Thursday 12th September, 2013

The nursery has been lightly covered in this fine yellow dust lately and as you know we have had a couple of showers of rain and this dust has collected into very thin drifts. I guess it was more noticeable because we have large areas of black weed cloth and the rain had collected it all together..I was wondering what it was as you do and then it dawned on me that I was being a bit slow. It was pollen from some  of the local trees. I have to own up and say that I haven't worked  out what trees but it is a classic example of wind pollination with the male flower shedding all their dna hoping to catch some ready female flower. Quite a wasteful method if you ask me but obviously still successful for those plants that use this method. I think that I would be right in saying (Chris will correct if I'm not) that many of these plants have separate male and female flowers  and whilst probably will self  pollinate the aim is to pollinate some other plants flowers of the same type of course. Plants that use the wind for their sexual activity include grapes and Hazelnuts and chestnuts and Im sure that many of the conifer family use this well kind of wasteful method as well.
I know that Catkins or those male dangling bits that hang from the likes of hazelnuts wont be everyones cup of tea as they dont have the flamboyance of a say a rose  but I think that they look really cool.


Bearded Ladies all called Iris
In days gone by every travelling circus had a bearded lady who you could snatch a naughty peek of if you had a shiny sixpence. Well here at our Circus AKA Wairere nursery we've got a whole lot of bearded ladies all lined up and looking for a good home and funnily enough they're all called Iris.
I got to thinking about the name Iris (as you do) and thought now this is one girl who could have an identity crisis. Named after the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow but often described as having a ‘beard'. Well I don't know about you but I don't often imagine a Goddess with a beard. Of course the ‘beard' is actually the little fuzzy strip of growth at the top of lower petals (called falls) and this beard is actually quite clever as it is designed to guide the bees into the flower and trap pollen. The top petals of the Iris are called standards B.T.W. The Iris has been revered since ancient times and the rhizomes (orris root) were sought after for medicinal remedies. The Iris has also been used as a symbol in heraldry for centuries and is known as the ‘Fleur de lis' which literally translated means Flower of the Lily! There are many and varied theories how this came about however the ‘Fleur de lis' is actually a stylized form of Iris pseudacorus not a Lily at all. There is also form of Iris pseudacorus called ‘Bastardii' which I'm guessing was probably named by a lover of Lilies!


Salvias
Penstemons
Lavender The rabbit eared kind

Asparagus
Lilacs

Spuds are back 

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