Friday 16th October, 2015
Hi
Its always interesting going to work with Anthony as I never quite know what we are in for and every job is always different.
Yesterday was one such day where Anthony had suggested appropriate plants to one of his clients for..... well quite steep bank face.... that he had to quote and organise to be planted.
He did discuss taking ladders to lean against the bank to plant from but I hadn't been taking too much notice until I arrived at the site and looked at the bank with my own eyes. OMG was it ever
steep looking, how are we ever going to get that planted!
Its like all planting jobs, get the plants out and just get stuck in and it all seems to just fall into place....... No harness and abseiling gear needed here, just good perching ability. Take an extra team player to throw the plants up and it was
all over in not too many hours. Anthony went ahead and marked all the planting spots with dazzle so all we had to do was cut through the coconut fibre and dig the holes and get the plant in.
But I did laugh to myself ... Its the only job that I have ever sat down to plant plants... or perhaps better described as rather being perched on the bank.
Full sun and steep banks can be difficult positions to grow plants as they often have quite poor soil conditions. I often suggest dwarf
Agapanthus like Streamliner or I imagine that any of the small growing ones would do the trick. You need to plant enough
plants to cover though as
excluding bare soil will help prevent the weeds from growing and I think that its quite a cool look myself, almost grassy like banks is the
ultimate effect. The thing that I like is that I can spot spray with round up and not kill any of the Agapanthus.
Coprosma Acerosa and its many cultivars are also really good for banks... They grow naturally at the beach in quite sandy positions and as they root through the soil then it could be said that they help hold the banks together.
Other suitable plants involve some of our Aussie natives like the ground cover
Grevilleas of which there are a good variety. Prostrate rosemary are also quite suitable. Take a look at some of the conifer family for instance the
Juniper ground covers of which there are a few like
Conferta and
Procumbens Nana.
Cotoneaster Damerii is a spreading plant that is renown for little white flowers followed by berries.
Arctotis and
Gazanias have to have a mention here too as whilst they may be better for smaller banks they are certainly pretty ground covers.
The trick is to choose a plant that you are happy with and then contrast them in some way, this will create a feature of the bank plants.
I should probably add at this point that I'm not a fan of weed cloth on banks or weed cloth in any situation for that matter. It prevents a natural soil environment from happening and in the scheme of thing it actually creates a physical barrier that prevents your ground cover plants from rooting through and layering which in turn holds the bank.
Now the coconut fibre that we planted through the other day is perfect as it acts as a mulch layer that stops the weather from washing the bank away too severely and doesn't inhibit the plants that we planted from growing into the soil and will turn hold the bank. The coconut fibre does not exclude the light so weed control will be necessary until the plants cover the bank. The coconut fibre layer also attracts particles of organic matter to lodge which will actually benefit the soil
A sheep track across the face would be advantageous so that you could walk across the middle and the weed spray from either side.
Fridays are such busy days and it seems that heaps of new stock always arrives on a Friday and this week has been no exception. The trick is that its all got to be counted, measured,entered into inventory, displayed on the website and put away prior to the weekend.
This Friday has seen the arrival of some 80 Bay standards, beautiful plants and a selected form called Pride of Provence. I think that cloned forms are the best as its means that the leaves are uniform as is the growth habit. Bays are an excellent choice for topiary and or standards as they are tough and hardy plants to grow and get little wrong with then in the way of pest and disease.
You don't just have to trim them into rounds but rather you can create your own shape, make them into cones or squares or even get a few and trim into a hedge on stilts.
These are awesome plants with good solid stems ranging from 90cm to approx 120cm and well developed heads
Buxus Balls and Cones Buxus semp that have been clipped to shaped make for excellent accent plants or full stops by adding all year round structure. We have used cones in the courtyard area around the office and they look way cool. Regular clipping will keep them in shape and the best tools that I have found for the shapes are the
ARS shears that we have in the shop. Nice and light, ultra sharp and a nice angle that really suits clipping cones and balls.
Hostas Keep on arriving as its the time for these to look their most stunning, I mean who can resist those gorgeous leaves. This week
Purple Heart has the most neatest reddish stem and purplish heart at the base of the leaf. For those that just like big then you must have a clump or three of
Empress Wu for dramatic effect.
Bearded Iris Have quite a collection of these here in the nursery now. Be in quick as these don't last long
These are great for a hot sunny spot, they look awesome in flower when planted in mass but remember they do like richness in their soil. Iris's give such wonderful variety in the garden when you include the
Dutch,
Siberian,
Higo Libertia and lets not forget
Dietes as a few examples of other options.
For The Collector
For the cold spots in your garden and if you are a lover of blue flowers
Now
Pulsatilla I have seen in all the gardens in the UK and they are very pretty perennials with almost ferny like foliage and pretty mauve purple flowers. I have never grown
Gentians so can't offer any first hand experience but I do know that they are famous for being awesome blue flowers. Give them a cool run and a well lit but drained possie in the garden.
Gentian Ashiro Shining Blue, Gentian Showtime Velvet Glove (No pic), Pulsatilla Pratensis Purple, Pulsatilla Vulgaris Blue
Ornithogalum Snowflake gives gorgeous large white flowers on thick spikes from spring to summer, they are terrific as cut flowers as they last so long in the vase and look stunning mass planted.
Whats
Cherry is flowering around town right now
Shimidsu Sakura is very pretty and very double flowers being dark pink in the bud and opening out to a blend of soft pinks to almost white. A shimidsu cherry in full flower almost looks pendulous and totally heavy in blossom.
Shirotae Mt Fuji is a double white flower and just gorgeous in full flower. I see also that
Kiku Shidare Sakura the double pink weeping cherry (
Cheals weeping cherry) are also beginning to flower.
Tai haku is another white (similar to Mt Fuji) flowering cherry that would certainly look cool down a driveway or as a specimen in the garden.
Well Friday disappeared in a blur of getting the nursery ready for the weekend so its a Saturday afternoon read this week. Ange told me last night that the
Kumara plants will be in next week so if you are hankering to get Kumaras into the ground then plants will be here just before Labour weekend.
Trust that you will have a safe and fun weekend. Take care
Cheers
Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team
Make it a Wairere weekend w
here even
GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag
