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Friday 5th July, 2013

Trees bare it all in Winter

Hi

Pendula in name and Pendulant in habit

One of coolest things about winter, is not that its cold and wet, but rather you get to look at everything naked. You get to see all the trees just how they are and they are all so different, just like us lol.

Trees that weep, make for awesome focal points or features, for example they can lead your eye downwards towards a pond or a stream. Another  style of weeping tree could look stunning down the end of an avenue or as  a specimen in a formal garden layout. There is always a place for that something special and a cascading tree could just fit the bill.

If its got Pendula in its name.  there is a damn good chance that its going to be a weeper
Prunus rosea pendula (weeping pink Cherry), Morus alba pendula ( weeping white mulberry), Betula pendula (weeping birch)  and so on

Silver pear or Pyrus salicifolia pendula   (Pyrus is the tech name for pears of all types and salicifolia means  willow like foliage. Salix being the genus name for willow, folia  and pendula are quite self explanatory) has a habit that grows up and then down and becoming quite a tall tree. Now the silver pears claim to fame is as a feature tree in the white garden at Sissinghurst,  a famous garden in south east England created by Vita Sackville west and her partner. Silver pears are quite the tree here too and partly due to the attractive silver gray foliage as much its wonderful form.

Some of my fav plants are trees that weep. I know exactly in my head what a weeper is but sometimes its hard  to explain. A weeper can't really grow upwards but rather their branches just grow downwards. A weeping tree can only grow higher by throwing a new branch that starts out by growing up and then curving over and downwards.  Now you may have to lift them or halve the cascading branches to reveal the trunk or otherwise the tree will end up spreading along the ground.

      

Weeping Mulberries look awesome in the winter as they have such neat form with their cascading branches and they only slowly get wider and just slightly higher. Attractive lime green leaves in the spring and followed by edible fruits or mulberries in the late spring. There are some mulberries here that start cascading from a good 2m and flowering cherries at a range of heights starting from 1.2m. Just thought that I would mention that as  we have some very cool specimans of weeping trees in a the minute and they look pretty neat, totally naked! LOL

Fruit tree bondage....... no just gentle persuasion ....

         

While on about trees we often get asked about fruit trees that suit being espaliered. I think that the word scares people  but its really all about making a plant behave in a manner that suits walls or fences.  Its an ideal situation if you are short of space or have only walls or fences to grow your fruit trees against.

Now I have always believed that apples and pears lend themselves to being esapliered and they do as they fruit on special spurs. I have always thought though that plums would be more difficult but I have seen some absolutely gorgeous example of plums and other fruit trees that have been grown in this manner and are quite keen to give it a go myself.  All I need now is to build some walls. Harry recently sold some feijoas to an english lady who was going to add them to her walled garden by espaliering them.

No matter what form you want your tree to take, from a new plant, all you can do is remove the top buds or a third of the main stem and the side shoots. When the tree bursts into life in the spring it will grow a whole heap of new canes from which you can start to manipulate the end result whether it be an espalier, vase or cordon. In this manner over the next 2 to 3 years you will keeping taking the end bud off or further down the stem but usually to a bud that will take you in the direction that you want the tree to grow to.

It will take about three to four years to acheive the shape tree that you are after and then after that you will be managing the plant to maintain its current shape and size. Its a bit like a rose bush which will also take about three years to reach a mature size and form.

Is it a peach or is it a nut....?

    

The Almonds: Its always a question that I ask the team , do the almonds go with the peaches and necatarines or do they go with the nuts, well the answer is both  but we keep them with the nuts. The almond tree is technically a peach and if you take a close look at the fruit they do kinda resemble a not so juicy peach. An almond tree is even quite similar in habit and form to a peach or nectarine tree though you can tell its different. The fleshy part that we eat of say a necatrine or peach is  much reduced. They have a classic large peach stone inside and its inside of this is the actual seed or what we call a nut or almond. It still has its papery seed coat on which gets blanched with hot water and then rubbed off and voila we have almonds as we know and buy.

Now another point about the peach tree that I always find fascinating and I have never heard of from anyone else but Anthony our resident garden designer. His grandmother used to make Blancmange ( how do you spell that word?) with a couple of peach leaves in the cooking process that I can only imagine would impart a delicate almond flavour?

If you have a hankering to grow your own almonds, most varieties are self fertile though there are some cultivars that do need a pollinator. If you are short of space then there is a dwarf form called Garden Prince and while I'm mentioning it a great selection of small growing apricots, peaches and nectarines.

Another weekend is looming or should I say is here, so if you have the weekend off, then have a good one.

Cheers

Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere 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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2013 Newsletters...

New Year and Crepe Myrtles (8th February, 2013)

clivias and Roses (15th February, 2013)

Roses in the beginning (22nd February, 2013)

The Albas (1st March, 2013)

St Patricks day (9th March, 2013)

Cabbage Roses (15th March, 2013)

Hirsute Roses (22nd March, 2013)

Portland Roses (28th March, 2013)

Bourbon Roses (4th April, 2013)

Big boots to fill ... (11th April, 2013)

True Love and Large Hips (11th April, 2013)

Happy Birthday (10th May, 2013)

Tea Roses (17th May, 2013)

Hybrid Perpetuals (24th May, 2013)

Planting and caring for your new roses (29th May, 2013)

Polyanthas (31st May, 2013)

Hybrid Teas (8th June, 2013)

Floribundas (14th June, 2013)

Austin Roses =?utf-8?Q?e298bc?= (23rd June, 2013)

Different Coppers (29th June, 2013)

..... Pendula or weeping

All in a days work (19th July, 2013)

Daphne (26th July, 2013)

Hydrangea Secrets (2nd August, 2013)

Maples high worked (9th August, 2013)

Magnificent Mags (16th August, 2013)

Mags Part two (23rd August, 2013)

Hedges (30th August, 2013)

The fluffy stuff (12th September, 2013)

Fluff and Stuff (12th September, 2013)

PC Irises (20th September, 2013)

Beardless Irises (27th September, 2013)

Lavender (4th October, 2013)

The Ilams (12th October, 2013)

Maples (17th October, 2013)

Maples (18th October, 2013)

Maples Part two (24th October, 2013)

Maples Part three (1st November, 2013)

It's Rained (8th November, 2013)

Busy week (15th November, 2013)

Hydrangeas (29th November, 2013)

Its rained some more (6th December, 2013)

Who's pinching my Peaches (13th December, 2013)

Merry Xmas (24th December, 2013)

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