Our weekly email news letter. Sign up here to get them delivered straight to your email in box. See below for previous issues...

Please note that product availability and prices may have changed from when this newsletter was sent. Please check this site or phone us for current availability and pricing.

Friday 2nd August, 2013

Analytical, Expressive, Driver, Amicable

Hi

So Many Projects

Anthony( Garden Designer) Angela, Cherie  (Part of the Team as we all couldn't go) and myself all went to an ANZ business course So you think you know customer service. Its always a struggle to find the time but I have to say that these ANZ courses for small businesses are just great. Anyways I have to say that I was fascinated by a portion of the course that dealt with personality types, ie Analytical, Expressive Driver and Amiable. The point was that we recognise our type and recognise the type of the client and behave accordingly. From this it wasn't hard to deduce my own and of course Harrys and how we operate as a team. I think that I fell into the kinda nuts and bolts detail kinda role for the want of a better expression  and H well an Ideas a minute man, sometimes so fast that I can't keep up which is why  the nursery continues to grow.

Just lately we have expanded the carpark and relocated the pots down to the original shop end. Mail order plants are keeping us really busy so poor Allan the IT Guru is frantically trying to rewrite the software so that it all goes more smoothly. Next on our list is to speed up the point of sale. Finally on the project list is getting ourselves and Garden graphix on facebook so we have both duly created our respective pages. Now Anthony has really got his head around it all and his page is well worth checking out as its full of beautiful garden, plants and more. Our new facebook page is worth a look  too and I posted pics of beautiful double hellebores recently....

Do you know your lemons ?

Every garden should have at least a meyer but in my book you should have one of the other sorts as well. Now a meyer isn't a true lemon but rather a cross with lemon flavour and tartness. The beauty of a meyer is that as a tree, it doesn't get too big and if you want a lemon you can almost bet your pants that there will be one on the tree for that gin or piece of fish. Now if you are a bit of a lemon connoisseur then make sure that you have one of the  other varieties which are true lemons and have that real flavour that for t what the lemon meringue pie makers seek out. Now these lemons grow a bit taller than the meyer but hey! don't they make for a handsome smaller, evergreen tree with glossy foliage, fragrant flowers and look drop dead gorgeous in the middle of winter with all that brightly coloured fruit.


HYDRANGEAS

     

Pink or blue and what happens to white Click here for... How TO Hydrangeas
Hydrangea secrets let loose, well no secret really but if you wonder why that blue Hydrangea you bought has gone a purplish pink or the other way around, well the secret is in the soil. This little fact has taken me years to remember by heart and its quite simple. Lime for pink and aluminium sulphate to keep them blue. Its not enough to run out when the flowers are imminent and dose the soil with the right stuff. You have to be organised and get onto it in the winter or well before the timeof flower initiation . If you apply aluminum sulphate or blueing tonic to white ones then I suspect they will age to a blue white.

Just while we are dealing with Hydrangeas we often get asked about the pruning. Its the Mopheads that are a bit tricky and if you follow this link Chris explains it well. The species Hydrangeas are far easier like Annabel which I just cut off at ground level..I have to add that I just adore Hydrangeas, as the flowers seem to last forever in th garden, from when they start, to full out and then as they age and dry, every phase is beautiful. Now Hydrangeas are technically a shade or dappled light plant to protect those flowers from burning but they dont like being dry and quite often those shady positions are dry due to large trees being in for the water first.

Buxus Blight
There seems to be a bit of this around this season and I m sure  its because of being wet and damp instead of nice cold frosts that I was after. If this has affected your hedges then I suggest that you get out and spray with copper oxycloride at least to try and hold the infection till we get some fine and drier weather. If you have buxus green gem and macrrophylla and you can hold the infection back then these hedges can recover though it can take a little time. Now Copper is a protectant spray so that means that you have to reapply regularly. If we follow Wally's advice Copper Hydroxide or organic copper is the way to go and use with raingard to make it last longer.

Primulas...I Just adore the Primula family and these doubles are just the latest out. Gorgeous double flowers and don't they look so cute with the extra set of leaves behind the flower. They are extra special at this time of year and look fab in pots.

       

Lobelia Aberdaricia something for those with an incurable plant addiction LOL
and thats me too so I must grab three of these for my own garden as these are meant to be just stunning. Giant African Lobelia. A rare perennial with attractive clump forming, long fresh green foliage and towering flowering spikes that reach for the stars! The spikes of small mauve-blue flowers can be up to 2m tall. Prefers morning sun and soil that does not completely dry out in summer. Perennial.  only a limited number of these.

Rose  Red Flame Climbing..  Everyone has been asking for this one...  A new one to me though and a climber. Could be an good change from good ole Dublin bay. A multi award winning red, red, rose bred in France. This rose has even won an award for fragrance so you 'nose' it smells delicious. The hybrid tea shaped blooms appear from summer to autumn. It may be shy the first year after planting but will soon settle in. Glossy green foliage. 2001.

Mandarins

There are two main types of Mandarin  and most are after the easy peel and no pip kind, these being the Satsumas. Then there are the others which whilst being slightly firmer to peel certainly have great flavour. Last year I had Dad making us mandarin marmalade from corsica No 2 which was quite sweet was certainly delicious. Marees Cake below was made from a few Satsuma's tjhat we hadnt picked from the trees and was really good. I imagine that you could even sub for an equivalent amount of oranges

Maree's Mandarin Cake Click here for recipe

Have a great weekend but unfortunately its forecast for a wet one so no pruning if it is.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archived by year 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |

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 (5th July, 2013)

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

Daphne (26th July, 2013)

..... Hydrangea Secrets

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: