Saturday 5th December, 2020
Hi
It's time to get the garden back into shape
It's time, well for us here it is! I could barely walk through the bay archway into the garden with all the spring growth, and besides, I need to have the garden up to scratch and in shape prior to the Christmas holiday period. It's time that the entire garden, actually... gardens, had a major hair cut and all the spring growth removed.
All the hedges need to be cut back, and I mean back to where they started the season... as I say to the awesome hedge cutters that we have here, don't even leave a centimetre because a centimetre twice a year is nearly an inch in height and imagine how much bigger the hedges would be after 10 years! Luckily many of the hedges here are of tough plants like Bays and Camellias which can handle a really hard cut back... even into brown or mature wood and will regenerate, even if that takes a few years.
Know that, when cutting your hedges, you should be aiming for a slightly wider base than top so that light distributes evenly and they just look generally better. The same rules apply to the small hedges as to the larger ones.
Our roses are due to be cut back as well, including our awesome hedge row of Sally Holmes, which has now finished it's first amazing display. We will cut these back now and they will be back in flower in about seven weeks time. Feed them and provide water and we should almost get another spring like display especially if we keep getting these amazing bouts of rain.
You might find that some of the perennials will benefit from a good trim so that they will come up and re flower again. Plants like
penstemon,
petunia,
daisies,
catmint and so on will delight with another flush. Others, though, will have strutted their stuff, and that's it for the year, but should have attractive foliage to keep their space filled.
Hydrangeas
I don't usually miss much, but I did these. I was walking by the shop and spied the cutest little hydrangea, pretty in pink and lace cap in style, very sweet and of course I took a pic and was going to post it on FB. I didn't quite get around to that but was walking through the
Hydrangeas today and spotted another. Hmm I think Ange must have ordered those... this one mauvy blue, well here in the nursery, but will be pink with the application of lime, slightly doublish and again lace cap in style.
Hydrangea Summer Glow... A perfect filler in the garden with low lush foliage and stunning Hydrangea blooms all summer. The foliage shows stunning autumn colours to add interest. A lacecap flower of double baby pink or blue if you prefer, as these are soil ph sensitive, with white centres.
Hydrangea Cover Me... Low lush foliage and stunning Hydrangea blooms all summer followed by stunning autumn foliage colours. Great for under planting and shady spots for colour and interest. Plant en masse for
striking effect.
The
YouMe series has some gorgeous double flowered, low growing hydrangeas that also bloom all summer long. These hold their shape and richness of colour.
Liliums are ready to flower now. Their gorgeous bold coloured large trumpet blooms are a delight to behold. Many have a delicious fragrance and hold well in the garden or in the vase.
Lilium L A Hybrids developed from a blending of Longiflorum and Asiatic lilies. Combining the amazing colour range of the Asiatics with the fragrance of the the aromatic Christmas lilies gives the best of both worlds. Currently available is Malesco, a stunning, fragrant, rich yellow lily.
Snow Queen is the one we all know of as the Christmas Lily as it flowers here in NZ at Christmas time. These are a wonderful gift for any friend or family as just one stem of the gorgeous white flowers can perfume a whole house with their divine scent.
And on that note, we are now on the countdown and all of a sudden looking at Christmas Day in just a few short weeks.. I have to say that doing a roster for the festive season is no mean feat with all the team needing, wanting and deserving of some time off but still being open the whole time. Well we do shut, but just for Christmas day, so totally open for those wanting to come out to browse and check out the freshly manicured gardens. I know, no rest for the wicked but watering and other tasks around the place still have to happen
Christmas Gift ideas
Vouchers are always a great idea, especially for those garden loving friends and family members as, like our homes, there is always something to be done, improved, changed or introduced in our gardens. It could be plants to add to a bed to give a new look or tools to make the work easier, ferts and sprays to maintain lovely healthy plants or some pots or bird baths to make a focal point. You can purchase vouchers online and send as a printed card voucher or get an email voucher that you can send on in an email or add to a Xmas card.
ARS stands for Always Really Sharp and these tools really are. This is a brand of tools we use here daily in the nursery. Trimming all our hedges, dead heading and pruning the roses, root pruning the bare root trees and roses when they arrive in winter, these ARS tools don't let us down, always a clean cut with a sharp blade.
Keep in mind that although we don't close for more than Christmas day, other businesses will be on a slow down as well and courier deliveries will get busy for a while prior to Christmas so if you are wanting to send your gifts around NZ then get your orders completed asap.
Have an awesome weekend
Cheers Lloyd Tony and the Wairere team
