Saturday 31st May, 2025
Hi
I learnt something new
Something interesting happened the other day. Usually I am well onto many nuances in the plant world, but not this time. We had dispatched three
Camellia Jurys Yellow to a client and one of them flowered a very light pink which wasn't right as it should have been creamy yellow. The odd thing about this is that the foliage looked correct for this particular
Camellia and the form of the flower was right on the money as well. The pink shade was the issue. Now I am quite familiar with the pinking effects that water can have on flowers, and also early flowers can often show pink tones due to the sunlight levels at this time of year being quite low. The rose
Iceberg, for example, can sometime have its first early flower with the faintest blush of pink, but this Camellia was something new for me.
Then one morning I was scrolling on Face Book, as you do when you have nothing to do, and a post came up from NZ gardener (who I follow, no surprise there) with someone who had the exact same experience. The interesting thing with their post was that the next flower that followed was the correct colour... and there was a photo showing the pinkish and yellow blooms side by side... but in all the years that we have stocked this Camellia (which is some decades) I have not had this experience.
That is what makes horticulture fun or so interesting; you are dealing with something living and they don't always behave as we expect.
Now, while I'm on about Camellias,
Jurys Yellow is probably a classic
Japonica form. These typically have larger leaves compared to their counterpart
Sasanquas and they also tend to have much showier and larger flowers. Japonicas have quite a few different bloom forms as well, ranging through anemone, informal and formal and there are others in between.
If you are looking for really easy, low care garden shrubs then the
Japonica Camellias are a fab choice as they are usually quite compact and dense in habit. Beautiful glossy green leaves and large decorative flowers typically in late winter or early spring. Great for the back of the border or for informal screening and, like
Sasanquas, these will respond to a good haircut to keep them in check.
Kramers Supreme Large glowing red blooms that are full, fancy and fragrant. The blooms appear from winter to spring and sit against lush green foliage.
Gwenneth Morey Beautiful camellia of double white fading to a creamy yellow centre.
Margaret Davis A very showy Camellia with striking peony type blooms. The creamy white petals are all edged lightly in rose pink.
Hawaii Medium to large, double peony form flowers open to soft pink, then delicately fade to blush pink, and show beautifully serrated petal margins.
Or follow this
link to check out all the Japonicas and see a full range of forms and colours.
Tequila sunrise or not? That is the question. Identifying roses can be a tad tricky
I had a client show me a pic of a rose from their phone the other day to see if I could name it. The rose in this case happened to be
Tequila sunrise and I have to say that this is always quite tricky as there are so many factors in identifying anything especially from pictures. In the case of roses, the colours or shades of the blooms can vary according to whether the pic was taken in the spring, summer or autumn. The high summer sun can wash out the colours and of course in spring and autumn the colours can be more intense.
Then there is the stage that the flowers is currently at, being either early as in a bud form, or later as bloom matures and starts to blow out. Another point is the time of day, being morn, midday or afternoon, and even if the sun is out or it's overcast. I tend to try and take photos of roses when it's overcast as I find that the colours tend to be more accurate when not washed out with high contrast by the sun. Then I also try to get the best stage, the one when most would recognise that bloom, say for example,
Hybrid teas are more often associated with being a bud or picking rose rather than one that has blown out.
Just to add to the dilemma of identifying some roses, their first flowers are often not a good example. Tequila sunrise can be an example of a rose that has a distorted form with its first flowers for the season.
Finally, a sample of leaves may clinch naming a rose for me and whilst I cannot identify most roses by their leaves, I can recognise many by their foliage as it's distinctive to that rose. Sometimes I can tell what type of rose it is just by the stem structure, though it does help when it has its label on! For example, tea and China roses have, to me, a distinctive form.
Margaret Merrill and
Tequila sunrise are examples of roses with distinctive foliage, and there are others, particularly many of the old varieties. I find that often when I am picking for orders that I am looking for the foliage or form of the bush structure before I get to the nitty gritty of their label.
Week two and we are on a roll and I'm seeing all the old faves coming through
Week two and we have just about done another 5000 odd roses and so now the centre of the nursery is slowly starting to look almost full. No standard roses yet, but they are definitely coming. That said, I just had word from one of the suppliers that this week has been too wet to do any lifting. It's worth waitlisting any roses that you may still want, especially standards, as they do come in smaller numbers. I am pretty sure though that putting roses (or other plants) that have been waitlisted into a pending order will secure them because the system will ask for payment so that we put can them aside as they are done.
Getting fuller by the week, approx. 2 weeks left to go; give or take.
So what are some of the oldies and goodies that I have pruned and labelled this week?
Tequila sunrise Multi award winning rose that is seldom without a bloom. Beautiful pointed buds that open to full petaled flowers of gold tipped with scarlet.
Margaret Merril There probably aren't enough superlatives to describe this excellent white rose. The petals are richly textured with just a little blush of colour in the centre offset by warm bronze stamens. Multi award winner including one for fragrance.
Remember Me A popular and beautiful rose with large shapely blooms in warm tones of orange and copper. Puts on a lovely display with little effort. Nice soft fragrance, repeats well from summer to autumn.
Double Delight Classic buds open to creamy blooms highlighted with a pinkish-red blush on the edges of the petals. Continuously in flower and very fragrant. Always pleases and lives up to its name. Exceptional cut-flower variety.
Open 8.30 to 5 on both of the upcoming public holidays
Just saying, as we often get asked, we are open all King's birthday weekend including the stat Monday and usual hours of 8.30 to 5pm. Same deal goes for the new long weekend of Matariki; we are also open 8.30 to 5pm on that Friday.
I reckon these long weekends roll around so often and fast and so it's a three-dayer starting today. However you are spending your big weekend, have a fab King's birthday.
All the best from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
