Saturday 17th May, 2025
Hi
It's that time
If you happen to be in the garden centre over the weekend you will see that the entire centre of the nursery is totally empty. Oh, except for the few remaining current season's rose stock, to be moved at the last minute, which are still just $20 and looking quite good. They are no longer in stock because we have to start the new rose season from zero...so if interested you will have to come out and browse (sorry no longer available on-line) but certainly all the new season's roses are now available for pre-purchase on the website.
Many will know that this is because next week, starting from Monday, the first of our new season's
Roses will arrive to be potted. Over the following four or so weeks around 19,000 roses will be potted and put down in the nursery in alphabetical order. Not perfect alpha order in the beginning, but at least all the letter A 's etc will be together. It's pretty difficult, if not impossible, to get strict Alphabet from day one.
The emails have gone out asking for those that have waitlisted to now commit and decide if they are still after their rose selections as we only put aside those orders that have been paid for. There will be a maximum five-day window to make your order, and after that the rose(s) will be removed from your waitlist and offered to the next in line.
With
roses for which there is quite a bit of demand it's really important to organise your order asap, and if you have any difficulty on-line then do please ring and someone will sort it for you. Remember, we only get roses from our growers once a year.
Logistically, this is a really busy time for us as we coordinate all the roses over this 4 week period and it could mean a few weeks' delay before we can collate your total order of roses. When you order is ready you will be sent an email to say to collect, if it's a hold for pick up. If your order is being delivered then you will be sent a track and trace to say that it's on its way. Sometimes large orders may be split into two deliveries, as the sooner we manage to get them to you the better. Through all this we will we strive to get it right.
As we move through May and June there will be two possible paths when a rose order is created. If all your choices are in stock, then an order will be created and the roses sent to you fairly promptly. However, if any of your choices are not in stock then these will go to waitlist and again the system will ask you to commit at some point and then your order will have a pending status (which means we will put them aside as soon as we have some available).
Just because I liked this pic from home and it shows that gardens can be as simple as lawns, trees and a feature pot.
"What's fresh in?" you may ask... Well heaps !!! Especially of the Aussie persuasion
PROTEAS... SO GOOD FOR PICKING AND BRINGING INSIDE
Proteas; lots of them and a fabulous range. I don't want to bore all those that are familiar with there beautiful Australian shrubs but full sun and good drainage are a must with these. I guess if you think of where they are from then that must give all the clues. They are ok in poor soil but don't like potash based fertilisers... but they will respond to the addition of some organic matter from the top.
If you are into the king protea forms then we have
Cynaroides and
Madiba. In my opinion these tend to be the larger and more open of the proteas and quite pretty with pink bracts and a cream-toned cone in the centre. I am personally really fond of the
Neriifolia forms and their hybrids of which there is really quite some choice. It's those black fluffy tips that remind me of feather boas in the days gone by. Typically more tubular blooms with longer bracts with those fluffy ends in shades from deep pink (e.g.
Pink Ice) to softer pinks (such as
Frosted Fire) and then there are those with flowers in creamy greenish shades such as
Margaret Watling. Those fluffy bits are often black (see
Green Ice as an example) but they can also be in the white shades (see
Deep Blush).
Don't take if from me but follow the
link and check out all the new season's stock. I did note that we have quite a few of the Protea
Almond frost which is really quite exquisite and not often available.
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Proteas are just gorgeous for picking and bringing inside though they look just as stunning on the plant outside. Picking the flowers is good for the plant as keeping them well pruned back keeps them bushy and more compact. The front brighter green protea is Margaret Watling and the one to the right on the side is Nerifolia alba. In the foreground is my latest batch of persimmon, tamarind and date chutney from last week's email.GREVILLEAS COME IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES
Grevilleas. We all know this genus for its spider-like and brightly coloured flowers and again, like our proteas, these are definitely full sun plants that need good drainage. Often great for that hard-to-grow spot which bakes in the sun.
It's worth knowing that
Grevilleas come in many forms and there is probably one that will meet your needs for that hot spot in your garden. I am not going to cover them all off but there is quite a range of quite vigorous ground covers with two main leaf shapes
Mt Tamboritha and
Drummer Boy have quite fine foliage which could look a little like our native
Coprosma Hawera with typical grevillea flowers. Then there are the likes of
Gaudi Chaudii and
Bronze Rambler that have wide, claw-shaped leaves and bigger flowers, often in red tones.
Of course, there are heaps with shrub forms and these will all respond to a good clipping to keep them bushy and more compact. There are many to choose from in an array of sizes and colours: from pinks and creams to bright reds and yellows. For example
Cream and Green,
Tickled pink,
New blood,
Eureka and a combo one called
Fireworks for obvious reasons (see image).
Then there are some tree or large shrub like forms that are also very pretty that you may need a bit of space for.
Grevillea Strawberry Blonde A spreading medium shrub with very attractive toothed leaves and large yellow toothbrush-like flowers. Good general garden shrub for larger areas or as a screen plant that is regularly pruned. Makes a good cut foliage. Likes sun.
Grevillea Moonlight A very attractive upright shrub with large pale yellow/lemon flowers from late Summer to mid Spring. Fast growing and flowers prolifically. Likes a warm sunny position.
Grevillea Cream Passion A medium sized, bushy shrub with a spreading habit. It has attractive deeply dissected blue green foliage. In late winter to early summer large cream and pink flowers will be seen covering the bush
If you are looking for a large tree that is Grevillea-like, then how about the NZ native
Rewarewa (Knightia Excelsa)? This is in the same family (Proteaceae) and subfamily (Grevilleoideae) as the grevilleas, and its flowers are similar, although harder to see.
BOTTLE BRUSHES OR MORE CORRECTLY CALLISTEMON
No prizes for guessing the shape of the flowers on this, another Aussie native. More often than not with bright red
Bottlebrush shaped flowers on larger shrubs or small evergreen trees that cope with the heat and sun. There area always exceptions in the plant world and also in the case of this genus.
Hot pink is an example with with shiny green leaves and bright pink bottle brush flowers in late spring.
White Anzac An unusual form of Bottlebrush in that it has beautiful white 'brushes' in spring-summer rather than the usual red tones. Dark green foliage offsets the flowers well. Sprawling habit.
Again there is a full selection and if looking for a small evergreen tree then these may be a suggestion. Follow the
link to see more.
It's been a busy week but just briefly...
Also just in this week are some of the new season's
Winter Roses (Helleborus) and there are some pretty good selections there. I always like these plants mass planted so that you get a bulked-up effect. This one is great for the semi shade or dapple light areas of your garden. Usually I allow around 70 cm space quare per plant.
Strawberries Camarosa just fresh in and nicely top and tailed, ready for planting. These are only available at this time of year as bare root plants. Best to get them in now so that they establish a good strong root system over the winter to bring you lots of luscious strawbs in the late spring. Make mounds and plant into good rich soil; with lots of compost.
Garlic reminder; as we get closer to that shortest day it's time to be planting these again for a good strong growth while we still have the lovely warm ground temps. I am still yet to plant mine but it's on my 'To Do' list as I'm sure many gardening tasks are on yours...
It's been a beautiful week out there and hopefully we are in for another beautiful weekend. We probably need more rain and if I had my way it would always be after 5pm, but hey, that's never going to happen. I think that we are all organised for potting to begin next week so best I enjoy the weekend before it all gets a tad frantic.
Have an awesome remainder of your weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
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