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Friday 16th November, 2012

Dinner Conversations....!!!

Hi

You never know where a dinner conversation is going to take you.............

We invited this lovely couple for dinner the other night and discussed everything as you do over a few drinks. Just short of solving the worlds problems from providing school kids breakfast in the morn to rubbish recycling, We of course touched  on the subject that we all have in common and thats the garden.   Now she  started to tell us about a couple of walnut's that they had been given some years ago and planted and they were now bearing fruit, well nuts. I asked whether they were grafted, to which I found out one was and the other wasn't. Always in to learn something new I asked about whether there was a difference in quality of nuts. The grafted one she shared had the largest nuts and were less work to extract from their shells but when she said   "when you are sitting down at night not knowing what to do, you can crack your nuts"  and carried on to say "the best place to keep your nuts fresh was in the freezer", Well I tell you in our house, talk of how to keep your nuts, had us boys in stitches, let alone cracking them when having nothing better to do.

Grafted trees are usually the best
On a far more sensible note and for those that don't know trees that are grown from seed will not be exactly the same as their parent fruit or nut. If we want to replicate the parent tree then it needs to be grafted. A good example would be that everyone seems to manage to grow an avocado stone from an avo hass that they have eaten from the supermarket. The seedling that you grow may take much longer to reach an age where its mature enough to fruit and the resulting fruit may be far inferior and not worth bothering with. On a more positive note, it may actually be better than the parent in which case you may have discovered a brand new variety that could be named after yourself. This is also true of walnuts and the grafted clones for the want of a better expression have large nuts.  Some do grow, the like of walnuts from seed as they know the parent tree and they know that the resulting seedling plants will grow into trees that produce an accepted quality of nut but cannot be quaranteed. Now I have learnt that walnuts are not easy to graft which is why they can be harder to come by and why there are seedling wlanuts on the market as well.  As a general rule of thumb we only stock grafted fruit and ornamental  trees as they will have been selected for superior form and or fruiting abilities.

Order Trees and Roses now

Its important to note here too, that this is the time of year to order trees of all types and roses for winter delivery so if you have a hankering for something specific and we don't have it in stock, nows the time to say and ask us to get it in for you for July delivery. Dont leave it too late as all suppliers should have sold their stocks by Xmas time. Email us back and we will make the order,  this is especially important if you have a project like driveway trees and need a few.

Feed Back
Last week's newsletter produced a response from G Silver with regard to using an alternative to ‘Shield' and ‘Super Shield' on your roses. There are certainly alternatives available and those of you who wish to use a more ‘organic' approach should check out the products in our Gardening Accessories - Organics section.
Hi there.   
I am wondering why you are recommending Shield and Super Shield.  You will be killing everything.  The birds and your digits will take care of the aphids unless there is a serious infestation, in which case please please use something natural like pyrethrum , spray in the evening when the bees are in bed, and then by morning the toxicity will have gone and everything will be safe.  It is just wrong to do a blanket kill of all insects.  There are far  more beneficial insects that there are baddies.  Can you imagine killing Ladybugs, praying mantis, parasitic wasps?  These are natures helpers.     Happy spraying!      G Silver

Pyrethrum is a popular alternative and relatively safe spray to use to kill aphids and other pests. Pyrethrum works by contact - i.e. you must hit your target pest with the spray in order to kill it. Pyrethrum works by penetrating the nervous system of the insect. It is important to note that it will also kill beneficial insects if they are contacted by the spray. As with all sprays it is a matter of user responsibility, spraying should be done at a time when bees are not active. As Pyrethrum breaks down quickly with UV light it is best to spray at dusk so it can work over-night. You will need to spray more regularly with Pyrethrum or you can combine with Neem Oil for a more effective kill. Neem Oil is absorbed by contact or by digestion of sprayed foliage that is consumed by the target pest. It then prevents the pest insect from eating thereby causing death. Neem Oil is not known to affect Ladybirds or Bees but the above precautions should still be taken. Responsible adults will also know to take precautions when partaking in any risky activities so at Wairere we recommend the usual covering up by wearing gloves, a hat, glasses and a mask when doing any kind of horticultural spraying.  

Whats Hot and New in this Week

Liliums are very beautiful and they are coming up to flower now.  Botanically they have quite a different sort of bulb being a collection of scales, kinda like an onion and they get bigger clumps by producing little baby bulbets at the base of the large bulb. As we get closer to xmas they will start to flower providing colour in early summer

Tea trees,  now there is probably a story attached as to why Leptospermums are called Tea trees (I,ll have to ask Chris, she knows everything)  But I do know that they are a hot attraction for the honey bees. There is a lovely white one in that I think that I will snaffle a few for down around the pond plus I think I will put a little grove of Kowhais down there to keep attracting the birds

            

Calla lilies or Zantedeschia.  These grow from a rhizome like bulb and must be related to Arum lilies  but they do have gorgeous sophisicated looking blooms that make for a long lasting  bloom in the vase

Alstroemeria's just last forever when cut in the vase inside or so it seems. I reckon that they will do a good couple of weeks . They are also pretty easy to grow in the garden coping with sun or shade. There are dwarf ones that look awesome in pots or as drifts in the garden and the taller ones have nice long stems for cutting

Geum Firestorm  a new one to me that is double and in the prettiest amber orange colour. Now Geums are really tough perennials and will look really pretty at the front of the garden. They will perfer more sun than less

Polemoniums are great for a dappled light spot and have attractive variegated foliage and is a good plant for those that love blue blooms as they have tall stems with sapphire blue flower. Hosta Purple Heart is a newbie to me nad has attractive green leaves and as the name suggest with a purple splash at the base of the leaf.

Awapuni Donkey Farm

Jenny is our local who has the donkey farm just down the road and has a Family Fun day and fundraiser on this weeekned being Sat 17th and Sun 18th  from 10am to 4 pm. Its a fun day with all proceeds going to Hospice. $5.00 includes a donkey ride and $2.00 to view a beautifully decorated christmas house Check her website out www.mammoth-donkey.co.nz,  or email  jenny.bryan@xtra.co.nz or give her a call on 07 8243735

The Gordonton garden ramble is on this weekend and I think that our garden is looking pretty good so if you have the time come on out to the nursery and check us and the garden out. There should a rule that in the spring it only rains in the evening LOL so I hope that Sat isnt as wet as the weather man says. Whatever your plans Have fun!!!

Cheers, Lloyd and Harry and the team

Make it a Wairere weekend where gardening's not a drag

Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, RD 1, Hamilton
07 824 34 30
www.wairere.co.nz

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2012 Newsletters...

Rhubarb Pie (27th January, 2012)

Plums and more plums (4th February, 2012)

Projects and Roses (10th February, 2012)

Lily of the Nile (17th February, 2012)

Apples and Hedges (23rd February, 2012)

Hedges and Zucchini Cake (2nd March, 2012)

Camellias as Hedges (9th March, 2012)

Swan Plants and Blueberries (23rd March, 2012)

Peaches and Tree Dahlias (23rd March, 2012)

Autumn Tree Sale (6th April, 2012)

Rhodos and Azaleas (20th April, 2012)

Feijoa'd Out (27th April, 2012)

Roses n Lemons (4th May, 2012)

Copper n Oil (11th May, 2012)

Small Fruits (18th May, 2012)

The big pot is on (26th May, 2012)

Roses R Us (15th June, 2012)

Tree fetish (15th June, 2012)

Cloning Trees (22nd June, 2012)

Pruning (29th June, 2012)

Planting (6th July, 2012)

On the Move (15th July, 2012)

Lilacs (20th July, 2012)

Lilacs (20th July, 2012)

Grapes (2nd August, 2012)

Campanulatas (17th August, 2012)

Spuds for Xmas (25th August, 2012)

Bee time (31st August, 2012)

Downy Mildew (8th September, 2012)

Best In Show (14th September, 2012)

Flower Power (28th September, 2012)

Cherries Again (5th October, 2012)

Update the garden (12th October, 2012)

Hedges lavs and lilies (19th October, 2012)

Snowballs and Pointed Leaves (26th October, 2012)

Toms, Veg and Pinks (2nd November, 2012)

Lemon and passionfruit slice (6th November, 2012)

Lavenders (9th November, 2012)

..... Trees and more

Roses are gorgeous (23rd November, 2012)

Dogwoods and Prezzies (30th November, 2012)

Passionfruit and Tamarillos (7th December, 2012)

Christmas Lilies (21st December, 2012)

Merry Xmas (21st December, 2012)

HL Nurseries Limited t/a Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: