Saturday 26th March, 2022
Hi
We all know about Feijoas or well I think we do
It seems timely to be writing about
Feijoas, well just in the last week the fruit is just literally starting to fall off the trees. Do you think that it was that 70 mms deluge I asked for last week suddenly fell from the skies and all because I had fertilized the paddock and we so needed it. Some follow up rain would be good as well but with this current humidity everything must be growing at a rate of knots. As I have said before its a pretty amazing planting time.
Feijoas are native to the highlands of southern Brazil, Eastern Paraguay and Northern Argentina, belonging to the Myrtacaeae family with their typical myrtle like flower in bright red. Pineapple Guava, Brazilian Guava are other common names of this fruit that we typically called Feijoa here in New Zealand and incidentally named after a Portuguese naturalist Joao da Silva Feijo.
Feijoas are pretty easy to grow in the scheme of things as they like full sun and are tolerant of many soil conditions other than being too wet. They get little if anything in the way of pests and diseases so in other words the perfect fruiting shrub/small tree for the home gardener and for most the fruit are just delicious. Feijoas are best collected as they fall from the tree as this means that they are ready. I find that I collect ours each day so I know that what has fallen is good for eating.
They also don't have a huge shelf life and so need to be eaten or used in preserves like chutneys, bottled or frozen for future use. Each year I make a couple of fav recipes from Rowan Bishops book "With Relish" being one Feijoa Chutney with lime and smoked paprika and the other is Feijoa Pickle. Saves buying Wattie's tomato sauce and so much tastier.
There is a good range here in the garden centre with three fabulous cultivars in our sales area normally $29.99 down to $24.00 and a pretty fabulous grade to boot.
Feijoa Wiki Tu is a small growing cultivar that has outstanding generous crops of large firm fruit that are ripe around about May. Forms a nice tidy evergreen tree. Can be grown alone but will perform better with a partner.
Feijoa Opal Star This fabulous fruit has a dark skin with a rich and aromatic flavour. A late season variety ripening mid autumn. Self fertile but will do produce better crops with a partner. Plant in a sunny well drained position. The fruit will fall to the ground naturally when ripe.
Feijoa Pounamu a smooth skinned variety of Feijoa that also has smooth juicy flesh with a rich flavour. Pounamu has a high fruit yield and is ready early in the season around the end of March. Plant in a sunny well drained position preferably with another Feijoa for company.
Check out the other
Feijoas that we have online as many of these whilst been around a while now are mostly in a new generation of designer fruit meaning that they have been chosen from breeding programs so you get superior fruit. Check them out by clicking the
link.For the plant nut
I was helping move some plants down the hill with Blair the other day and had to shift the cabbage tree
Broadsword, Oh my word, if you like sexy looking foliage of the Cordyline species then this one is an absolute must. Long and wide with a delightful shade of lime green. I have always been a fan of these Cabbage trees that once belonged to the lily family but now been regrouped in the Asparagaceae family. Plant as a cluster of three at least and let them multi trunk. Just arrived in is some another cordyline of fancy colours called
Raspberry Fountain. Check out this one too.
Luculia grandiflora. Has been around a while, well as long as I have been in hort and longer than that too. Haha.. but we only have this plant from time to time. A tad frost sensitive but in the right area will happily grow. Its claim to fame are the clusters of delicious tubular fragrant white flowers and I think that foliage is pretty cool as well.
Callicarpa dichotoma or Chinese beauty berry Another oldie but a goodie and many cannot resist this plant when its strutting its stuff with clusters of bright purple berries all the way up the length of its stems. I imagine that it has long been on the list of those that are keen on floral work inclusive of flowers, leaves and berries.
If pristine white is your thing and I know that there are quite a few out there that love their green and white gardens, the
Azalea Hardy gardenia is pretty hard to go past. They are looking just stunning in flower in the garden centre today having just arrived in stock. Large semi double pure white flower sitting on a backdrop of dark green. Hardy gardenia is one of only many
Azalea's that have just checked in and so again click the
link to see the full range.
House keeping, Holidays, Stats & Deliveries
The way the weeks keep flying past it will only be a matter of time that the school holidays are here and that also means Easter. First up we will be closed Good Friday but will be open for the remainder of the Easter weekend for normal hours including Saturday, Easter Sunday and of course the stat Monday.
Following Easter is Anzac weekend and the garden centre will be respectfully closed until 1pm from which we will be open until 5pm.
There will be a few short weeks for mail order services due to the public holidays and so we will limit dispatch to Monday and Tuesday for the week before Easter so that all parcels get to their destination prior to the weekend. The following two weeks will be Tuesday only for South Island and rural delivery and Wednesday only for local and town addresses.
Mail orders to the South Island and rural deliveries will continue to leave Monday and Tuesday only as freight currently is taking longer to these regions.
Talking up the formal doubles this selection of Japonicas
Last week it was the smallest flowered of all the Camellias but lets check out a selection of say something larger. Now I know from all my years there are some that really adore the more formal flowers and Camellias certainly have their selection of what are called formal doubles. I am keen on them myself as I appreciate that precise layering of all the petals. Check out the ones below;
Ave Maria Japonica. Very pretty, soft, silvery porcelain pink, formal blooms appear from early winter through to early spring.
Black Tie Japonica. An oldie but a goody. Beautiful, formal, double blooms of deepest red make this a highly desirable Camellia.
Dahlohnega or may be known as
Golden anniversary. Japonica. This Camellia really is a cause for celebration. Beautiful creamy yellow blooms that are fully double and made up of more than 100 petals. They really stand out against the dark glossy green foliage.
Roger Hall Japonica. A beautiful formal double red. The flowers contrast well against the handsome glossy green foliage. Outstanding performer which will make a strong statement either in the garden or a container.
Nuccio Gem Japonica. A multi-award winning Camellia which is often described as simply perfect. The pure white blooms have petals arranged in an elegant formal spiral set beautifully against dark green foliage.
Wairere on sale, while stocks last.
Ulmus Lutescens or Golden Elm, an impressive specimen or shade tree with eye catching golden foliage. Well behaved and hardy this tree eventually forms a large broad canopy with a rounded crown. We currently have stock of the 1.7mtr H/W variant that we are moving on to make way for the new 2022 season stock. Were $79.99 now $49.99each.
The sales area is still Chocka block full of deals,
Roses, bushes,
standards and some
climbers, all 25% off current stock.
Rhodos and
deciduous Azaleas, 30 % off. Great for shady areas and under trees and at a price point to purchase a few and mass plant.
Fruit trees, hydrangeas and so much more. Now that the dry spell has finally broken its time to get planting in earnest.
Check out the farm trees or large trees for Autumn planting, priced to move. Call or come and visit us for more details or to view.
We are starting to look full again with heaps of new stock and its only going to get fuller as we move into the Autumn.
x
Have a fab weekend!
Cheers Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team
