Sunday 29th May, 2022
Hi
Time has been a bit precious of late with covid having an impact here at Wairere with several of the team off, hence no email last week and a brief one for today. The very first of the roses have just arrived in for potting. There are a few newbies amongst our potting team with new skills to learn and numbers to crunch, like 500 roses potted per day, but hey all in a days work. I will add very quickly here that it's only a few rose varieties arrived (approx 4000 plants) and it will take us the whole month to have the complete range for the year again.
Pumpkin soup time of year
I have been a tad remiss of late as there haven't been any recipes for a while and pumpkin soup has been on my mind to make for lunches. Especially as we have an abundance of those butternut types of pumpkin. Now I don't know if you remember but ages ago I put up a recipe for a fragrant curry and so I thought that this would be a perfect base for my pumpkin soup. If you are getting the impression that I have made this up then you are right on the money. So use my approximate measurements as a guide only to suit your amount of pumpkin and taste.
Into a roasting pan go two Butternut pumpkins, skin removed and chopped, 3 peeled and chopped onions, 6 cloves of garlic or as much as you like, fresh ginger peeled and grated about (4 cm square or so). Add olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until its all tender. Puree with a kitchen stick mixer or kitchen whizz.
Take a large casserole dish or la crueset pot, splash in some olive oil and over a medium heat, add 8 or so Cardamon pods, 2 or 3 dried chillis, 10 curry leaves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 tspn fennel seeds and saute for a couple of minutes. Then add 1 tspn ground turmeric, 2 tspn of ground paprika, 1 tspn ground cumin, 1 tspn ground coriander. Once you have added the dried spices cook for another minute or so. When all the spices were all well combined I added a couple of packets of bacon bits and cooked for a further few minutes.
Take the cooked, pureed pumpkin and add to the spice mix in the casserole dish, cook all together. Add two tins of coconut cream, salt and pepper to taste, a couple of stems of lemon grass and then return to the oven to simmer... well actually I cheat and bring to the simmer then turn the oven off and wake up to beautifully cooked pumpkin soup.
Note this version did have a few bits and pieces of the spices floating around, which I don't mind but you may wish to remove before serving.
Note two. I have grown my own curry plant/tree in a pot but the leaves should be easy to obtain from an Asian supermarket as is, perhaps, frozen lemon grass if you dont have fresh in the garden. Lemon grass is frost tender and so the plant can get ratty over the winter time and so my plan is to harvest and freeze some.
Flowers for the picking
Rice flower or Ozothamnus (formerly Helichrysum which gives some clues), is a branched bushy shrub that could look a tad like a conifer except for the fact that it has desirable small rice like flowers in clusters on long picking stems. Since ancient Greece this plant has be cherished for its everlasting beauty in reference to its life in the vase and as a dried flower. The genus name of Ozothamnus is Greek with Ozo meaning smell and thamnus meaning bush.
Give them a sunny disposition, good soil and prune the shrub to be bushy otherwise it may get somewhat rangy.
Ozothamnus Just Blush Rice Flower. Masses of papery upright flowers from late Winter through to Spring the flowers are beautifully offset by the bright mid green foliage and stems of the bush. Flowering in small flowers in tones of mauve pink this is an easy care, medium size shrub that is drought tolerant. Evergreen.
Ozothamnus Royal Flush Rice flower. An excellent plant that is great for picking and flower arranging. Masses of papery upright flowers from late Winter through to Spring. Almost purple buds opening to rich pink flowers. Plant full sun. Prune hard after flowering.
Ozothamnus Springtime White Masses of papery white clusters of pure white flowers are beautifully offset by the bright mid green foliage and stems. This is an easy care, medium size shrub that is drought tolerant. Tip prune when young to promote a compact habit and prune heavily after flowering once established. Evergreen.
Erica Winter Fire A very showy little shrub with bright red bell shaped flowers that brighten up the garden from winter through to spring. Prefers a sunny to semi-shaded spot in the garden and well drained acid soil.
Erica Kramers Red Bright cerise bell shaped blooms from winter through to spring. Avoid lime soils and trim after flowering.
 Protea Burgundy Nipple |  Protea Nerifolia Alba |  Protea Fiery Sunset |  Protea Coronata |
Pin cushion flowers of the Protea family and are typical of this group enjoying a sunny disposition, well drained and poor soil. Again these are Phosphate shy so be careful not to apply the wrong fertilisers.
Leucospermum Blanche Ito Lovely red flowerheads are borne terminally on long stems ideal for picking in mid Spring. Prune back well once flowering has finished to encourage a good flowering the following year.
Leucospermum High Gold An excellent evergreen shrub with vibrant yellow pincushion flowers in spring. Ideal coastal plant suited to light free draining soils in the sun. Great cut flowers. Trim back after flowering to maintain
Leucospermum Maui Magic A large spreading shrub. Produces many terminal pink flowers on robust stems in spring, early summer. Flower stems are excellent for picking. Plants should be pruned back after flowering to enhance flowering next season
Leucospermum Lanii A new hybrid. Fantastic pincushion flowers of attractive orange-red smothering the erect semi-spreading plant in mid spring. Compact growth habit.
Task for the weekend is to rake the leaves up that have fallen all week. Quite the important job at this time of year as a carpet of leaves can smother lawns and garden and actually kill the plants beneath them. At the nursery here we collect them all and put them into a pile wet them and cover them for the year coming to make leaf mold to use in the gardens around here. TBH we have leaves that you wouldnt believe. The more that you feed, the better results your garden will give you.
Don't forget those winter sprays on your fruit trees, roses, grape vines and all those sort of things that are deciduous.. lime sulphur if you are inclined or copper oxychloride and conqueror oil is another good alternative.. dont forget that the two are incompatible so leave a couple of weeks between sprays if you are one who likes to do both.
What a glorious morning today is here in the Tron though I will own up to having my beanie on as its a tad frosty watching the sun come through the trees. Usually a morning like this turns into the most stunning day and weekend. If today warms up like yesterday then it will be an awesome day for the garden, if not then make pumpkin soup!
Whatever the plan, take care, look after yourselves and have a fab weekend.
Cheers Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team. ..
