Blog 661 - Starting a New Garden Life

[Lesley Cox]

Blog 661 – 12th April 3013

I am a very bad blogger! I must be as I see that it is well over a month since I last made an entry. No real excuses, just so much has happened and I’ve been very busy indeed, in the time. Today is Roger’s birthday and perhaps that has inspired me or more likely it is that today is very cold, bitter in fact, and I am putting off going to do the new planting I’ve been promising myself for a couple of weeks.

Firstly, I have now retired from my Farmers’ Market job, or rather, I’ll do so finally on April 20th so just the two Saturdays to go. I decided that as I’m now 70, and am going away for about a month and will need more surgery later in the year (maybe as soon as I come home, depending how it all goes) with a 6-8 week recuperation time afterwards, it was not only sensible but fair to my employer that I should back away and let someone younger take it on. The nature of the job is to change too, with a lot more meetings and office stuff involved, two jobs in fact, combined into one and while the pay would have been good, I want more time at home, not less, so when back from the northern hemisphere I’ll be able to concentrate fully on garden and nursery (though it will be winter of course).

I’ve decided that it will be most productive to work on one piece of garden at a time, get it how I want it then go onto the next, rather than doing little bits here and there and maybe not really achieving anything much so the first bit and probably the easiest is the left side of the path from the drive up to the house. I started by digging out all the petunias and found not much else there except 5 really horrible roses which have such big, clumpy stocks at the base that no amount of digging would move them. I’ve cut them right off at ground level and sprayed the stumps with Roundup a couple of times, having been told that roses hate the stuff. I really hope so. The three climbers up poles have been treated the same way. Looking at all the roses in the garden, it seems to me they’ve been pruned in such a way as to produce more and more thin and weak growth with a few measly flowers near the top but bending over because there’s no quality to the stems. So over a while, the whole lot will go and a very few will be replaced, though I have ordered for the winter, 2 Rosa moyesii ‘Geranium.’

Next I dug over the ground then limed it and added some sulphate of potash as well and then added 2 cubic metres of a mixture of rotted oat husks and farmyard compost, bought from a Mosgiel garden centre. This sounds too rich for the bearded irises I’m about to put in but with the lime I’m hoping it will work out and the husks and compost are really well matured. There’s little manure in the compost and it’s old and crumbly so altogether should add some “oomph” to what is very thin and powdery soil. The soil right over the whole garden is well below the lawn levels so needs a lot of building up.

This section will have two philadelphus, (P. pubescens I think, grown from Kristl Walek’s seed, as I find I have somehow left behind my two potted plants of P. ‘Belle Etoile,’ my most favourite with fantastic scent, and I forgot to do cuttings of P. coronarius, though I still have the gold form of it). Oh gosh, just looked in Hillier and find pubescens grows to 4-5 metres or more. Too big for this garden and it will have to go in one of the borders in front of trees. Easy solution, I’ve phoned Blue Mountain Nurseries and 2 ‘Belle Etoile’ will arrive on Monday.

There is a rose-type framework up the path and where three have been cut back and hopefully killed, I’ll put the 3 old roses I bought recently; ‘Mme Alfred Carriere,’ Alberice Barbier’ and ‘Gloire de Dijon,’ but planting them on the other sides of the posts in hope of their not resenting the recent occupation of the ousted 3. There is netting over the tops joining the posts on either side of the path. I’ve realised that of the hundreds or maybe thousands of plants in this garden, there is not a single label. Not one on a plant or nearby in the soil. I tend to label almost obsessively, an outcome of having a nursery I suppose.

Then there will be a selection of about a dozen tall bearded irises, all currently potted and so wanting to be released, along with some intermediates, especially table irises which are similar except with slimmer stems, a little shorter and smaller flowers nicely in proportion. There will be a few standard dwarfs as well around the edges but not so many as to be a border. Some perennials will be Eryngium ‘Picos Blue,’ Crambe maritima, Origanum tournefortii, heterifolius ‘True Blue,’ Papaver orientale ‘Patty’s Plum,’ a number of named auriculas, mainly blues and purples, Lathyrus nervosus and L laxiflorus, the chocolate cosmos, Cosmos atrosanguineus, assorted Pulsatilla vulgaris colours, various named dianthus and so on. Generally, lists are boring except to those making them.

Of course there will be many bulbs too and they will include Iris reticulata forms, some Dutch irises I’ve just bought, Galtonia candicans and its double form ‘Moonbeam.’ Maybe crocus patches and many of these are starting to flower now after a long, quite hot summer. I may put some of June Keeley’s nerines in here as well since it’s in full sun. So many choices! (Talking of bulbs, minutes ago I had a quick call in from Dave and Leitha Adams who have been delivering daffodil bulbs down the South Island, ordered from them at the daff show in Dunedin, September. I only ordered a couple of miniatures but Dave included as an extra, an as yet unregistered South Australian variety, ‘Foundling’ x cyclamineus. It’s a “chubby little thing” says Dave, about 12cms in height. That will be interesting to see in the spring.

The bed has its own watering system as most do, with a central hose from a tap and thin tubes coming from it and which water in fine sprays when the tap is turned on. At present it’s lying on the lawn but I’ll reset it when the main planting is done. The tap has a rather nice top, a small bird, and under this tap I’ll put Ajuga ‘Arctic Fox, a heavily variegated form, dark green and creamy-white. I like it a lot and was able to replace it at the February Study Weekend from a Nelson grower. My first plant was one of soooooo many which succumbed to the overly dry conditions of our late garden. Now I’ll be able to let the tap drip a little if it gets too dry.

The nursery? Well it’s still in a state of being sorted. I have separated out the plants which could be sellable if the occasion arises but most trays – still about 200 of them – are waiting for placement and many plants are to be propagated. I have masses of seeds to sow and many yet to clean and packet for other people/places, and it’s a bit late now for cuttings. We had a good frost yesterday morning and the masses of dahlias around the place were frosted. Almost all of these are, I think seedlings, single yellows by the hundreds and they will go but everywhere I look there are more dahlia seedling coming up. I’ll keep the black-foliaged yellow and terra-cotta plants and I have 4 plants of ‘Bishop of Llandaff. There’s a quite nice coral-coloured semi-double but other than this little selection – no thanks.

Many pots of seedlings are ready or past ready for potting and they too will have to wait until the spring. I’ve found in the past that seedlings which can’t make new roots and grow on before the cold weather, tend to die if potted late in the autumn. We’ve had a glorious late summer really but now the weather has changed and it’s fairly typical autumn, winter not so far off. Besides I haven’t the time now before leaving for the Czech Republic. So it will be a very busy spring and next summer for me, surgery permitting. Ideally, I’d have this when I get home and have the winter to recuperate in and not waste the warmer spring weather. Time will tell. My own doc wanted me to go into hospital a month ago but I said “no” as I wouldn’t have been able to travel for quite a time.

We’re going into the city tonight for dinner, it being Roger’s 67th, and we hope there are Bluff oysters on the menu. We are lucky to have a $100 voucher to spend, a gift from the agent who sold this house to us. This seems to be a usual thing nowadays. The agent who sold our Sproull Drive house presented us with a large parcel of luxuriously soft and fluffy, very thick bathroom towels.

So, time now for a quick lunch then out to plant.

[Lesley Cox]

Some pictures now. Not the most exciting with almost nothing in flower and growth dying back rapidly.

The first is a corm of Cyclamen cilicium,16 cms across!. I tried to move its hypertufa trough to transport but it was well wedged and broke into pieces. The corm was rescued happily and is now in a large pot. It's my best C. cilicium, collected, I was told, in Iran and is a deeper colour than most, though the picture doesn't show it, and flowers for at least 4 months but has never set seed.

The rose shows the typical growth on all the roses here, weak stems, few flowers with a hang-dog appearance. This is a standard and is soon for the chop.

The little bird tap head which I like. All other garden ornamentation was taken for which I'm grateful. The usual selection of trite texts and concrete children holding their aprons as birdbaths and the like.

What will be my sales area. It is surrounded by a pear-shaped driveway of gravel, the top of the pear where our garages/shed are and the lower (stem) end, a gate beyond which is the railway line, about 5 metres from the gate itself. We keep this shut all the time as Marley went for a wander out across the line and onto the road from where a young couple brought him back, a large truck having swerved to avoid him. My mind freezes when I think of the possible carnage he could have caused. Not the M1, the road is, all the same the main road from one end of the country to the other and carries huge amounts of traffic, especially the heavy (60 tonne) trucks which have largely replaced rail freight.

[Lesley Cox]

Where I know them, I'm retaining June Keeley's "unofficial" names for her Nerine hybrids. But many had no names. These two are 'Sunbeam' and 'Startrek.'

[annew]

Lesley,
I'm exhausted just reading about all the work you have to do, but then 'work' is not the right word when it's something as exciting as your new garden. Wish I was going to the Czech Rep to meet you. Have a great time!

[angie]

Anne I am the same, How does she manage it. I find it takes me ages just to do a short note.

Lesley thats really a lovely flower (Nerine Startrek ). Looking forward to see you soon, not long now.

Angie 

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Anne and Angie. I have little trouble writing about it all; getting it done is another matter though. Angie, I could bring a couple of smallish bulbs of 'Startrek' for you. They just like a sunny place and good drainage. All these hybrids from June Keeley clump up quickly.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lesley,
we'll look forward to seeing all the changes when we next visit - has the team from the NZAGS Study weekend recovered enough to consider running another one?
"Sunbeam" looks a bit like one we have called 'Ariel' which is an old hybrid ( I got mine about 20 years ago) - when it flowers here I'll post a pic. Posted at reply 27 here: http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10311.15
See you in the Czech Republic!
cheers
fermi

[angie]

Hi Lesley

That's really generous of you. It is a really nice flower.

I was saying to my husband today I wonder how much money I should take for my trip and he replied well you wont need any money to purchase plants, it's not like you can take much back. Little does he know that I will be able to get loads of plants home.
I am really getting excited about meeting you. I hope I wont disturb you with my midnight snacks.

Angie 

[sippa]

I look forward to meet all of you.  We were there at the last Conference, and it was a lot of fun.  Bevare of the American plant buyers.  Just kidding 

Marianne

[Lesley Cox]

Angie, just keep those midnight snacks well away from me please I can probably put in a couple of other colours as well. The slim offsets will flower in about 3 years I imagine. They make big clumps quickly.

Fermi, these nerine hybs of the  late June Keeley in Timaru, are bred from smaller species and vars so most are quite short, slim and with flowers in proportion, though I admit that 'Sunbeam' and 'Startrek' are two of the taller ones. I seem to have lost one she called 'Chanticleer,' a very early deep blood red and seemingly dusted with gold. It was my favourite but if I still have it, it hasn't flowered for several years. I have about 50 pots here at present, most flowering but being very slow about it this year. She also had a selection of what she called "art colours," smoky salmons and pinks and soft corals etc. All in the eye of the beholder of course. It's the relative smallness that attracts me.

There's to be a bit in the local rag (Otago Daily Times) tomorrow about the market and the fact it is now 10 years old, also a short bit about me, my role as manager there and the fact I'm now retiring. The photo they're using is one I think Tim took, in Aus, a couple of years ago. It was better than the ones taken by the ODT at the market.

I'll try to do another blog episode before 25th, the day I leave, but it will be much shorter and hurried probably. Still masses to do and I'm determined to leave the house spotless because Roger's niece plans to come down to see how he's coping and will clean the house from top to bottom even if she sees a dead moth anywhere. I wish she'd mind her own business.

[David Nicholson]

I'll try to do another blog episode before 25th, the day I leave, but it will be much shorter and hurried probably. Still masses to do and I'm determined to leave the house spotless because Roger's niece plans to come down to see how he's coping and will clean the house from top to bottom even if she sees a dead moth anywhere. I wish she'd mind her own business.

Now that's another difference between men and women. I'd leave it in a right mess and give her something to do

[ranunculus]

 

Now that's another difference between men and women. I'd leave it in a right mess and give her something to do

 

[Lesley Cox]

I normally would too David but she has this superior attitude about how her own place is perfect while she believes I'm used to living in a tip.

[Maggi Young]

Send her here, Lesley- I'll show her a tip.  If she wants to clean it up while we're away that's fine by me!

[angie]

Now that's another difference between men and women. I'd leave it in a right mess and give her something to do

David I see you have you think of your wife's needs before yours  I am already thinking about all the jobs I have to do before I go. I don't think my husband is aware that we have a washing machine or an iron.

Lesley don't worry I am greedy when it comes to my sweets 

Angie