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Saturday 13th November, 2021
Hi
I know that its been a while and I have missed a couple of weeks of emails.. but its been such a hectic time. Spring is a full on period in a nursery such as ours and you almost literally can't keep up with the pace that plants grow at and that means they need constant spacing. Keeping space as they grow maintains ones quality and that has been a bit tricky of late with nearly all of the team involved in either click or collect or dispatch by courier.
Thank goodness that we have been so fortunate to move into Level 3 step 2 which has allowed customers to come and actually choose their own plants even if only from within level three boundaries. My heart goes out to Auckland who have had none or little respite for the last 3 months but finally also now in step two have some retail therapy happening.
I know for a fact that up there in 09sville that the masses have learnt about online shopping as now the courier companies are running many days behind and its too long for us to leave a plant in box for.. hence we are sitting on quite a few orders here in the nursery until this eases and have had to cease taking more order from the big smoke until the situation changes. Hopefully this will be next week or else we will really have to get our thinking caps on. If you are from Auckland and have a current order with us or one that should be coming, these are on hold until we can get plants there in an appropriate time frame.
Curly leaf -Taphrina deformans. We get asked about this one a lot but its pretty much par for the course with stone fruit
Curly leaf is a typical fungal infection of the leaves on peaches and nectarines and the symptoms are a curling reddish blistering of part or the entire leaf. It usually occurs first thing in spring when the leaves start to appear and will be more prevalent in wet muggy conditions which can be quite typical of spring. This year has been quite a wet spring so the incidence has been quite high
Winter clean up sprays of copper and oil or lime sulphur will help with overwintering spores or at least a copper oxychloride prior to bud burst. Wet and humid weather will encourage the disease and spread the spores and disfigured leaves on the ground will harbour spores that will re-infect the tree. regular copper oxychloride sprays before rain and after rain will help control this disease and spray the ground as well. Once the weather becomes more settled then curly leaf becomes less of a problem
I usually say that one has to live with a certain amount of curly leaf and as long as its not a debilitating amount the tree should just grow through this phase. Its just when its really bad then the tree cant photosynthesize properly and then the tree and its produce are compromised.
Whats looking amazing here right now .. Guess roses and your right on target
It was just in the nick of time that we went into 3 step 2 and the roses had just begun to flush in earnest and suddenly we have clients able to check them out for themselves and they are looking just gorgeous. Rose flowers for Africa for the want of a better expression. So its the time to check them out and it doesn't get better than right now, so if you are able its worth a drive just for a look see. I went for a quick walk around and here are some names to tempt you.
City of Hastings healthy and very robust looking, masses of apricot flowers, Floribunda in type
Diamonds Forever again pretty robust, bred by Matthews to celebrate 60 years of rose growing. Beautiful high pointed classic hybrid tea buds in warm shaded soft yellow.
Little Miss Perfect I love the colour of this floribunda rose being what I imagine an oriental pink to be or the description online describes as coral. Masses of flowers and this one from the Somerfield stable.
Looking Good seem to just stand out when one is looking from the paths with blooms that just radiate light pink out to darker pink.. another one from Rob Somerfield, named for and benefits the cancer charity Look Good Feel Better
Hamilton Gardens gorgeous colour, palest apricot bred from the fiery corals of Paddy Stephens. Hybrid tea for those that love a good picking stem
Lumins A creamy white deliciously scented white floribunda which covers itself in blooms. A fantastic addition to any garden.
Kaikoura 2016 Wow what a bright vibrant red. This shrub rose grows generous amounts of velvety blooms and is a strong healthy shrub all round
Serendipity If you like bright yellow fragrant floribundas then Serendipity certainly fits the bill. It comes highly rated and has good disease resistance especially in the foliage as well.
Roses on stems
Its not just the bushes that are looking amazing but there are plenty of standards as well. Just for the newbies, and to clarify, a standard is a bush on approximately 85cm stem. Great as feature planting or for where you want to have annuals or perennials underneath. This morning I checked out...
Angels Delight Std ( standard) was looking gorgeous with orange apricot hybrid tea flowers. Just imagine a whole row of these planted along a path or in a special bed.
Amelia Std was looking special in coral pink. Another rose from the Renaissance Series bred by Poulsen of Denmark. Amelia is free flowering with beautifully formed bloom.
Christchurch Remembers Std will make for a real statement and its such a fabulous red rose that honours those who died in the terrible Christchurch earthquake. Disease resistant healthy bushes. Bred in NZ by Rob Somerfield
Moody Blues Std is that really cool moody shade of blue that meets lilac and mauve. Strong growing and healthy for a rose of this particular shade.
Such Sweet Memories Std is a floribunda with pretty pink shaded to white smaller flowers that mass all over a healthy bushy.. A statement piece for the rose garden not to mention an appropriate name for the right occasion.
Sparkler Std is an abundance of pretty white semi double flowers. Its fine patio growth lends itself to weeping form that is covered in flowers throughout the season
Spirit of hope Std I couldn't walk past these without giving them a mention. Medium blooms of brilliant red on long steams give this variety its well deserved wow factor
Apricot Scentasia Std Last but certainly not least, this roses fragrance and warm apricot colour would make it a prized addition to any pot or garden.
Mop head or lace cap???
Mop head or lace cap, I guess its a bit like a full head of hair or not with some just around the fringes. Both looks are nice. Hydrangeas on the whole are pretty hardy and easy shrubs to grow. They do like good rich, moist soils and the flowers definitely like some protection from the hot afternoon sun as moisture and the sun will burn the blooms, otherwise they are as tough as old boots.
Hydrangea Bridal Bouquet Classic white mop head flowers that look luminous in the shaded parts of the garden
Hydrangea Raspberry Crush A full flower in a very rich almost velvety raspberry red .. even the leaves have a red flavour about their greenness
Hydrangea Blaumeise Aluminium sulphate will keep the blue dancing butterflies around the true flowers true blue
Hydrangea Strawberries and Cream The flowers have an outer halo of rosy red petals surrounding a dainty white centre. Nice lush dark green foliage.
Hydrangea Blue Diamond A fabulous blue that is also a nice compact size, perfect for those smaller areas
Hydrangea Mrs Kumiko A very pretty, frilly serrated mop head with tones of pink and cream that compliment their glossy green foliage really well.
Hydrangea Fireworks This lace cap has large white outer florets which circle a centre of smaller light blue florets, the contrast really makes this variety shine.
Hydrangea Renate Steiniger One of the most popular blue mop heads for a reason, this larger sized plant makes big blue heads which look great in the garden or even in a vase.
Its that time of year
The beetles are on the move again this year chomping their way through trees and shrubs soft new season leaves, on the wing or fly so to speak, leaving behind a tell tale signs of the skeleton of the leaf... obviously the veins of the leaves are a tad tough. The culprits are grass grub, black beetle and bronze beetle. I am not expert enough to know a lot more but I did find all those varieties or colours of beetles in the pool skimmer this morning. You can treat your plants with any caterpillar spray to try and control the beetle population, but as new ones pop out of the paddock each night another way to deter them is to spray the new foliage with neem oil so the leaves become unappetising for them.
Suddenly here in the Waikato it almost feels like summer. 24 degrees and I think we were one of the hotter regions in NZ the other day. It always seems like it sneaks up on you suddenly and one isn't used to these temps...
This also means it's time to keep an eye on all your outdoor pot plants because suddenly they are using a lot of water, it being spring, and while they are growing with the higher temps there is more water loss. I know that we are having to water ours almost every second day right now but it's all relative to how old the plant is in the container. Recently planted pots may not need as much water as more root bound plants. It's always good to let them dry out somewhat before re watering but obviously not to an extreme. Plants like roses in containers in full spring flush and coming up to flower may need watering every day.
If you have saucers under your pots, its not a good idea to have this constantly full of water because then the plant will remain too wet as the water will travel or be drawn into the pot.
Hopefully you have already fed all your existing containers with a slow release pot fertiliser but if not then still do this. When watering always thoroughly water every now and then so that the water runs out of the bottom of the container as this will flush excess soluble salts or ferts right through
Its a wrap for this week as I need to go and finish planting out my vege garden. Take care and have a great weekend, otherwise I may see you in the roses.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
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Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: