Friday 13th June, 2014
Hi
Saved the Pig's Bacon
It was just after 5pm and Cherie was on the work radios frantically calling out " there is a pig on the road" well luckily I still had mine tuned in, so off we all rushed to the nursery back gates . Cars had all come to a screaming halt and there was Cherie with this huge pig who was being friendly, nipping (it seemed a friendly pig) at her butt as it was coming in our nursery back entrance.
Zack our big Alsatian cross had decided that the pig was fair game now that it was inside the property and was snapping at the pigs backside. I was trying to guide this huge pig away from the garden centre and down our right of way where there is a old Taranaki gate, so that we could get the big beast back into next door. Harry had sprinted off to the neighbours to get them to help and they were on they way back across the paddock with treats for the wayward pig. It must a looked quite comical as the rest of the team were in fits of laughter and even had time to take some pics of the rest of us guiding this huge pig back towards it's home. Now that has nothing to do with plants but all I could imagine is what sort of damage would that pig do inside out place as it had made some decent snout movements in the paddock just over the fence.
The
roses are all now potted and we just have started upon the ornamental and fruit trees and these are all produced in a similar manner to the
roses. You can't grow any named tree (or plant) from seed. For example, a
sultan plum won't grow true from seed as it will have had some hanky panky with another
plum. There is a chance that the resulting
plum, maybe be better than
sultan but then again it may be really inferior. This means that they have to be cloned, LOL no sex at all!!!! Some tissue from the plant that you wish to grow is taken and inserted by budding or grafting onto a stock plant (just like roses) and in the case of many stone fruit this is
Golden Queen Peach seedlings.
Golden Queen Peach seedlings are used because they are obtainable in bulk, perform consistently and easily produce a root stock. Just like the roses it takes a year to grow the rootstock and another whole season to produce the tree or plant. The Golden Queen seedlings are first germinated in large outdoor seed beds, they are then lifted and planted into long rows of polythene furrows and allowed to grow to a size of approx a finger's thickness. Similar to the production of roses, budders come and T bud, a bud from the varieties that they want to produce and this can include many stone fruit like
apricots,
plums peaches,
nectarines etc. The top of the
Golden Queen Peach seedling is headed back to force the new clone of bud to grow and produce the tree that we have for sale.
Other
ornamental trees will be produced on sympathetic rootstock so that there is minimal rejection, for example,
maples are probably grafted or T budded onto Acer palmatum seedlings.
These are wrenched or have the roots cut going into Autumn to encourage good root growth around the base of the new tree and then lifted in the winter for dispatch. Growers are so dependent on good weather through the growing season to get large trees and also good weather for lifting and dispatch. The bulk of the trees is still a couple of weeks away though the team has had a taste of some trees so far as the bag size is obviously a tad bigger.
Get Your Fragaria In Now...............No Not Swearing but Strawberries
Have you planted your Fragaria yet? Fragaria x ananassa to be exact, because if you haven't planted any yet, they need to be in now!!! Yes one of our favourite berries ...the
strawberry. These berries that we love to pop into a glass of champers or toss in a berry salad are not actually a berry but technically called an aggregate accessory fruit. Don't you just love that term.... sounds like a handbag to match an outfit. Now get your head around this. Normally the fleshy bit or the part that we eat grows from the plants ovaries but in the case of the
strawberry the fruit grows from the receptacle that holds the ovary. When you look at a strawberry, each of the apparent seeds is actually the ovaries of the flower with a seed inside.
I had to smile the other day as a client came in to collect his
strawberry plants and commented, is that all? is that 10 plants ? I had expected so much more. I can only conclude that he was used to purchasing them potted and in fruit and flower much later in the season. My thoughts are that they will crop so much better if you grab the young plants now and establish them through the winter.
Harry's Deals This Week Include:
Acorus Variegated... or correctly
Gramineus Ogon. I really like these grassy like plants. They always look good and are neat and tidy and look like a cross between a grass and an Iris. Now
Ogon has golden variegated foliage and will help brighten up a spot in the garden. Mass plant or use as accents in the garden. Usually $12.99 these are just $9.99 each.
Cordyline Red Star and
Green Goddess, Cabbage trees of the trunking kind,
Green Goddess as it's name implies has green and quite wide foliage for a cabbage tree and
Red Star is of course a red cultivar. Both these are shorter growing than the classic native cabbage tree and top out at around 2 to 3 metres. These do look really cool planted out in groups of 3,5 and 7's. They are an awesome price too, normally $19.99 for
Red Star and $19.99 for
Green Goddess, these are now a great deal at half price.
Griselinia Broadway Mint with it's freshy wavy minty green leaves is always a winner. These are bushy plants at around 100cm high and great value at $24.99. Plant them and they will almost look instantly hedge like...
Ake Ake. I spied a huge grade of these arriving the other day, of the fresh green species which look great as a stand alone shrub or plant a heap as a hedge. $19.99 down to $14.99 and they must be at least 100cm tall.
Daphne both the traditional pink and also the white. We have been asked for this beautifully fragrant shrub a lot lately and there have been some new plants just arrive this week, yesterday to be exact. They are really nice and bushy too. Remember that Daphne can a bit fussy and likes a spot where it gets the morning sun but not all the afternoon sun, ie semi shade. It like nice, rich, moist soil that's not wet or too dry. Given all that should delight in those delicious, fragrant flowers.
We get spoilt with home baking when we go out on projects with Anthony (Wairere's garden designer) and on one of his latest jobs we were made these delicious cheese cakes. Not sure why they are called cheesecakes but there you go. They were damn delicious with our morning coffee. Originally from the classic Edmonds cook book but a bit of a fav with the client who know doubt makes them from straight out of her head. she also made us Neenish tarts another time but that's a different story.. Click here for the recipe Cheesecakes. Another weekend is looming and we are now quite the way through our potting, well the roses mostly and are doing our best to notify all those that have some on back order. Its a big task to get through all the orders, lol just like the potting of the 14000 odd roses. Next on our agenda are the trees of which the bulk is still yet to arrive.
Gosh that shortest day can't be far away and usually the coldest weather will happen from now on so be ready and get that pruning done. Make sure that you only prune on a fine day to avoid silver leaf. Don't forget when planting new plants not to overdo the compost in the hole as you don't want the soil to be too wet for the new developing roots.
Have a great weekend !
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend where even GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag.
