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.
Thursday 8th January, 2015
Hi
Welcome to 2015 everyone. I want to send out a big thank you to all of you who sent us your well wishes for Christmas and the New Year. It is humbling to receive so many. I hope you have all managed to have a good break and that your plants and gardens aren't looking too much the worse for wear from your time away from them if you were lucky enough to travel.
Just in for the edible garden
Rhubarb is arguably one of the most delicious joys of summer and fall, and one of the most anticipated harbingers of spring. Easy to freeze, you can enjoy it while the snow falls, too. Best of all, the slender red and green stalks contain a singular set of nutrients that make it a healthy vegetable.
Using the premise that rhubarb is one of the oldest and best-known traditional Chinese medicines, science researchers tested it against the Coxsackie virus (named for a town in New York) which is also known as foot-and-mouth disease. A rhubarb root extract showed "significant inhibitory" effects against the disease, leading to the conclusion that further health benefits from rhubarb on a broad scale could have potential. Sounds like a great time to start having it for breakfast!
Rhubarb contains antioxidants which help to fight off disease. It apparently can help lower cholesterol, boosting your heart health. The stalks are a great source of fibre, benefiting your digestive health and these also contain vitamin K, an essential property that helps with blood clotting, protecting the bones and help maintain liver and prostate health.
Rhubarb is also a good source of vitamin C (great for a healthy immune system),calcium, potassium and magnesium. It is also a versatile ingredient for some delicious recipes. Have a go at the easy ones on our website under the 'What's Cooking' section on Sweets you will find Rhubarb Pie, Rhubarb Muffins made by Pete (I can recommend these) and the Maple Rhubarb Pie Crumble.
The 'Just arrived' section on our website is filled with edible plants this week, must be all this lovely summer weather and outdoor eating making us think of what yummies we can grow.
Crimson crumble and Ruby Red are the latest and greatest of the new Rhubarbs. Their stalks are vibrantly red with the colour even travelling up into the veins of the leaf in Crimson Crumble. If you are looking to zest up your rhubarb pie then don't go past these. We also have Raspberry and current plants, passionfruit, different varieties of Thyme as well as Curled Parsley, Lemon Grass, Fennel, Curry, Chives and a number of different Basils. Not to be forgotten are the rosemary, both upright and prostrate, and passion fruit. I was quite taken with the delicious aroma wafting up from these Thyme and Basil plants as I prepared them for display.
Thyme, either in its fresh or dried form, should be added toward the end of the cooking process since heat can easily cause a loss of its delicate flavour. In ancient Greece, thyme was widely used for its aromatic qualities, being burned as incense in sacred temples. Thyme was also a symbol of courage and admiration with the phrase "the smell of thyme" being a saying that reflected praise unto its subject. Thyme's association with bravery continued throughout medieval times when it was a ritual for women to give their knights a scarf that had a sprig of thyme placed over an embroidered bee.
Rosemary The 'wonder-herb' rosemary has been used variously as a medicine, food preservative, stimulant, memory enhancer, and of course as a flavoursome cooking ingredient. Hungary water was first invented for a Queen of Hungary to 'renovate vitality of paralysed limbs'. It was used externally and prepared by mixing 180g of fresh rosemary tops in full flower into a liter of fresh rosemary tops in full flower into a liter of spirits of wine. Leave to stand for four days then distill. It is also supposed to work as a remedy against gout if rubbed vigorously on hands and feet.
New to us
We have managed to get some of the new Hydrangea Paniculata 'Levana' a gorgeous new tall variety with large white conical flowers that top spikes up to 2 meters tall. This stunning plant deserves to be given the room it needs to display itself in all it's finery of stunning whiteness.
Hot Spot Colour
Salvia are sun lovers which are excellent additions to well drained perennial gardens. There are so many sizes and forms that there is one for every garden situation. You can combine meadow and garden sage and their hybrids with yuccas, yarrows (Achillea), catmints (Nepeta), stonecrops (Sedum), black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), daylilies (Hemerocallis), Coreopsis, daisies and mums (Chrysanthemum), and ornamental grasses.
Plant culinary sage in herb gardens or with ornamentals.
In borders you can combine autumn sage with verbenas, winecups (Callirhoe), lavenders (Lavandula), sundrops (Calylophus), ornamental onions (Allium), asters, yuccas, and grasses.
Large species such as anise sage look great with tropicals like cannas, elephant ears, and coleuses. All sages respond well to container culture. Contrast their rich colors with filamentous bronze New Zealand hairy sedge (Carex comans ‘Bronze’), ever-blooming diascias, and bold African daisy hybrids (Gazanias).
Hibiscus Whether it’s deciduous or evergreen, large or small, any hibiscus plant you see will undoubtedly catch your eye with their glorious and stunning flowers. And despite being relatively widespread, they always look special.
Jacaranda the most stunning blue flowering tree. Known also as a fern tree the Jacaranda is grown in almost every part of the world where there is no risk of frost. While established trees can tolerate short periods of low temperatures with little or no damage it is imperative that you protect the young tree from the frost.
Yucca Garlands Gold has come to us as a limited quantity grade. They are beautiful specimens and are a delightful contrast to many of the colours in you garden already. A striking plant for pot or bed delivering a stunning tall floral spike made of crisp white florets. A gorgeous contrast Delphinium Blue Butterfly.
Michaelias have started to arrive, we still have some grown on plants from last season which are a lovely big grade now and some new ones have just arrived.
Abutilon or Chinese Lantern trees as they known are now in stock. These are
.
Housekeeping
Newsletter
You can view this newsletter and most earlier copies on our website under the 'What's Growing On' section.
Look in then Log in to shop online
We have noticed that a large number of people ordering online have multiple accounts with Wairere. This happens when you don't log in to do your shopping with us. Could you help us out by Logging into your account before adding things to your shopping cart. This will ensure that your transactions are correctly recorded to your account and it will save you having to enter your details over and over again.Thanking you in advance for your effort to 'Look In then Log In'.
2015 tree and rose orders
We are now taking orders for roses and trees for this coming season. These orders help us determine how many trees and roses we need to purchase to meet your requirements so if you have a particular requirement or variety of tree or rose you require then please order it online to show your interest.
A drone was bought to Wairere and used to take aerial footage of the gardens, lakes and nursery. This is available for viewing on our website and on our facebook page. Don't forget to like our facebook page in order to get our latest information and add the webpage to your favourites for ease of access.
Love your plants and don't forget that watering the plants planted in the ground deeply once a week is much better for them than shallow waterings more often. Pot plants should be free draining and check in the top
5cm of soil to ensure they aren't being waterlogged.
Anniversary weekend has arrived for Auckland and Hamilton residents and so its a long weekend for us and its forecast to be a fine one. If you are going away have a great weekend and be careful out there on the roads. If you are at home enjoying having 3 days off and doing a bit of gardening, have fun and remember...
We are open all weekend including Monday 8.30 am to 5 pm as usual so if you have a hankering to come out then we'll be here, our garden is open for you to walk around and get ideas or to just take in the serenity and beauty. Coffee is not served on site so pick one up before you arrive.
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.
Archived by year 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
2015 Newsletters...
..... We're back
Settling In (29th January, 2015)
Summer colour (30th January, 2015)
Fabulous Feb (6th February, 2015)
Roses on sale (16th February, 2015)
stevia (20th February, 2015)
Cheeky Climbers (6th March, 2015)
Michelias and Camellias (11th March, 2015)
Living fences (20th March, 2015)
Easter is nearly here (25th March, 2015)
Mourning the end of summer? (2nd April, 2015)
SALE NOW ON!!! (8th April, 2015)
Autumn Harvest (17th April, 2015)
What to do with all those leaves. (22nd April, 2015)
Autumn Flowers (1st May, 2015)
Sunday Mothers Day (8th May, 2015)
Colours of Autumn (15th May, 2015)
Always a project (22nd May, 2015)
Rose potting (23rd May, 2015)
Clip n Snip (4th June, 2015)
Roses Galore (14th June, 2015)
Rose Climbers (19th June, 2015)
Its Time to prune (3rd July, 2015)
Like a candy shop (11th July, 2015)
The pruning session (16th July, 2015)
Red and white stems (24th July, 2015)
Rose pruning Thur and Fri (24th July, 2015)
Winter Colour (31st July, 2015)
Time to feed (9th August, 2015)
Magnolias (20th August, 2015)
Gardeners work is never done (25th August, 2015)
Till the cows come home, or get shoooood away! (28th August, 2015)
Topiary Art (11th September, 2015)
Tosca in spring (19th September, 2015)
An extra hour (25th September, 2015)
The first Friday in October (2nd October, 2015)
Pretties Galore (9th October, 2015)
Frantic Fridays (16th October, 2015)
geraniums are in (20th October, 2015)
November events (31st October, 2015)
Movember (9th November, 2015)
Christmas is coming (20th November, 2015)
Harry was blowing in the wind (26th November, 2015)
December (3rd December, 2015)
Chilli out for Christmas (18th December, 2015)
HL Nurseries Limited t/a Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: