October Newsletter and latest plants

24/10/2022

October Newsletter

Well October arrived with an explosion of all things plants…the nursery, the garden, the bulb beds, my to-do list, and orders…oh my gosh! Thank you all so much for keeping me on my toes these past couple of weeks with all the amazing orders…I thought last spring was busy but after the crazy wet winter this year, spring decided to cram itself into a few short weeks it seems. As busy as I am, I think it is just wonderful to see the interest in plants in general across the country…anything from vegetables, to cacti and succulents, our native flora, shrubs, perennials, sweet wee alpines, cut flowers, plants for pollinators, gardens that are neatly trimmed or wild and untamed, windowsills, courtyards or large acreages…it seems that gardening is finally getting the kudos it deserves in helping us feel closer to nature and in turn, better in ourselves.

Nursery happenings…

There’s a phenomenal amount of growth happening in the nursery at the moment. I honestly feel like the plants are about to grow legs and start running off some days! There are always the slow ones though…like Salvia lanceolata and Bupleurum fruticosum which have been rather frustrating this year. Agastache are coming up next…there will be quite a number of new ones available in a few weeks…Agastache aurantiaca ’Tango’ A. rugosa ‘Alba’ and ‘Arcado Pink’, A. rupestris, and A. mexicana ‘Sangria’ just for starters. I’ve recently sown a few more seeds as well, just a few customer favourites like Gaura and Verbena bonariensis as they tend to sell out so fast (I’m on my 3rd batch of Verbena already this spring). Plus some extras which need to be started off now for selling later in summer/autumn or next spring…like Baptisia australis ‘Alba’, and fingers crossed the giant fennel Ferula communis, plus I’ve got loads of new Echinacea varieties germinating which is exciting. Aphids have arrived in the nursery already, which is rather annoying. I don’t spray, and I use various biological controls in the tunnelhouse, but out in the open it’s a little trickier to deal with these critters. Plant health plays a big role in keeping them at bay of course, but inevitably there’s always a few around trying to thwart my efforts…so if you receive a present of a few little green aphids on your plant then I do apologise, and hopefully you can deal with them accordingly. They are all part of the natural ecology of life I guess, but still annoying!

There’s always a lot more to growing plants in a nursery situation than just sowing and potting as there’s so much planning work that goes on behind the scenes, and many plants take years to get to a saleable size. I write lists and try and keep everything in order, but the reality is my imagination is always in creative mode. I find I’m getting so busy in my head at the moment that I’m often wide awake by 5am, so instead of lying there tossing and turning this morning, I just got up and started jotting down notes for myself. It’s very peaceful at that hour… amazing how much more can be accomplished when its quiet!

Stock numbers of existing website listings have now been updated, along with all the new additions, which are:

Agastache foeniculum
Aquilegia viridiflora ‘Atropurpurea’
Artemisia lactiflora ‘Rosenschleier’
Delphinium vestitum
Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’
Gaura lindheimeri ‘Cool Breeze’
Gaura lindheimeri ‘Summer Breeze’
Lunaria annua (Honesty) seedlings ex. Gold variegated, and Silver variegated
Nepeta tuberosa tall form
Penstemon ‘Stapleford Gem’
Penstemon ‘White Swan’
Symphyotrichum (Aster) ‘Kylie’
Trachelium caeruleum ‘Hamer Pandora’
Verbena rigida
Papaver orientale (Oriental poppy, perennial)

• ‘Beauty of Livermere’

• ‘Princess Victoria Louise’

• ‘Royal Wedding’
Salvia:

• Costa Rica Blue

• leucantha ‘Midnight’

• nemorosa ‘Violet Queen’

• pratensis ‘Haematodes’

• verticillata ‘Alba’

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Getting ‘up’ to Business…

…because down is not an option! Unfortunately, after managing to stave off the dreaded price rises for the past 6 months, I have now completed the necessary number-crunching to see where my business is heading. With all the increased costs associated with plant production I can no longer continue to absorb these and have no choice but to increase my plant prices, including limiting the number of ‘multibuy options’ I make available to customers. I know that this will be disappointing to many of you, but I also know how important it is to keep my business running…not only for me, but also for all of you who enjoy the ability to fill your gardens with some of the unusual or rarely available plants that I offer. I’m not going to dwell on the negative, as I’m a naturally positive person, so I shall keep this short, and hopefully as sweet as can-be given the circumstances…in the spirit of my small business being a labour of love, plant prices will increase on Monday 24th October 2022. The new prices for plants in 9cm pots and 1 litre pots will be $8.00 and $10.00 respectively. Special collectors’ items will continue to be priced individually at the time they are listed. Thank you for your understanding and continued support in my endeavours to bring new and exciting botanical treasures to your world xx

Plant of the Month…

Fringed Iris!! Wow…with a tendency to run a bit, these beauties, that I was lucky enough to receive as rescues from our dear friend the late Roger Harwood’s garden, are truly outstanding at the moment. I have three distinct varieties and they are creating waterfalls of fringed flowers in pure crystal white with contrasting yellow markings, some with an ice-blue tint, and the darker lavender-blue which adds such a beautiful element amongst the two-toned Phormium hybrid (flax), punctuated by dots of red from Salvia univerticillata, and a couple of small flowering heads of a stray Euphorbia. I’ve yet to confirm their botanical parentage, as Roger had a number of these labelled with their hybrid or cultivar names, but I shall just continue enjoying them anyway…they are so lovely to have clambering amongst the rocky outcrops in my garden.

Salvia search…

Can you help? Many years ago, when I was part of the now-defunct NZ Salvia Society, organising various meetings and gatherings, mostly in the Auckland region, I was lucky enough to have many unusual species of Salvia in my collection. I have since lost these three and would dearly love to have them back again…Salvia atrocyanea, S. curviflora and S. semiatrata. I know they were all growing in New Zealand 20-plus years ago, so I’m hoping that somewhere, someone has one or two of these tucked away in their gardens. If you can help with any kind of plant material, or hints on where I might find them, please email [email protected] Thank you!

Out in the garden…

This past week I did manage to find a couple of hours to get out into the garden and finish planting out some key plants that needed homes. I’m always experimenting with new plants, and I’m a great believer in the saying that ‘a garden is never finished’. The existing border along the front of my house is now taking shape and looking rather nice, with a good balance of foliage textures, forms and colours. In places it’s quite hot and dry in the summer, with lots of stony soil raised up nearer the house, but in the front, where the ground naturally dips down a little, the soil is quite heavy and retains the moisture. So there’s conditions to suit a wide variety of plants. I’ve used plenty of silver and grey foliage in the drier areas, such as large, softly-hairy Salvia argentea, mounds of Helianthemum ‘Henfield Brilliant’, some Salvia lanceolata, my treasured ‘dinosaur bulbs’ aka Merwilla plumbea (syn. Scilla natalensis) whose flowering stems rise up at this time of year, arching and twisting like star-studded serpents…in front of a backing of the glossy deep blue-green Shrubby Hare’s Ear Bupleurum fruticosum, plus Salvia yangii (the new name for Perovskia or Russian sage) amongst mounds of Erigeron glaucus ‘Janet’s Lilac’. Slightly further out from the hottest driest parts Phlomis russeliana is expanding its mound of soft hairy leaves and will have those beautiful stems of soft yellow flowers later on, there’s also Achillea in various terracotta and autumn shades, Verbena bonariensis and grasses, namely my favourite Chionochloa rubra which looks beautiful and airy. C. conspicua is handling the denser soil conditions nearer the bottom edge and I’m hoping for some more of those mini-toetoe flowers this year. In the theme of gardens never being finished, my task last week was to fill in gaps, adding in some colourful plants to trial in the heavier soils, such as more red Helenium and Monarda both of which have root structures which enjoy denser, more moisture-retentive soils in summer, along with the stunning yellow coneflower Ratibida pinnata. Plus I’ve added some bright blues and purples - a few Teucrium fruticans ‘Oarzazate’ seedlings in the dry stones, a river of Salvia 'Caradonna’ seedlings to trial, some Salvia reptans (the willowy Texas form), and a few more bits and pieces like the Apricot Desert Globemallow Sphaeralcea ambigua and Agastache aurantiaca ‘Apricot Sprite’ to contrast with the soft grey leaves of Salvia candidissima, which remind me so much of lambs ears.