Saturday 5th July, 2025
Hi
There has been some pretty wet weather around the country and luckily for us, and most of the suppliers, it seems most of our/their annual rose and tree stocks were lifted prior to any flooding. I know that we get quite a bit of stock from the Tasman area and that appears to have been soaked again and is looking pretty water-logged. I am so appreciative of our mostly-under-cover potting space, which actually makes the job pleasant, compared to past years when the task used to be downright miserable.
Another full week of potting trees done, and the space in the nursery where the trees belong is starting to fill up nicely. There is a pretty comprehensive range of
Flowering cherries of both upright and
Weeping forms now in the garden centre. We are getting there with the fruit trees too, with many of the
plums,
apples,
pears,
peaches and
nectarines mostly in their spaces in the nursery. These are available now for those looking to get cracking with their own orchard space. If you are looking for something in particular, then keep an eye on the website as the variety you want is likely to change from "This plant will soon be in stock" to available (i.e. you can just add it to your cart) during July.
My guess is that we still have another couple of weeks of full-on potting and then it will begin to taper off. Those that have waitlisted will be emailed that their choices have been picked for collection, or have been dispatched by courier, as their orders become fulfilled.
Plants that weep cover many different genera and species
One of the things that strikes you when you visit an outstanding garden is the (seemingly) effortless atmosphere of style and/or elegance and the contrast between different plant colours, textures and styles. Weeping plants can add that extra "Wow" factor by creating a graceful and elegant focal point in your garden. Plant growers are always looking for sneaky ways to get a weeping plant to "show off" at its best form and this mostly means grafting onto another plant's straight stem or standard.
Weeping cherries are a widely available and there are reliably cascading forms of these favourite trees. Within the category of weeping there is a range of shapes too, as well as the differences between the flower colours.
For example, in my opinion one of the best shaped
Weeping flowering cherries is
Prunus Kiku Shidare Sakura. It forms an even well shaped tree with the branches growing up and over in an arching form. This means your 1.8m standard tree will eventually grow to around 3 metres or so as the standard stem will also grow slightly as it thickens and the branches will weep down to ground level if you let it. Some others, including
Prunus Pendula Rosea, have a much broader shape with a flatter top giving the effect of a waterfall of flowers from a flattened head. These trees typically grow to around 2-3 metres high but can grow to 4 metres wide. Other weeping varieties which are due in are
Falling Snow and
Yedoensis Purpendens.
The other thing that can happen with some weeping specimens is that they can often 'throw' an upright or more upright branch. This can lead to the development of an ugly shaped tree but can easily be corrected by pruning out the wayward growth. If left, this branch or branches can overpower the shape of the tree as upright growth tends to be more vigorous (and less likely to flower and fruit) than more horizontal growth. Hence the reason we prune to outward facing buds encouraging 'out not up' growth.
The same can be said about pruning any plants that you feel have gone feral and are not growing the way they should. Recently a customer wrote in about a dogwood that had a mixture of upright and weeping growth. If you trace the errant growth back to the base you should be able to see if it originates below the graft (bad) or above (good). Getting on top of these problem children (branches) will sort out the shape of your plant and get it back on track.
Other stand out weeping plants which make an eye catching display include the weeping silver pear
Pyrus Salicifolia Pendula which is particularly nice against a dark backdrop as the narrow foliage is a pretty silver with white flowers in the spring and weeping
Mulberry Morus Alba Pendula. This latter needs a good amount of space as it grows to about 4 metres high and 3 wide. The edible fruit are ready in summer as they ripen from red to almost black and the leaves are large glossy green and heart shaped.
Weeping Camellias
In the nursery display garden there is a beautiful specimen of an espaliered weeping
Camellia by the staffroom door. It is about to burst into flower which is always a treat on a cold winter's day. A lot of the
Sasanqua Camellias have this attribute of weeping or slightly weeping growth which make them ideal candidates for this form of training. Training is where you force or encourage your plant to grow in a certain way and includes topiary, cordons, tipping, bonsai and even disbudding which encourages fewer but bigger flowers.
Sasanqua varieties which have this habit include
Early Pearly,
Hiryu,
Mine No Yuki,
Sparkling Burgundy and
Jean May.
To espalier a
Camellia you will first need to establish a suitable support system using wires or similar connected between two sturdy posts. Plant your tree/shrub in the middle and tie it with soft ties to support the growth. As mentioned above it is best to tie the branches gradually into the horizontal as we want to maintain some of the upright vigour of the plant. Remove growth which is headed in the wrong direction if you cannot bend it to the direction you want. Work with the plant while it is young and supple. We have a whole section in the "how to" of our website on espaliering - check it out
here if you are interested.
Weeping Maples
Coming soon are our full range of
Weeping maples which are available in high work (on a short stem typically 50cm-1m tall below the graft) or low worked (grafted at the base so that every branch from the stem weeps in a cascading small tree). We will have about 80 different varieties of
Japanese maples available once they have all arrived and been potted. The majority will be in-store before the end of July including:
Crimson Queen,
Viridis,
Red Dragon,
Stella Rossa.
Weeping Standard Roses and Pillars
Weeping roses make a stunning summer display with a mass of flowers on their cascading form. They usually need some kind of structure to hold them up as the weight of the branches can become considerable over time. We have just received into stock
Weeping roses and
Pillars (1.8 metres tall) including the new release
Siluetta roses. These come as climbers and in the form of
Std Weepers (1.8m) which we have in
Crimson,
Romantic,
Sunny and
Sweet. These are in limited quantities.
Our
pillar roses have multiple grafts up the stem and also look amazing when if full flower. Varieties available include ever popular
Iceberg,
A Moment in Time,
Hokey Pokey and
Wild Cat. These are also in limited quantities so email or book on your waitlist if interested.
Rose Society Question and Answer. First session this coming Wed 10.30 am to 12 midday
Come along and see and hear from the experts from the Waikato Rose Society. They will do some demonstrations about how to get the best out of roses and answer any questions about how to care for, reinvigorate and enjoy your plants. The first session is on Wednesday 9th July from 10.30 am - midday, email your interest so we know you may attend. There are further sessions on Saturday 19th (1-3 pm) and Sunday 27th (11 am-1 pm). We would love to see you there.
Garlic is still at 50% off so be in quick to grab yours. It's easy to grow in well drained sunny situations and produces an ample crop which should last you well through the summer and beyond. Garlic bread, pesto, lasagne or anything that takes your fancy. Yum!
School holidays seem to come around so fast and it's the first week already done and dusted, though probably quite a lot of indoor time for many. Another weekend is almost here and the garden centre is starting look look pretty full again for the year. I have to say that this is the time of year that the range is at its best and so worth a trip out to visit.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
P.S. Tony and I have spent quite a bit of time rescuing our
Hellebores from the leaves of the
Plane trees above as they cover like a carpet smothering the plants underneath. It's a task worth doing and only happens once a year!!
