Friday 18th April, 2014
Gold bands, red carpets and who's who....... Royal Fever!
Hi
Harry and Tony returned from the Avantidrome in Cambridge on cloud nine. A huge thanks to The Radio Network for having the tickets in the draw of which we won one of.
They had gold bands on their wrists and walked the red carpet to their seats and according to Harry, had one of the best spots there, with great views. They wined, dined and talked with all the who's who to talk to and came back full of Royal Fever. I said that he owed me but you can imagine the response to that!!!! Now I know that Anthony (Wairere's Garden designer) who went with Harry managed a few pics and they are on Wairere's and Garden Graphix's face book page should you wish to check them out .
Click here Wairere Nursery and here for
Garden GraphixProject for the week. Taming the
RoseWho is Bracteata? Well Bracteata is a species
rose that has grown up between the old shop and our staffroom and spread itself over the both rooves. Its been there for absolute years and has always been a favourite rose of mine. I just love single flowered roses. Now Bracteata is a once flowering rose and I'm going to put it out there for roses that flower the once. Their flowering is usually spectacular and abundant or for an amazingly long time. In the case of Bracteata, it doesn't start flowering until maybe December but it flowers all summer and still had flowers on it until yesterday LOL.
We decided that maybe it had just become a little too big and that it was time to go...... besides we are thinking to give this area a bit of a face lift. Harry reckons he can achieve everything with the tractor and so with a few tactical cuts, a chain and the tractor we were just going to lift the rose in two pieces and drag it down the road. Yeah Right !!!!
No way Jose' ... that rose wasn't budging, so up onto the roof I got and started cutting and sawing to make a hole. It was now that I learnt that the rose had layered itself in the detritus build up on the rooves and we had several quite robust roses with some quite serious roots happening in the roof grooves and well I haven't quite got to the gutter yet, but the size trunk growing out of there is enormous. I couldn't believe that there was so much root growth in what essentially just composted leaves.
Two days of sawing and chopping and dropping over the edge, pieces of the prickliest rose that you can imagine has left my hands tender and full of rose prickles. I have always prided myself that after 30 years of handling roses that I'm pretty good at not getting too many prickles but I will be busy with a needle for the next few evenings if I can see them.
I did put a couple of pics up on face book,
check here, and will put the finished result up when I complete the job next week.
While I was up there on the roof and the new man (Elijah) was dispatching all the rose prunings in pouring rain, the rest of the team were busily putting away all the new stock in for the week.
Now Citrus of all kinds are pretty easy to grow and crop here in the Waikato and on the whole take very little work. Copper and spraying Oil used approx 4 times a year will keep your citrus free from pests and diseases and are quite safe to apply. Citrus even make for good pot and tub plants if you are short of space.
Coprosmas give great winter foliage colour and are pretty easy to grow, They form, shrubs of up to two metres and are easily kept under control from regular clipping. In fact I would say that a good haircut every now and then with these will keep the looking at their best. New in this week we have Golden Glow, Karo red and Lemon N lime.
There are quite a few ground cover
Coprosmas here that are on sale in the sales area. Great for suppressing weeds and look neat when contrasted with other colour foliage.
Grevilleas are back on board this week too so check these out online too.
Grevilleas are natives from across the ditch and usually love all spots that are very sunny and tolerant of quite dry conditions.
Heuchera Amethyst this is a really good and robust heuchera and really good value at $16.99 with these just $10.00
Ladys Mantle a very nice perennial that will make a cool border or look neat mass planted, normally $10.99 these just $6.99
Ajuga Black Scallop. One of the latest in the bugle cultivars with a small dark almost black like leaf normally $16.99 these for the sale are just $6.99
Feijoa Unique Its Feijoa time and we have planty of great plants for sale. Unique has a great reputation of large tasty fruit and easily grown. Eat fresh or bottle for later in the year. Great plants normally $19.99 now just $12.99
Hebe diosmifolia, one of my favorite Hebes as they tend to stay quite compact for years. you could even use this one for an informal small hedge to up to say a metre. normally $19.99 these are at half price.
It started with pollarding (a severe from of pruning of trees, typically performed on Planes) the Plane trees so that we wouldn't have to rake all the leaves as they fall but rather remove all the seasons growth with leaves intact. I like to take the easiest options because there are a lot of leaves around the nursery to rake up these days. But as you know one task leads to the next, we removed the old pitto hedge that I planted 25 years ago, which led to the removal of the rose in the piece written above.. Once all the renovation work is done then get onto the plantings...
What a relief to have the rain as this makes it the best time of year to plant anything that you can get your hands on. Its also time to make those changes that you have wanted to make in the garden. Technically to move trees is really a winter project when they are fully dormant and the proper way is to wrench them now and then move them when they have lost their leaves. For those that don't know wrenching is the process where you cut the roots with a spade and leave the plant there to regenerate new roots within the area close to the trunk I have several projects in the garden and plants that I want to move and with the short days and now moist soil I will consider doing these now. If you are moving anything you should make sure that you cut back any soft growth that may have the potential to wilt and shift and water in well.
Roses are a different kettle of dish and resist the temptation to cut them back even if you move them so hopefully they wont regrow or the proper time is to prune and move in the coldest month of winter, usually July in the Waikato.
Green crops like Mustard and Lupins. Its now the time to be planting these to fallow areas of the vege garden or just plant them to give a natural boost to the garden. when they are mature or about to flower then is time to dig them into the garden. Double dig them down so that they are below the roots of new plants in and will have decomposed by the time the new roots are down.
Garlic both Printanor and Elephant..., We have just had a blood moon and the same moon is full tonight and its tracking to the shortest day so grab some garlic for planting.... Its time
Strawberries are best planted in winter believe it or not so get in and pre order yours, If you require a bulk amount then please just email us direct
Housekeeping
Today being Good Friday we are closed. We will be open all the rest of the break including Easter Sunday and Monday from 8.30 to 5pm. We will also be closed for morning of Anzac day but open again in the afternoon until 5pm. Lol you will be still able to shop online today being Good Friday.Unfortunately there will be no dispatch between Easter and Anzac as the week is just too short but all will return to normal the following week.
A long weekend, followed by a very short week and another long weekend so that has to be all good. Take care if going away for the weekend and enjoy the long breaks as its will be a while before the next one. School holidays are also on the go so enjoy time with the kids. Its perfect weather for gardening well once this cyclone is out of the way as the ground should now be moist and you can make all those changes.
Take care and a happy and safe Easter
Cheers
Lloyd, Harry and the team
Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, RD 1, Hamilton
