper potting mix in pots, it's been designed for growing plants in containers.
Get planting everything from trees to hedges and shrubs as we are right on the cusp of everything taking off. Get spuds in the ground for Christmas and follow up with another crop later next month.  Asparagus plants need to be planted too so that they can get started growing, just let them grow for the first season, but next year you get to harvest a few spears.
There you go... plenty to do in the garden for the whole weekend and if you are anything like me I have it all still to do.  Maybe next week I will get cracking now that potting is completed and the nursery is in order.
Hopefully its going to be a cracker weekend so have a fabulous time in the garden and don't forget that Sunday week will be Father's Day. 
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team

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Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: