Saturday 9th March, 2013
Guiness and Roses for St Paddies Day!
Hi
I think that she is bout the same age as the Queen!!!
It was another birthday dinner at our place, A bit of a pot luck affair that my sister organised to celebrate my Aunts birthday. The rellies came down from Aucks and picked the old girl up on the way down and they made residence in Pete's house for a couple of nights. We made Lasagne which is always a goodie for these sort of occasions and a Damson plum tart.
My mum did her famous cheesecake recipe and ambrosia and a cooked chook to boot. You can always rely on mothers to hold things together EH!. All in all it was a pleasant enough affair and all went home nice and early which is a bit of a bonus. Uncle from Aucks couldn't rave enough about the Damson plum tart which we duly wrapped for the trip home. Something to do with a memory of what his mother used to make ( sons are so typical Huh). Tarts are pretty easy to make with a bit of bought sweet short pastry but it was the Damsons that made it so tasty!!
Damson plums are really good for all kinds of cooking whether sweet or savory. Plums are also pretty easy to grow for fruit just make sure that you have the right mate for them in the neighbourhood. Damsons though are self fertile so there's no excuse get yourself a Damson of the plum kind LOL.
I see that the Lasagne recipe that I use as a base is there up on line but will have to get Mums cheesecake recipe up there for next week as its damn good!
St Paddies day, Celebrate with a Guiness and discover a Rose or two!! Chris researched this more modern piece on the rose and to be honest there were a few surprises in here for me! ROSES
As March 17th is St Patrick's Day it seemed appropriate that we go "back to the future" with our rose story to celebrate the roses bred by the esteemed McGredy family from Portadown, Northern Island and more latterly NZ. Sam McGredy IV immigrated to NZ in the early 1970's and perhaps should more accurately be called ‘the son of Sam' as he is the fourth member of his family to be called by this name.
The McGredy horticultural dynasty (Samuel McGredy & Son) was started by our Sam's Great Grand-Father in 1880, originally the nursery hybridized pansies, Roses were introduced by the second Sam in 1895 and so began a great rose dynasty that ended when Sam McGredy IV retired in 2007.
Where would our private and public gardens be without the many wonderful roses this family has produced: - Mrs Herbert Stevens in 1910, Margaret McGredy in 1927 - this rose was one of the parent Roses of Peace perhaps the world's best loved rose?
In 1963 Uncle Walter was released and named after Sam IV's Uncle, nurseryman Walter Johnson who stepped up to run the Nursery when Sam's father died in 1934. Also released in the 60's were Handel, School Girl, Galway Bay, Bantry Bay and Danny Boy. Everyone's favourite red climber Dublin Bay was introduced from NZ in 1975, this rose remains unbeaten as a top performing, easy to grow red, red climber.
The 80's clearly reflected Sam's love of NZ with many new releases being given ‘Kiwi' names such as West Coast, Sweetwaters, Waiheke and City of Christchurch. 1983 introduced us to Colourbreak which wowed us with its unique chocolate brown tones. In 1984 the multi award winning rose with the name that caused so much unnecessary controversy ‘Sexy Rexy' was introduced and what a fabulous rose this has proven to be. Aotearoa and Spiced Coffee were introduced in the 90's, again both are multi award winners.
This decade also saw the release of Fond Memories, Maggie Barry, Spirit of Hope and Jillian McGredy the latter being named after Sam's wife. Clodagh McGredy welcomed in the new millennium in 2000 followed by Massey University in 2002. Sam's final introduction was Hamilton Gardens in 2007. Apart from winning just about every International Horticultural Award Sam was also awarded a CBE in 1994 and an Honorary Doctorate from Massey University in 1996. NZ was blessed indeed when "The Irish Wizard", Dr. Sam McGredy decided to plant his rose roots in our soil.
If you ever get the chance to visit Ireland, the City of Belfast, International Rose Garden is a "must do", over 30,000 roses to view many of them are of course bred by the magical McGredy family. (NB. The roses mentioned above are just a special few of the Roses bred by the McGredy Family.
Good ole Chinese lanterns or Abutilons have the cutest latern like flowers. They belong to the Malva family and form shrubs that respond well to being hacked back. They nearly always have a flower on them and are pretty easy to grow. A grower had a deal on them this week and plants that would normally be $19.99 we have for just $7.00. Choose from red, yellow or orange or just get all three.
Evergreen Azaleas. We need to clear these out to make space for new seasons stock. All these are the marked half price so if they are anything like the Rhodos, then be in quick so that you dont miss out.
These weekends seem to roll around pretty quickly. Make the most of them as the days have definately shortened as we head more into the Autumn. I know that its really dry but there are tasks in the garden that should be done like trimming of various shrubs and evening planting of the winter vege garden. Check them out here. Otherwise have a great weekend.
Cheers, Lloyd and Harry and the team
Make it a Wairere weekend where gardening's not a drag
