Friday 15th May, 2015
Hi
Colours of Autumn
It never ceases to amaze me how long the leaf drop season spans here in the Waikato. I guess that its because we don't get such a sudden cold period like the South Island, that makes the trees drop their leaves quickly. I know here in the Garden centre that the flowering cherries have mostly dropped all their leaves and that the
Claret ash isn't too far behind. It looks quite cute naked too as I counted some twenty bird nests high up in its branches. There is obviously quite the bird life here in the nursery and there must be be heaps of haunts for nesting and not just the trees. I know that hedges also make great place for nests and I'm happy about that, just not so keen on those that prefer to sneak into gaps in the roof or obscure little places in the potting shed.
The
Tilias down the driveway are probably the worst as they seem to keep dropping forever. I exaggerate but they do for quite an extended time. We did go and get a leaf blower and it sure does the trick but there is a bit of technique required that I have yet to achieve. We gave it a workout the other arvo and it sure was quick and did a way better job than the rake. The lesson learnt that if you get too heavy handed on the throttle, well the leaves fly much further than required. I reckon that we will use it for cleaning up after trimming all our hedges and blow all the cut leaves out from under to have a good clean up. I prefer to get them out otherwise the next southerly just blows them all around the nursery.
Its interesting to note though that some deciduous trees, like as in the
Beech family, tend to hang onto their leaves all winter then drop them just as we go into spring when the new leaves emerge.
Its so pretty looking at the colours of the different trees at the moment.
Liriodendrons, or Tulip trees, and
Ginkgos are looking gorgeous in buttery yellow tones and these two trees have the reputation of such. We don't have any until new stocks arrive but
Nyssa sylvatica or Tulepo guarantee hot Autumn colours in the Waikato oranges and red, they just glow. Maples as a group of trees also provide pretty neat Autumns but not just think of trees and colour
Colour is not just about trees as climbers and shrubs also add to the Autumn palette. The climber
Parthenocissus or either Virginia creeper or Boston Ivy both make for a fiery red display. There are a number of
ornamental grapes like Alocante Bouchet, Vinifera purpurea and Amurensis all colour amazingly well this time of year and in glowing reds. I also just adore the
Oak leaf Hydrangea as it has pretty awesome colours in burgundy reds.
Planting in this squally weather
Mustard and Blue lupins or a mix of both plus a grain is the way to see the empty vege plot through the winter. So easy to sow and so easy to grow and they hide all the weeds or at least stop them from growing in the winter.
Garlic is one that I must get in myself and you don't have to wait for the shortest day, either side is good and if you plant them early then you just get to harvest the garlic earlier. Now the large stuff or the elephant garlic is one of my favs as you only have to peel one clove, well maybe two for dinner, but there is more to this garlic stuff than eating it. They do have pretty cool flowers that are somewhat similar to the sought after alliums.... well not surprisingly as they are related.
Its amazing what you need to plant at this time of year but those delicious strawberries that we all love to eat need to be planted in these chilly weeks. The plan is so that they make lots of root growth so that when spring hits they are out their running making lots of flowers and consequently lots of fruit. Create a mound of beautiful rich soil and compost and plant approx 40 to 50 cm apart. Use a mulch like pea straw around the plants that keeps the fruits all nice and clean
Now if you don't have a huge amount of garden space, strawberries also do well in pots and containers. I have seen them in hanging baskets literally dripping in fruit... Feed them and water them well and the result will be heaps of juicy fruit... New seasons plants are due in next week but order them in advance and we will confirm by email that they are in.
There are a lot of plant names that end in spermum or something similar and so its easy to be confused with the latin Leptospermum, Leucospermum, Trachelospermum and even Osteospermum... Aparently Spermum means seeded or having seed or a seed characteristic. Before I get carry away with that techno stuff Tea tree or Manuka are correctly called
Leptospermums but Tea tree is way easier. These pretty flowering NZ natives are coming into bloom as I write. There are the normal growing sized plants that will attain a small tree of approx 3 metres and then there are the small growing ones that have nana in their name and will reach approx 1 to 1.5 metres.
Another import of frozen lily bulbs has hit the nursery and potted today. Kushi Maya is just stunning but will need a bit of care as it will be flowering a tad out of season. Give us a week or two and then the bulbs will be up and showing in the pots so that their is something to see. The lily experts tell me, that to grow them out of season we will need to keep the plants out of the frost and in a drier spot so that don't get all that autumn/winter rain. The new lilium Lankon plants are looking fab and are certainly coming up well.
June is fast approaching and that means that we will be in the thick of rose potting which is a huge job in itself. Takes us approx 3 weeks to get 14000 odd roses into bags. There are a few jobs to be done before then like get the middle of the garden centre empty so that the roses can be put there when potted but I think that we are onto it. Feel free to send us an email if you want to order anything in particular as they wont be far away now or of course you can order them all online.
Hope that the weather settles for the weekend so that you can get out into the garden
Have fun
Cheers
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend where even
GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag
