Saturday 28th June, 2025
Hi
Winter solstice has been and gone... roll on spring
You know that it's around the shortest day when you see the rising sun in the morning peeking through the
Kahikatea at this particular point at our place (see image below). It always amazes me that it comes so far around compared to when it rises in the summer. Well, the shortest day/longest night has come and gone and we are now slowly incrementing some more daylight (albeit seconds that increase as we move further into our official winter) as we head towards yet another spring. In fact, I was looking out at our beautiful sunrise and naked
Flowering Cherries and commented to Tony that it's really in about 6 weeks that we will be seeing all the significant signs of spring.. well here in the Waikato anyways.
On that note, while most of the
Flowering Cherries have lost all their leaves, our
Prunus Felix Jury is still fully clothed, still with Autumn colour and I know that it will be the first of the cherries to herald in spring. It will literally only shed its leaves as it comes into blossom, being the earliest to flower.
It's still full-on down at the nursery potting shed and whilst we have almost completed roses, the bagging of all the new seasons trees has just begun. Well, that said we are a good week in to it with at least another good three or more weeks to go.
Potting
Deciduous Trees is the same principle as
Roses except that the bags are way bigger, for example roses go into what we call in the nursery a Pb8 and most trees will go into a Pb18 or 28. A pb8 will hold 4 litres of potting mix and so logical to reason that a 28 will hold 14 litres. Well actually I googled this, as didn't know, and I had always thought that pb stood for planter bag but actually harks back to imperial days (for those old enough) and stands for pint bags and so, to be correct, a pb28 holds 16.8 litres.
The quality of our
trees overall this year is fab. There is one grower that grows the biggest stuff and of course these have to go mostly into pb28s and there is another knack to learn for the newbie potters. This is holding a 1.8 stem with a branched head upright into pb28...fill around the roots and then consolidate the mix so that the tree stands upright. I can tell you we shovel a fair number of cubes of potting mix in a day. You do get smart and learn to gently settle the bag until the potting mix is firm and then you lift upward and let gravity work to drop it back down, giving your now potted tree a decent bang on the bench.
What has just been potted and is looking amazing
Prunus Awanui H/W 1.8m H/W means high worked and so essentially like a standard of 180 cm. At the top the plant is grafted and with this Awanui is quite large, almost like an instant tree. I do like high worked trees because it means that some of the development of the tree has been done for you as compared to L/W, which are grafted at the base.
The low worked trees are ideal as specimen trees in areas where there is plenty of space to fill. These trees can develop branches all the way up their trunks. High worked trees, by contrast, have no branching lower down (below the graft) and may be more suitable where space is required under the canopy e.g. on a driveway or parking area.
Our trees are generally available at a number of heights e.g. L/W or H/W 1.8m, 1.5m and some at 1.2m, so you can choose what suits your garden.
Awanui is one of the earlier varieties to flower and can best be described as a cloud of candy floss with soft pink blossoms smothering the branches.
Mountain Haze H/W 1.8m is another standout variety which has just been potted. Massed clusters of densely petalled, double flowers in shades of white to soft pink are the main feature of this unusual cherry. The hanging clusters of blooms are dotted throughout the tree.
Other high work varieties in 1.8 include:
Prunus Accolade with semi double pink blooms;
Ichiyo with frilled double shell pink flowers;
Pink Cloud which is very early flowering in vibrant pink;
Pink Perfection with
fully double rose pink blooms;
Shimidsu Sakura with gorgeous hanging flowers of double pink tinged with white;
Shirotae (or Mount Fuji) with
semi double fragrant white blossoms; and, for something a bit different,
Prunus Ukon with double cream flowers which are tinged with green.
The Buds are swelling...
The range of plants becoming available as potting continues is very extensive and it's exciting to see some of the early ones starting to 'do their thing'.
Magnolia buds are starting to swell, and so are the buds on our
Salix Kilmarnock Standards. These are also high worked and, because it is a pendulous variety, the branches will be filled with cascading fresh green leaves in spring and summer. Prior to leaf growth the tree is covered in silky catkins which give it the common name of pussy willow.
Fragrance is king (or queen) for you alone
One of the most common questions we get when customers are selecting
Roses is "Which is the most fragrant?". I did a bit of research into this and have found that no two people experience scent in the same way. Scientists have found that it is a genetic trait linked to the amino acids associated with your individual genes. So what I think smells nice may not be your "
Cuppa Tea". Researchers in America have studied scent receptors and found them to be about 30% different from person to person. People have about 400 specialised olfactory receptors (in your nose) and every person uses this to interpret the presence, quality and intensity of different smells.
Garlic traditionally planted on the shortest day- Half price
It's the time of year to get all your
Garlic crop in and we need move these on and so have decided to special them off at half price. Good for planting or even just eating and cooking with.
Printanor garlic is a great choice and likes good rich soil that is free draining, just what you would find in most vege gardens. Take your heads of garlic and separate into cloves and push into your friable soil at least to the depth of the clove but not too deep. Make rows around 15 cm apart, and with the same distance in between cloves, and let grow until the summer.
Keep up the feed such as
sheep pellets and also water if it dries out through the spring so that you keep the growth on a roll. Harvest around the longest day or when the tops start to dry off.
It's not far now until our first Q and A on all things roses
The Waikato Rose society will be at the nursery to share their knowledge on all things
Roses, whether it be pruning, spraying, feeding or even making a good selection. They can also give advice on how to grow show-class blooms and just about everything else you have a need, or want, to know.
Email us at backorders@wairere.co.nz to register your interest though this is not a commitment but rather a show of numbers for us !
The first one will be up on the Wed the 9th of July from 10.30am to 12.30pm
Rose Society Visit Dates for your calendar
Wednesday 9th July 10.30am to 12.30pm
Saturday 19th July 1pm to 3pm
Sunday 27th July 11 am to 1pm.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
