Friday 8th May, 2015
Hi
Where would we be without our Mothers and isn't it way cool to have a day to celebrate what our mothers do for us all. I know that my Mum is always there for us kids, well (Laugh out loud) we are now all in our fifties well nearly all of us, think that my sister has a year or two to go yet.
Gosh when the going got tough quite a few years back my mum Joy trumped up with some cash to get us through the tight months. In her 70's now she is still on the payroll here making sure that all the office are clean and tidy for the team here. Joy still takes home all the tea towels and towels and washes them and then brings them all back lovely and clean, makes sure that we don't run out of tea, coffee and sugar. Its all those little bits that take time and there they are all attended to and I wouldn't like to take it for granted. Really... we will all miss it when she decides enough is enough.. sometime we all need a little Joy in our lives.
Now Harrys Mum Dora unfortunately passed away early this year but I can tell you a tale of when we had a champagne brekky in our garden for a couple of hundred people and she was there in the bathroom on her hands and knees rinsing all the dishes.... such a hard working lady and she was always there for us too.
Anthonys' Mum is just as supportive of Anthony and as you would expect, does all those special things that only mothers do.
Now I not one to buy a big expensive pressie but my mum is a keen gardener too, so a nice flowery plant is quite often just the ticket. More often than not though we have all the mothers (Anthony's mother too Wairere's garden designer) for a Mothers Day dinner. Roast lamb is on the menu.... Oldies don't do many roasts at their age. A cider for starters and a few glasses of Vino (Sauv blanc to be precise) will ensure Joy stays the night and Anthony's mum likes a glass of red with dinner too.
All things pink for mothers day
I'm going to stick my neck out and say that all girls like pink well maybe not but hey the theme for this email for Mothers Day is going to be pink... You'd be amazed at how many plants are in flower at this time of the year and they just happen to be pink as well. I will say that there are many Camellia's that are in flower right now and one that arrived in today was a real cutie called Paradise Petite a dwarf one with wait for it.... pink flowers..
Next on my list is a
Hebe called First Light named I sure after that very special pink morning glow as the sun comes up. Its a ground cover style hebe with very pretty first light flowers.
Luculias are a fav especially with our plant collectors or older gardeners who know what they are. Have to say that they are not always there to purchase and make for a larger shrub of around 2 metres. Beautifully fragrant flowers in gorgeous pink.
Well I couldn't resist throwing up these brand new
Azaleas again.... these are more tolerant of higher light than say traditional Azaleas and they come in a pretty range of pink. Well there are a few other shades as well but lets concentrate on the pink ones and there is one out there that is well a nice hot pink and of course there is salmon pink as well. We have a hedge of the
Azalea pink kirin in the garden and that is always stunning when its in flower.
Grevillea Pink Midget is really pink and that is unusual for a Grevillea. I always think of those Aussie natives being quite hot colours but this Pink midget is quite a soft pink and its really very sweet, Great for a hot, sunny spot in the garden and looks to have a shrubby ground covery form.
Tea trees or manukas and we have a ground cover or weeping form call Blushing star, well its just smothered in a mass of stunning pink flowers... I have a hankering to plant a mass of these in the garden around the pond. one to suppress the weeds and next just cause it looks so cool.
Its like this, if youir roses are in full flower then enjoy them. Dont dead head them as they finish but rather let them set hips or seed and become manky. when they are in that stage of being part leafless then its time that you could start that winter spray regime. Lime sulphur will make your rose lose their leaves and quite quickly and this is a good thing. I think that its important to force those roses to rest and become dormant so that when spring comes around they are into it.
The Waikato is not so cold and so your roses potentially could keep on flowering. Lime sulphur is the strongest spray but be warned that it smells like Rotorua and can stain building so be cautious. Copper Oxychloride and Conqueror oil are the next best sprays for the winter clean up of fungal spore and insect eggs but do several applications as one won't be enough.
Last point is that some do a combination of both sprays but leave a couple of weeks between the lime and the copper as they are incompatible with each other. Winter spray regime is a good call for all pip and stone fruit as well so you could do them all togather.. Why do this? .... It gets rid of all the bugs lurking under the bark, the sprays are realtively safe to use and means that you get spring off to a clean start.
Buxus Blight
This weather is perfect for this fungal infection of our favorite hedging plant. I would spray your Box hedging with copper oxychloride now to help give some protection. Copper will help put a protective coat over the leaves and harden the leaf cuticle to combat this fungal problem. A good programme if your hedges could be susceptible is to spray prior to rain and perhaps again after rain particularly if growth is soft.
Its a bit of a story but one of our clients from the lily society organised this shipment of bulbs of a Lily that I don't think has been in NZ before. The bulbs have been imported in a frozen state and arrived here in NZ thawed which means that they had to be planted. They are nicely up and away but slightly out of season and should flower sometime before we get too deep in winter. Check Lankom out. Its unusual and very pretty.
I must just quickly mention this great product now as we quickly move to the coolest month. Spray over those sensitive leaves and it will help give protection to approx -3 and for all of the winter. Now I was speaking to a grower and he swears by the stuff. They do a couple of applications two weeks apart prior to the frosts and reckon that thatdoes the trick. We use it ourselves over the soft leaves of all the citrus. I have even used it on plants that have just been lifted to reduce water loss so that they don't drop all their leaves.
It was great to get some rain today as Harry had just dressed the lawns here with bioboost and so that will start to wash in nicely. We had just got to the point where we would have had to water the nursery and the rain does it so much better.
Take the time to spend with Mum this weekend, you could even come out to the nursery and check out pink flowers LOL
If you are in the garden have fun and have a great weekend!!!
Cheers
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend where even
GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag
