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Friday 14th September, 2018

Hi


Flowers, leaves and even the birds and bees are getting in on spring.


Everyone seems to love the sun when its out and so deliciously warm... and I have to say we in the nursery are no different....Its been so warm that I had to quickly lose the thermal top and grab those shorts from the drawers ...  even the admin team I have noticed have been venturing further out into the garden centre in their breaks.

The growth that happens at this time of year is just phenomenal  and never ceases to amaze me. A large percentage of the nursery is deciduous and belongs to the Prunus family like Plums, Peaches, Nectarine, Apricots and of course all the flowering varieties ... then there are all the ornamental trees like Magnolias, Maples, Dogwoods, Crabapples and the list goes on so very suddenly the nursery goes from sticks to this gorgeous array of blossom, leaves and colour.

I look at the maples whose stunning spring leaves are just starting to pop, the flowering cherry Awanui is full of fat flower buds that are just about to burst forth.  and I'm looking right now at the Cercis Forest Pansy in our garden and its going to look spectacular with  those purple pink pea like flowers that sit on the stems of the tree.
The roses are just romping away seemingly gaining inches in just days.. and they seriously look like that they wont be too far away from flowers but I guess it will still be another three to four weeks. I cant wait to see the standards in flower, so many varieties in standard form that we haven't had before, I think they will just look amazing.

.... don't rely on those common names 

It was at the last trade day that Harry spied some Monkey Puzzle trees for sale and damn nice plants they were too... You don't often see these for sale and he was in boots and all buying these to have some to sell in the nursery.
I was up early the other morn about to write this email and was going to call it "Meet the Araucarias"  and my starting point was to look up the details of these Monkey puzzle trees that Harry had purchased.
It was then that I thought to myself  that i didn't recognise the name  that was in our system... Araucaria angustii and when I googled it that name didn't even appear. A call back to the suppliers to ask exactly what they had supplied us, and as I suspected, it was in fact Araucaria angustifolia. Now you may ask,what is the big deal in all of this? Well I, like Harry, associate the common name of Monkey Puzzle to the tree Araucaria Auracana and of course that is what Harry thought he was getting when he ordered them.  However when I googled Angustifolia Googles common name was Parana pine or candelabra tree. Cathie did a bit more digging and apparently Araucaria angustifolia is the Brazilian Monkey Puzzle tree and Araucaria auracana is the Chilean Monkey puzzle. Latin names tell the whole story...
The family of Araucariceae was probably around in the dinosaur generation being a very ancient group of plants (I even heard Cathie calling them dinosaur fodder)... I have to say that these trees fascinate me and if I recollect there is quite a cool Monkey puzzle in the Hamilton gardens and also en route to Cambridge.
Norfolk pine, that you will all know, also belong to this family with their very structured form and I have to mention also the NZ native Kauri is also included in this ancient family and as we know Kauri can live for a couple of thousand years.
We also just happen to have planted a Bunya Bunya pine or Araucaria bidwillii in the garden centre so if you have a desire to see this .... well its in the garden centre with all the weeping maples underneath it. 
Getting back to the Brazilian Monkey puzzle tree, well its very similar in type and form to its cousin the Chilean version especially whilst young but I guess the differences will appear more so as the trees age and mature.

                    
Brazillian               Norfolk Pine          Chillean               False Monkey Puzzle  Kauri     
  
NZ Mallow... Lacebark or Houheria

Probably the most used common name would be Lacebark for Hoheria populnea and guessing by the name it has a poplar like leaf.  Hoheria are endemic or native to NZ and can be found in most parts of the country.  I would consider these to be a small to medium size tree that is mostly evergreen and have quite attractive flowers for a NZ native considering that our native flora don't usually have significant flowers, though there are a few exceptions.
Another cousin is the ribbon wood or Plagianthus regius and belongs to the same family though this one tends to be quite a slender tree that is mostly deciduous esp south of Auckland.  Ribbon wood also has quite a significant juvenile phase when young and the growth is quite tangled or divaricating but as the tree matures the growth becomes quite upright.
Hoheria belong to the Mallow family or Malvaceae which I think is quite interesting as I always associate this family with perennials and the like ...  but other plants that belong to this family that we would know are the likes of Lavatera, Hibiscus, Hollyhocks and Mallows.

We haven't had Hoherias for ages let alone these there quite ornamental clones which make for quite attractive evergreen trees in the garden. Alba has of course white and green leaves. Variegata has yellow and green and Purple Wave has this lovely purple blush on the leaf reverse which ripples on a breezy day. 
These do make for quite attractive trees and will give a bit of interest when planted next to straight green foliage 
                
Alba                     Purple Wave          Variegata               Ribbon Wood

Delphiniums ...

You just have to love these gorgeous perennials. I just love the tall stems in those gorgeous blue hues, then there are the whites and pinks. Our first intake of these have motored out and so there are a few more new ones in to tempt you to add to the garden. I have had a few comments that some have only achieved one year from their plants. I just have to point out that the slugs are usually aware that these are starting to grow again long before we are... That's how much the slugs love them.
I think that Ang also bought in some other classics like Galahad, Guinevere and King Arthur but follow the link and check them all out.

Last call for these beauties
But.. if you're after the show stopping hybrid cultivars then you need to head to Cathie's Online Only page and order these fancy hybrids and we will get them in just for you. They will be removed from the web shortly so please do get your orders in. The first orders have been taken and the plants have been put on hold for us. We may get a handful more for the shop but will be guided by what you the clients indicate. These ones are a tad more tricky than Montanas but take a packet of the Bio fungicide to prevent wilt fungus and you should be away laughing.... These beauties are just fab grown through your favourite rose or take a leaf out of the English books and let them climb their way up a fancy obelisk or bamboo tripod.  Different types have different pruning requirements depending on what wood they flower on so check out the info about this on the How To page.

                
Haku Ookan          Warsaw Nike          Marie Boisselot     Ville de Lyon          Niobe

A deal to be had
Trachelospermum jasminoides Star Jasmine has been missing from the nursery for a short while but new stock has just arrived and I have to say it is a very nice grade that we got good quantities of but don't wait these won't last long at $12.99.

Corylopsis Spicata -I have a nice grade of these beautiful spring flowering shrubs... I just love the limey yellow hop like flowers and once flowered they make for a great evergreen shrub of around 2.5 metres... Just great to fill a gap. The plants that I have here are bushy and approx 1.2 metres high and in flower but I need them to move so they have been marked down to half price so check them out !!!

There are some lovely new Fairy Wing Lavenders coming including Radiance, Spellbound and Whimsical.  if you want to be on the list for theses new lavenders then pre-order now so you don't miss out as these will be very limited stock. These have been bred to be compact with flowers sitting just above the foliage, so they will be great as container or border plants with a long flowering season. There are plenty of other lavenders indented as well so check them out here and pre order to make sure you get some as they are limited stock.

Just to finish this weeks epistle, and I have to laugh with our talented and knowledgeable Argentinian couple, but after last weeks email went out I get this text from Guillermo  "Meyer is technically a hybrid of lemon and orange, but lemon comes from citron X sour orange in some point. The latter comes from pummelo X mandarin, so you are not wrong :), it's just a complicated parentage. Cheers"

Made me laugh out loud too and now you have the proper parentage. I have got to say that we have quite a few laughs and I know that I am being set up when Guillermo says to me "How do you say this name Lloyd" and Virginia will be there too... The last example was "How do you say this name 'Schinus Molle'" and of course I say it like a kiwi would, not knowing any Latin languages, and fits of laughter ensue as they say it correctly for me.... Skeeeenus Moj.... or what seems like that.. to be fair they want to know how it will sound when a client says it so they can direct them to the plant so I'm learning correct pronunciation and they are learning the incorrect version, one of life's little ironies me thinks. 
                
Schinus Molle      Corylopsis Spicata   Trach. jasminoides  Black Eyed Angel   Blue Jay
Its been a gorgeous week and the ground has certainly dried out here and it has been so nice to work in the garden centre which is just overflowing with plants and we have seriously had to take up watering the nursery already! Its looking pretty stunning out here at the moment so touch wood its going to be another fine weekend for us all. 
What ever you are all up to ....

Have a fabulous weekend.


Lloyd, Harry and the Wairere Team


Make it a Wairere weekend where even GNOMES know that gardening's not a drag.

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Wairere Nursery
826 Gordonton Road, R D 1, Hamilton 3281 Ph: (07) 824 3430 Email: