Nectar Anyone ???

Hi

New Bull Calf

We had come home from the nursery and just popped a fish pie into the oven to cook when H says we have to go and check out this cow who had started to calve earlier in the afternoon........ Waters had broken.......

It was  dark and we had to move her to the race which we duly did, aided by a torch and the utes  light. There are no yards to hold her, so we improvised with 3 galvanised pipe gates as you do. We had just got her cornered in between the gates and H was  feeling for the calves legs and attaching some rope when out flashed that hoof, as only cows can do, connecting with H's knee.  F..k!!!  screams Harry in pain as we make our makeshift yards more kick proof. Ropes attached and a few helpful pulls in unison with our young cow and we became the proud parents of a rather large new bull calf.

So if you see Harry hobbling around the garden centre it's because he got kicked in the knee by a cow and not just his first old age fall. We were only just trying to help this cow have her first calf and she took exception to H  mucking around in her never never regions.

Nectar for the Tuis, click here for flowering cherries

Everything just reeks of spring at the moment, It always  seems to be raining , the grass has that glow about it, there are daffodils around every corner and every Prunus Campanulata is flowering its head off.  Now you can tell the flowering cherries that are Campanulatas as they are the first to flower and have distinctive bell shaped flowers in quite bright pink colours. The one called Felix Jury has masses of flowers and is cerise, carmine, reddish in colour. The other really cool fact about these cherries is that Tuis just love feeding in them and are well worth having as Tui bait. Now an extra to the Tui range of cherries that I got in this year is one called Puddum, flowers prolifically with small, deep, pink buds that are obviously high in sugary nectar, that the Tui's and Bellbirds will congregate for, en masse.
Now, its common knowledge that Tuis feed from flowering cherries at this time of year but its not so known that they also feed from certain Camellias. A fellow horticulturalist has observed Tuis feeding from various Camellias and its worth noting that these are the ones that have pronounced stamens. Now some examples of these are Guilio nuccio,  Transnokoensis, Koto-no-kaori, Transpink and Tsaii but its our guess any others that are similar with those stickie out boy bits will appeal to our prized Tuis.

Michelias are Magnolias

Michelia - Its one of those words that everyone pronounces differently. I'm sure that if one had studied Latin at school then one would speak it the correct way but I will own up now to fact that I did all my hort studies by correspondence and of course had never heard anyone say all the latin names and hence made up my own way.  Never mind how we say the word Michelias which are now more correctly Magnolias.  Michelias are evergreen and even have similar flowers to Magnolias which are also quite fragrant. Some make for quite largish handsome trees like Michelia doltsopa Silver cloud and Bubbles. Now Bubbles is a more recent hybrid with a cute fragrant cupped tulip like flower.
Another species that I just love is one called maudaie that has stunning white flowers and quite blue leaves compared to the others. Mixed up miss is another cross hybrid that flowers more like the port wine magnolia but larger blooms. Its worth noting that the gorgeous Magnolias have also started to bloom and my absolute fav Denudata Alba is in full glory right now, denudata meaning naked and alba white. Another oldie but goodie is San jose and its been around since I started in Hort but what a classic bloom.

         

Plant Focus

Corylopsis Spicata is one of those little known beauties and has these really discreetly beautiful flowers that just hang from the shrub and just get longer as they age. It forms quite a large shrub of around 2 to 3 metres. A great fillers for a border.

Ribes sangineum is a really old fashioned shrub and is an ornamental currant. Also pretty in spring and has fragrant leaves to boot. Excellent in a shrubbery mixed in with other shrub. Looses its leaves in the winter.

           

Asparagus. Sweet succulent and tender and of course you can grow your own. Now you have to remember that Asparagus is a true perennial and so needs its own spot in the garden. I reckon that if you have the space make a dedicated Asparagus patch.  Plant the crowns now to get well established before the summer. As with most perennials the crown will get bigger yielding more spears as the years go past. They love lots of food so feed them well. Hopefully we have sorted the software and you can have 4 packets sent for $5.00 NZ wide so just add them to your shopping cart if wanted.

Hopefully your roses are all pruned by now, not to mention your fruit trees. We are right on the verge of leaf burst so now is the time to be feeding your plants and that goes for everything. Roses need food as they start to grow, use any good food like Burnets rose food and you can even give them organic food as well like Bioboost or sheep pellets. Downy mildew is a sneaky pest this time of year and so if you see your roses losing any new leaves you need to get in there and spray. Its perfect weather for it as it rain makes for good conditions for it and also spreads it. There should be some good info on the web under How To but if you want any specifics then email me back by reply and I will be more than happy to answer any questions.

 

Have a great weekend and catch you next week!!!

Cheers, Lloyd and Harry and the team