The deciduous Rhododendrons  Azaleas

I know that Im late with this email this week but Friday was wet and stormy and there were a heap of plants for Ang and myself to get away. Its a bit of a process as they all have to be scanned and measured and then put away so that they can go online for sale. Before I knew it was 3pm and I was sitting at the computer with my mind a complete blank. Today was the third  time that time that I was going to write about Ilam Azaleas and I was thinking, how was I going to make it fresh and different. I did start on about how Azaleas were all now Rhododendrons and then looked back only to find that this had all been done before.

We were going to some friends for dinner and I suddenly realized that I hadn't checked any emails all day and hurriedly did  so before going out and what did I find but a little piece of history from my wonderful colleague Chris.

The moral of the story is to check your in box more often .....

              

Below is some blurb on Deciduous Azaleas which is a little bit long winded but interesting as to the History of the plants in NZ - especially the Ilam hybrids which is mainly what we grow.

Most of us don't realize what has been involved in some of the glorious plants that we take for granted today. Hence these stories become so important - Chris

It is thanks to the work of two dedicated New Zealand Horticulturists during the 1950s that we have access to so many of these beautiful members of the Rhododendron family but first a journey through history.

Many deciduous Azaleas were initially bred in Ghent, Belgium during the 1800s. At Knap Hill Nursery in England, Anthony Waterer, continued cross-breeding Azaleas using the Ghent Azaleas as a starting point. The resultant seedlings were then acquired by another English nursery in the 1900s and Lionel de Rothschild of Exbury collected and continued developing deciduous Azaleas from these seedlings. The collection all but disappeared during the troubled times of World War II but thanks to Edgar Stead of Ilam, Christchurch, New Zealand combinations of Ghent, Knap Hill and Exbury hybrids were crossed with species to create what we now know as Ilam Azaleas.

His work was continued on by Dr J S Yeates who was the first President of the N.Z. Rhododendron Society. Many fine examples of Deciduous Azaleas can be seen at Heritage Park, Kimbolton which is the National Garden of the N.Z. Rhododendron Society and also at Cross Hills Rhododendron Garden. As a memorial to the work of Dr Yeates the Kimbolton Rhododendron Society offer a scholarship to horticultural students who wish to study plants in the Manawatu area.

So when you plant one of these flamboyant beauties you are planting an important part of N.Z.'shorticultural history.

Follow this link to check out our web page of Ilam Azaleas

New in this week

Azalea High Sierra and Azalea Popcorn. These Azaleas are both Kirin types and have stunning white flowers and beautiful green foliage. As with most Azaleas they prefer moist peaty or well composted soil and like being in dapple light or the cast shade of other trees

White Heron Kaka Beak   Clianthus Kaka King

There have been quite a few asking after the white Kakabeak lately and harry managed to grab some plants for us here at the nursery.  Beautiful lacy foliage  andforms a shrub of approx 2 metres with these stunning flowers in red and white.

       

 

Honeysuckle  or Lonicera,  Here we have a couple of quite robust climbers that have the most delightful, fragrant flowers. Quite a classic climber often seen in English gardens  and well worth growing on a sunny wall or fence here. A couple of varieties in to choose from.

Protea Limelight and Pink Ice.

These stunning flowers are just awesome for picking and seem to last forever inside. They will thrive in a hot sunny and dry spot in the garden. Keep those flowers picked and good haircut after flowering will keep the bush nice and compact instead of it getting all tall and leggy.

 

        

Who doesn't love Lavender?

I just adore Lavender and I have to be guilty to say that the English type ones are my favourites. Those tall spikes of fragrant flowers that can be dried. The first of the English style lavenders have arrived in this week and we have good stocks of the smaller Foveaux storm and also a taller variety called Pacific Blue. I have been told by our supplier that our Grosso Lavender won't be ready until mid November and Pacific Blue would be a good substitute if youre looking to get these in now

Herbs & Veges

We don't have these available on line but we do have  quite a range of potted veg and punnets available in the garden centre. The roses are starting to show colour and my Wisteria trees in the garden are in full flower right now . Come on out and check it all out. Its the last weekend of the school hols so make the most of it

      

You can't buy talking Gnomes here but you can check out the last TV advert and all the previous ones by following this link. It gave me a laugh....  especially revisiting all the old adverts over the past years. TV adverts click here 

 

Take care and have a great weekend.

Cheers

Make it a Wairere weekend where even GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag