The days are getting longer.... do you think ?
Now its all about getting it into ABC order
Its taken about 8 weeks now, but the bulk of the potting is done, roses and the trees. Sure there will be the odd delivery of bare root trees which will perhaps be a day or maybe two to get sorted but nothing like that big container that took the best part of 6 consecutive days of constant potting.
It so nice to be back to some sort of regular and usual routine in the nursery though the big task is to now get the nursery into some sort of order. That means everything logically ordered, for the roses, which we have done already, they all have to be in strict alphabetical sequence. This year is a little different from other years in that, we have all the
David Austin roses togather, the modern
Hybrid teas and
Floribundas in another group,
Rugosas and old fashioned in yet another space and finally the
climbers and
ramblers are on their own.
Next on the agenda is to get all of the fruit trees in order and I think that the team has started with the
Plums, again they are all in ABC order followed by odd ones that need a separate area like the double grafted plum trees and prunes. Once the plums are in order we go through all the other pip and stone fruit doing the same thing. It has to be organised otherwise we can't find anything. Once we have finished all the
fruits its onto the
ornamental trees.
Bare it all..... for everyone to see !!!
When you are naked, its there for all to see....... and I am talking trees!!!. Winter time is definitely the time to see the naked truth of some trees and the first one that springs to mind is the red stemmed maple
Acer senkaki. In the summer you could be forgiven for thinking that its just an ordinary green leaved maple but come winter and naked, well its just hot with red stems that just seem to glow.
While on about hot red stems, the shrubby
Cornus of which it could be said of " looks quite plain ' through the hot months, stripped of its leaves in the winter is just a blaze of vivid red. Now it would be remiss of me if I didn't mention here, its mate or the other shrub like
Cornus which has startling yellow branches. Both these two are so easy to grow and certainly provide winter colour in the garden.
Now if you appreciate bark and trunks like I do (and I won't tell anyone else if you are like minded), then this year we managed to get some the flowering cherry
Felix Jury on Serrula trunks. Serrula cherry has gorgeous bark in that its a lovely glowing coppery brown and peels which is a feature in itself. Then grafted on top, is the flowering Campanulata selection of
Felix Jury with cerise pink clusters of bell flowers which are famed for attracting Tuis.
There is even a few trees of Prunus serrula which would create the bark features in the garden, simple white blossoms will cover this tree in the early spring.
I'm sure that we all know silver birches and one of the main or most known species would be Betula alba pendula which grows tall with gracefully hanging branches. Interestingly enough these birches have brown trunks whilst young or juvenile but this changes into the most striking white. I think that the queen of these would have to be the grafted form of Utilis White spire. The white bark is so white and of course with a grafted tree, well! .... not only stunningly white but uniformity that goes with being cloned. Imagine those pics you have seen of a small grove of these, mass under planted with a cloned winter rose that has white flowers like ivory princess. Icily beautiful.
There is all manner of species and cultivars of birches like Wades Gold, Nigra, Black prince, Papyrifera with different sexy and attractive bark finishes that give a garden scape more than just leaves but texture and style. Quite often these are more slender trees and look their best when planted in groups of at least three or more.
The sweet scents of Winter
Daphne... Everyones scented favourite flower. Now if you have been hanging out to get a new seasons Daphne then they were fresh in yesterday. Both the pink and white are in stock and in two different grades.
Plant your Daphne in rich moist soil that is neither too wet or too dry and gets the morning sun but not the hot afternoon sun. Usually likes a well lit south to eastern spot where it loses the direct sun from around midday onwards.
There is more to Daphne that just the traditional form that we all know so well...Daphne Bohlua grows into a tall shrub with a small version of the classic Daphne flower but equally as fragrant.
Daphne Genkwa is a small deciduous and shrubby bush that has mauve lilac flowers and is one for those that want something different in from the Daphnme family.
Witch hazel or Hamamelis flowers when the weather is cold and frosty and has spidery fragrant flowers that look quite cool over this large growing shrub. A sure sign that its winter LOL. There are three main cultivars that we have in stock right now. Choose from the bright yellow Arnold promise, reddish Diane and coppery yellow Jelena.
Rose help.... This time during the week
The team from the local Rose society are mad keen to share their love of the rose. They have so kindly offered to come to the nursery and be on hand for those that want to know that bit more. Rose pruning.... what ever you want to know on this subject. Rose selection.... what roses are tough and hardy, those that would be excellent garden selections or if your really keen to grow the perfect bloom to show then they are the experts. Come on out and get it from the experts and check out whether they really use umbrellas over their roses to ensure that perfect bloom.
In case you couldn't make last weekend and are keen to have a session during the week then let me know directly and I will see if I can make a time with them, maybe Thurs morn and or Friday just after lunch
If you are keen to attend, then email me by reply an indication to, lloyd@wairere.co.nz, so I can sort the Rose society team with numbers, date and times.
I'm sure that the days are just starting to get a tad longer..... yeeha more time in the day to do some gardening and outside tasks like plant some broad beans and maybe sow some seed for spring planting, well thats my plan. Have a mind to grow some artichokes and fennel and maybe some plants for the display gardens potager. Actually I also need to shift a couple of trees that are in the wrong spot and get all my pruning done so I had better get onto it as this can only be done this time of year.
If you have the weekend off have a good one, if not then have fun at work.
Cheers
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend w
here even
GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag
