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 9th June, 2016
Hi
Making roses is quite a fascinating process...
Its quite the process, and I have written about it before, but its really quite fascinating. It was just the other day while we were at the potting bench I was recalling the events to produce a rose bush or standard. I must admit that its been more than a few years that I was actively involved in the production but I imagine that the actual process is still the same.
Rosa Multiflora is the species of rose that is commonly grown for the rootstock and its a crop in its own right. The grower probably has a bed dedicated to grow Rosa Multiflora and my guess is that most reputable growers would need approx 30 000 to 50 000 root stocks. It must take quite a few years for that stock bed to get big enough to produce those numbers.
Now the rootstock rose naturally produces really long canes which are harvested and cut into appropriate lengths, approx 20cm for a normal rose and 50 and 80 cm for standards. This is done by bundling the stock and cutting them up with a band saw. Next is the tedious job of blinding which is the removal of all the buds except for the top one. A sharp knife is used for this task and the careful cut must be not too deep to affect the strength of the stock and not too shallow that an unwanted bud grows. Did you know that beside the bud that you see there are two others that you don't see and if you don't go deep enough one of these hidden buds will grow.
These rootstocks would be pushed into sand and sat on bottom heat (like an electric blanket )for the base to callus, this is so that the stock will grow roots once into the soil. When they are ready they will be lined out into plastic mulch (polythene) with the remaining bud left to grow..... a bit like fields of commercial strawberries
The next main step is to T bud these rootstocks, usually done in the summer with one tiny bud from stems of the rose varieties that the grower wants to produce. T budding is where you cut a T in the bark or outer layer of the rootstock with a knife that has a spatula on the back side. with the spatula part you open the T. Using the blade of the knife you take the stem of the rose you want and thinly slice of one bud and slip it, the right way up, into the now open T cut. The potential new rose is either tied or patched firmly closed so that all the right layers can knit and grow together.
The final steps is to remove the one bud left on the rootstock to force the scion bud (rose bud inserted into the T cut) to grow. Once the rose buds are away the newly developing rose shoot has to be headed back to force the new rose to bush up into the plants that are the new seasons ones in store right now.
The complete cycle is a two year process and from this point it will take approx another three years in your garden for the rose bush to reach its full size and maturity.
First year for David Austins Wollerton Hall
Wollerton Old Hall .... first time for us with this rose.... sumptuous fragrant buttery yellow fading to creamy yellow. This produces a large bush or can be trained as a small climber. Be in quick as there aren't many of this one!
Englands Rose we had this last year but is still quite a newbie. Glowing pink and a very healthy bush. In fact it was just so healthy in the nursery that it really stood out.
Princess Anne also fairly new and a must have, just gorgeous in deep pink.
Acapella new for the season, gorgeous cherry colour with silver on the reverse, closest thing to an Osiris rose here in NZ and fragrant to boot.
Christchurch Remembers Stunning bright red rose, winner of the NZ top rose award at the 2016 NZRS trials, named in honour of those affected by the earthquakes.
Claire Austin has been around for a few years now but we never usually have enough of this one. One of David Austins famous white roses.
Hopefully you have been enjoying the recent facebook posts of some of our roses. They are all available at the nursery now and easy links have been included in the posts for easy purchasing online. If you haven't seen them you may want to turn your notifications back on as there are some beautiful roses on display there for you to enjoy.
Rose stuff with the Rose society....
What do you want to know about roses???? How to prune? Where to cut? When to feed? What are really good doers... or what does it take to grow a winning bloom? The fabulous team from the Rose Society are going to be in the nursery to take care of any questions that you may have...
Sat 25/6 11am to 1pm Sun 26/6 1pm- 3pm
Thurs 7/7 11am to 1pm
Sat 16/7 1pm to 3pm Sun 17/7 11am to 1pm
Register your interest by emailing lloyd@wairere.co.nz so that we have some idea of how many could be coming. Alternatively you can indicate that you are coming to the first session by clicking the 'Going' button on the appropriate event which you can find in the upcoming events section on our facebook page. These session will be on whether its frost, rain hail or sunshine.
Little Camellias .....not all things in life have to be large!!
Not all Camellias grow large, so I would like to introduce you to some of the tiny ones.. of which Baby Bear is probably one of my favourites. I have some plants of Baby bear that are planted in our garden and they must be some 20 odd years old now and are currently at the grand height of maybe not quite a metre.. Such a good choice for a container but plant them in a suitable small container and pot up in size as they grow.
Sweet Emily Kate has a gorgeous double flower and quite a neat arching form, Quintessence has a sweet smelling light pink to white flower and a definite arching habit. Moonlight Magic has a leaf that I think is almost Japonica in style and a neat compact habit with a sweet semi double pure white flower. One that I think I would like to try is Itty Bit which has a cute pink flower and a I guess will fill out to make a cool small shrub. If you are looking for a small white variety then you can't miss
What gets planted in the middle of Winter.....
Strawberries and the cultivar is Camarosa and these have finally arrived. They have all been topped and tailed and are ready to pop into the garden. Neatly bundled in to bundles of 10. Its best to plant these in the winter so that the plants are well established and producing fruits prior to Christmas
Give them good rich soil.
Daphnes ...New seasons Daphne have just come in, I think that Ang and her team only put them away this week.. These are the odora leucanthe which is the classic or tradition bush form. Both the pink and the white ones and all are deliciously fragrant. Daphne can be a bit fussy about where it gets planted. Choose a position that gets the morning sun and not the baking, afternoon rays. I will add that good rich soil that is neither too wet nor too dry will also get the thumbs up from our beloved Daphne. If you are after the more sprawly form of Daphne then these are still to come in and you are welcome to pre order these. Same sweet fragrance with pink blooms that are maybe slightly deeper in shade than the pink bushy form.
Lemons n Limes I am sure that Harry bought these because they are just so large and bushy and most of the Meyer lemons even have fruit on them.Two types of limes, one being Bearrs which is a form of Tahitian and the other is straight Tahitian. Open ground produced which is why the plants are so chunky and balled and wrapped in hessian which makes planting even easier. Dig a hole and plant in the wrapping, just remember to cut the string.
Haven't had this selection of these different fruits for quite a while and I must admit that I am tempted to put a few of these in myself!!! Black , Plum pink and strawberry.
In the Nursery
We have been flat tack potting roses and I see that there is only one box left to tackle which should be a breeze... Its been about three weeks since we started and the whole process for us has gone so smoothly. New seasons trees arrived on Wed just gone and so we are into those big time now with yesterday seeing us with many flowering cherries all bagged up. A call yesterday to say that a container of trees will arrive next Tuesday so that's our next two to three weeks tied up bagging... then hopefully nursery life will return to normal. Well, as close too as possible.
If you are home in the garden and making it tidy resist the temptation to prune your roses. Especially if you are in the Waikato as it is way to warm here, so leave the task until the end of July or even August. The only rule is that you must prune prior to bud burst.....
We are in shop this weekend and so potting will have ceased for the weekend and then back into it on Monday. However you are spending your weekend, sports, cafes or just relaxing at home. Have a great one!!!!
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 |
2016 Newsletters...
Picnic....ing in the shade (28th January, 2016)
Wairere Newsletter 5th feb (3rd February, 2016)
To Run or Not to Run... (19th February, 2016)
Wairere Newsletter 02 Mar (1st March, 2016)
Camellia time (11th March, 2016)
Magnolia or Michelia (17th March, 2016)
Easter weekend (24th March, 2016)
HW or LW Trees (3rd April, 2016)
Evergreen Trees (13th May, 2016)
All about shrubs (20th May, 2016)
Rose Time (27th May, 2016)
Frosty Friday (3rd June, 2016)
..... Tiny Camellias
Gorgeous Trees (24th June, 2016)
wet wet wet (1st July, 2016)
Burgundy foliage (8th July, 2016)
Fruit trees abound (15th July, 2016)
Fruit Tree Pruning and Flowering Cherries (21st July, 2016)
Cider apples (29th July, 2016)
August already (4th August, 2016)
wood pigeons (7th August, 2016)
Feed Time (19th August, 2016)
Magnolia's and Cider Apples (20th August, 2016)
its Official (2nd September, 2016)
Spring shrubs (7th September, 2016)
Spring Shrubs2 (7th September, 2016)
Spring Shrubs 2 (7th September, 2016)
Tricky Tasks (16th September, 2016)
climbers (23rd September, 2016)
Wairere Newsletter 23 Sep (23rd September, 2016)
Beards are in vogue (23rd September, 2016)
Gin Oclock (14th October, 2016)
????Kumaras are in (20th October, 2016)
summer is coming (27th October, 2016)
Plants for eating (2nd November, 2016)
November 11 (10th November, 2016)
Hamilton Gardens (17th November, 2016)
Xmas Trees (22nd November, 2016)
Holly (2nd December, 2016)
Xmas Brekkie (9th December, 2016)
Merry Xmas (16th December, 2016)
HL Nurseries Limited t/a Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: