What do you collect???

Hi

 

Ecletic Collector !!!!!

Everyone has seen the pic of Harry posing with a snake's skin wrapped around his neck, or so it seems.  Well if you get the Waikato times  and delved into your weekend magazine, it would have been hard to miss the article on collections.  There are these great quotes that are so true of his character like " I sort of get a little obsessed with where I'm going." Which made me smile and its so true!! A fancy to buy an old clock led to a collection of many, then he gets bored and its off onto the next collection and believe me there are many. Consequently our house is rather full of old stuff.
This compulsive behaviour has been great in the garden centre because we have some great ranges of plants. Not just a few apple varieties but many, including new and old varieties, all manner of plums maples and magnolias. Six hundred varieties of roses, I like to make sure that we have cool stuff to come and browse through.

Decidious Azaleas

                 

I just love Ilam or the deciduous Azaleas. Now many of the Ilam strains or cultivars were bred by this chappie Edgar Stead who purchased the Ilam estate. He  imported seedlings to cross with his existing plants to produce larger and more brilliant flowers. In 1917 he was given seed of north American varieties and later in 1925 went to England to further his knowledge and to meet some of the famous English breeders. Edgar stead was given permission to cross the best of the English Exburys which has resulted in the production of some of  the beautiful azaleas for which Ilam is famous for. Ilam estate is now the site of the Canterbury university and the Ilam Botical gardens remain intact on campus.
They are just spectacular in flower and form medium sized shrubs of around 1.5 to 2metres. Mostly they are brightly coloured with vivid oranges and yellow even hot pinks and there are even some great white ones. I think that they are easily grown and like all of the Rhodo family, like being in dappled light to full sun. Prune directly after flowering to keep them shrubby and to keep them to a suitable size.

Hybrid Clematis with the Hugest flowers

Its pretty hard to go past these beauties  and they are flowering their heads off now.  A great climber to grow through a large shrub rose or a bush rose especially if you choose a colour to contrast with the rose or just imagine one of these climbing through one of those bright orange or yellow Ilam azaleas. They really are quite special and would have to be the queen ( xcuse the pun) of clematis. We have heaps in the garden climbing up all manner of shrubs thanks to that behaviour and that H loves them too. !!  There is a product called rootmate which is a friendly soil fungus which I would recommend to use at planting time. It helps to ensure that these stunning Clematis thrive from day one. Another handy tip is that you can actually plant these deeper than  they are in the bag, not that you should do this to any other plant. Finally clematis like a cool root run so plant the base in a shady spot or place a large rock at the base to help keep the soil cool.

                

 

Book Review

Peter has the same distinctive cackle, sharp mind and perhaps not quite the obsessive collecterism but definately a plants person ( It runs in the family, one of Harry sisters Dora is quite the plant collector) , Harrys brother Peter has made his mark in books and this one is a must have. Put it on your xmas wish list (its time to drop hints) or it would make for a fab gift.  Titled Trees of New Zealand, stories of beauty and character, by Peter Janssen and photographs by Mike Hollman, there are  fascinating stories attached to these trees of character and photgraphs to make them come alive. There is so much history attached to those special trees that make up our landscape. I'm sure that you should be able to get your local bookstore to order it in for you if they dont have a copy.

Don't Forget  To Check Out Family Deals

Topiary Plants

Antiqued Pots

Raspberries

Roses

The roses are on the verge of flowering and they are all looking gorgeous and worth even just a look. Last year the fragrance from all the roses scented the air all round in the nursery. Its the time to be on the look out for Aphids and Black spot with these periodic showers that we are getting. If you see any starting then a quick spray will halt its progress especially if you do a quick couple of sprays a couple of days apart.

This weekend has come around really fast, probably cause last week was a short week.  Dont forget that its the Dio Day Out Sunday week where there will be some fab garden on show.

Have a great weeknd

 

Cheers,

Lloyd and Harry

Make it a Wairere weekend where gardenings not a drag!!!!!