The DIY Christmas Tree – mark 2 (for 2011)
Last year’s Christmas tree constructed from toetoe plumes (overseas readers may like to think pampas grass) was a tour de force, though I say so myself. On the downside, it did moult badly and I can recall quite a mess as we manoeuvred it out of the house after the event. Though the same can be said for the traditional pine tree too, and pine needles are a great deal more difficult to vacuum up. The step by step instructions for this model are still available.
The tree this year does not lend itself to last minute creation. It needs a sturdy frame to hold the shape. Fortunately we have one, most kindly given to us by a friend.
We saved the grape vine stems from the winter pruning round and kept them under cover. It takes quite a few and I only just had sufficient. Any flexible, long whippy growths could be used – willow, soft canes or wisteria come to mind.
Build in layers by simple weaving. I tied the first rows in place temporarily, to hold them in place. By the following day, they had set in place and no longer wanted to spring out.
Because the top of the frame was very narrow, the grape vines were not sufficiently flexible. I swapped to fresh wisteria vine for the peak. It will dry to a brown shade but will be covered by the angel anyway.
I trimmed any large ends which spoiled the shape. If I had more grape vine, I would have packed the weaving tighter as I went, but I didn’t so I couldn’t.
The finished product is in place and decorating can start. It is possibly the easiest tree ever to decorate, because the ends of the vines make handy little hooks all over the surface. Rather than adding Christmas lights on the outside, we are lighting from the inside of the tree using a table lamp.
On the case with Grandma’s violets (subtitled: it is hard to find the perfect groundcover).
I see it was only a little over two years ago that I gave the death sentence to Rubus pentalobus (commonly called the orangeberry plant because few of us can recall its proper name) and chose Grandma’s violets as a ground cover instead. In fact they are more likely to Mark’s great grandma’s violets because they date back to the 1880s house site and have gently survived paddock conditions there ever since. Once divided and planted into the garden, they have taken off with alarming vigour. Sweetly scented and charming though they are in flower, they were starting to overwhelm everything in their path.
Last year we tried thinning the patch and it was a surprisingly difficult task because the violets had formed an impenetrable mat. I figured this year it would be easier to dig the entire patch and replant small divisions. Digging is only difficult when the ground is heavily compacted or with a blunt spade. Using a sharp spade, I cut the violets into squares as one does with turf. Each square was easy enough to lift.
I raked over the bare soil to level it. Some of the clumps I had dug fell apart quite readily, giving me small divisions to replant immediately. Others, I pulled apart as required, spacing at around 15cm intervals.
There was a large surplus of violets. Not every plant is precious. This barrowload (one of several) is destined for the compost heap.
A final topdressing of compost feeds the soil, reduces water loss from the poor stressed plants and makes the whole area look more attractive. There is an open verdict here as to whether I want to persist with a groundcover that looks as if it will need drastic digging and dividing every year. I will make the call next spring.
Buxus alternatives for garden hedges
With buxus blight cutting a swathe through many gardens, it is clear the problem is here to stay. We set out to review some of the alternative plant options. The advantages of box for low hedging include:
• only needs to be trimmed once or possibly twice a year
• has a very small leaf which means that trimming with hedge clippers doesn’t leave unsightly half leaves visible
• good dark green colour
• sprouts from bare wood if trimmed hard
• so easy to root from cutting that it is cheap to buy and easy for the home gardener to propagate more plants
• will also tolerate a certain amount of shade
We have yet to find a proven like-for-like replacement, only plants that fit some of the criteria.
1) Lonicera nitida – ticks all the right boxes bar one, but that is an important one. Good dark colour, tiny leaves, easy to propagate, cheap… but it grows so rapidly that you will have to clip frequently. This may be as much as once a month in the growing season. It will get very twiggy and leggy if you don’t keep it tightly clipped. The same goes for teucrium which needs even more clipping and isn’t even green, though it does make an attractive hedge.
2) Myrtus ugni, usually referred to as the NZ cranberry. Little leaves, easy to strike from cutting, easy to train and can be kept low, delicious fruit but it develops bare patches. It is really only an option for the edible garden area and it won’t make a nice tidy little hedge that resembles buxus. It doesn’t like shade and can be thrip-prone.
Kurume and Gumpo azaleas - there are also white flowered options for those with refined tastes
3) Gumpo or Kurume azaleas – these are the small leafed, low growing, evergreen azaleas. Good foliage, clip well, can be kept small though the leaves are larger than buxus and they have excellent shade tolerance. They flower, which some gardeners may not want. Gumpos tend to have larger flowers than the Kurumes. The big disadvantages are the expense per plant which will be prohibitive for many gardeners and the difficulty in sourcing large enough runs of the same variety. Some will get thrip (particularly the Gumpo types) so choose the variety with care. Evergreen azaleas are much easier to strike from cutting than most rhododendrons so keen home gardeners with a long term view, may want to try building them up at home.
Camellia hedging options - C. brevistyla
Camellia brevistyla
4) Camellias – some of the slow growing, small leafed varieties are suitable though the leaves will still be larger than buxus. They trim well, resprout from bare wood and are a good colour. There is a limited number suitable for keeping down to a metre, let alone 30cm, so varietal selection is important. Camellias are not easy to root from cutting for the home gardener and can be expensive to buy. Microphylla and brevistyla set seed freely so could be raised from seed at home if you can find a parent plant. Itty Bit is a true miniature for low hedges. Night Rider is very slow growing, though ultimately larger in size. You could keep it to a metre but it will be expensive to buy. We have opted to go the camellia route in the event of our moderate metreage of buxus hedging getting blighted and have raised seedlings of C. microphylla in the nursery for replacement.
Euonymous
5) Euonymus – there are assorted selections of small leafed euonymus being hailed as buxus replacements, including one named Emerald Gem. These look promising but international reports are that euonymus are somewhat disease prone and local reports are that it can be thrip-prone which will rule it out for shady areas. We would recommend trying this as hedging in a modest way before getting too carried away and we have yet to be convinced of its long term merit. It should be relatively easy to root cuttings and is sometimes available in a hedging grade at a reasonable price.
Melicytus obovatus
6) Our friend Tony is sold on Melicytus obovatus, a native from northwest Nelson which takes clipping very well. In the wild it will grow to 2 or 3 metres (but common buxus can become a huge shrub resembling a small tree left unclipped). Plantsman Terry Hatch at Joy Plants is very keen on this melicytus and produces it for sale. As far as we know, it has yet to be tested in the long term (by which we mean as a garden hedge past a decade) but it is worth a close look.
7) Selected pittosporums will make good taller hedges but you are fighting nature to keep them to the low level of edging buxus. Their leaves are also correspondingly larger. The compact pittosporums, Golf Ball and similar selections, make a quick option for clipping balls and topiary, if you don’t mind the paler shade of green. Keep them in full sun with plenty of air movement too.
8) Corokia will make a good hedge and there are dwarf selections available but they are harder to trim if the new growth is left to harden. If not cared for, they can develop bare patches.
Ilex crenata 'Helleri'
9) Twining Valley Nurseries in Pokeno are producing Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’ as a buxus sub. Ilex are the holly family and crenata is a small leafed species from Japan and Korea. It is recognised as a good hedging plant but I have only seen it in photographs and I don’t know how low it can be kept. It is worth investigating.
New Zealand totara - a long term prospect for hedging
10) Our native alpine totara, Podocarpus nivalis, stays very low and can be clipped hard to get dense foliage. However, it is a long term option, it will be expensive to buy in quantity and it does not have the good green of buxus.
We have yet to hear of low hedges which have stood the test of time – by which we mean 10 years, not one year. Until there are more reliable reports, we would not advocate spending too much money and effort on major plantings of alternatives. There simply are no easy answers for a replacement for buxus and we keep coming back to the view that it may be timely to review the role of low hedges in New Zealand garden design.
For earlier articles on the topic of buxus blight and the role of buxus in a garden situation, check out:
* The appropriately named buxus blight
* There is life beyond buxus hedging
* Trouble with buxus
* DEBBO (that is: death by bloody buxus overload)
The ilex again
Dividing calanthe orchids
1) We are besotted with calanthes which are an obliging ground orchid suitable for humus rich woodland areas which do not get too frosty or cold. Mark is out digging and dividing them right now, though he feels he should have been onto it in June or July. He is having to take great care not to break off the flower spikes which are showing now.
2) When the clumps are teased apart, it becomes clear that each section of foliage has a chain of rhizomes attached.
3) Break the rhizomes apart with care. Each will form a new plant. Discard any soft or mushy rhizomes. While these orchids will make a full set of new roots each year, leaving the old ones on at this time gives something to anchor the nubbly rhizome into place when you replant it.
4) The top rhizome of the chain will have the foliage attached. Leave this intact and attached to the first rhizome. Replant in well cultivated soil with plenty of compost or humus added. As the rhizomes tend to run along very close to, or on the surface, they only need to be lightly covered but they need well tilled soil below to get their roots down. The division with foliage will still flower this year. The dormant rhizomes should come into growth soon and some may flower next year, the remainder the year after.
Should you happen to feel a burning desire to have these plants in your garden, we have Calanthe striata for sale – check our listing under the bulbs section of Plant Sales (link is in the green box on the right hand side of your screen).
A short lesson in hooping, no less
Hooping the long whips on the apple trees
Many woody plants concentrate their hormones at the tips of branches. If you bend the branch closer to the horizontal, then the hormones which lead to flowering are more evenly dispersed along the length which encourages the growth buds lower down to flower and grow.
Our Friend of the Garden, Colin, braved the snow and frost this week to come and stay and he has pruned the apple trees. He has hooped over some of the long whips to encourage the plant to push out growth buds along the length, which should result in the production of stronger fruiting spurs to replace old, spent spurs.
Hooping roses which put out long growths increases the flowering markedly. It is a technique I first saw done at Ayrlies Garden (back in the days when Neil Ross was head gardener there). It takes up a lot of space but is worth the effort. I tie the long whips down to wire hoops in the garden. Many of the David Austin roses put out long whips which are ideal for hooping.
Hooping the roses to maximise flowering this season
Using a simple wire hoop to tie down the long rose whips
It is of course the same principle as using espalier techniques to increase cropping. Espalier is not just a space saving exercise in keeping plants as close to flat as possible. It can also maximise fruit yields in a restricted space. You need to make sure that ties are flexible so they don’t cut in and damage the branches – stockinette or similar. The apple hoops were secured with a tapener or tying machine which staples a small piece of flexible plastic tape in place.
Postscript: A man on a mission, Colin is now hooping the raspberries. This is a particularly strong growing variety and this hooping is in part to keep the growth under control and to prevent them making an escape out the top of the raspberry cage. It should also make picking easier.
Any woody plants which make long, whippy growths can be hooped to maximise flowering and fruiting. Colin, a retired horticulturist of vast experience, assures me that when it comes to fruiting plants, the redistribution of the plant’s hormones achieved through hooping encourages leaf buds to form flower buds as well which increases potential fruit yield.
A man on a mission, Colin is now hooping the raspberries
Dividing clivias
1) Clivias are wonderfully adaptable plants for mild climates. Their ability to thrive in hard conditions, even in relatively deep shade and with a regime of near total neglect makes them an obliging garden plant once they are established. They don’t like frost but woodland conditions protect them. It doesn’t seem to matter when you divide them, though it would probably pay to avoid dry mid summer. Like most perennials, they respond well to lifting, dividing and being replanted in ground which has been freshly dug over. This is a patch of lemon yellow clivias and we want to keep the clumps tidy and take off some divisions to sell later in the season. A good sharp spade helps. The clumps can be large and heavy but this one was small enough to get out as one. Get as much of the root system with it as you can.
2) I hosed the clump so it was easier to see and to show what the base looks like, but this is not necessary. The fleshy base is easily cut with a garden knife or a spade. It is easier to control what you are doing with a knife and to make sure that each division has roots attached. If you try and pull them apart by hand, you are more likely to end up with a tuft of leaves and no base.
3) I dug over the area where the clump had been growing and replanted the largest division and the very small pieces. Fertilise lightly (I used Bioboost) and spread compost to enrich the soil and act as a mulch.
4) In digging over, I found the missing rake head from many years ago…. A bit like trowels and secateurs in the compost heap but they usually reappear within the year (albeit in just as poor condition).
5) From the remainder, I potted 10 good sized plants to sell in spring. It pays to reduce the volume of foliage – this reduces stress on the plant which has undergone considerable disturbance and root damage. I took off about half the leaves where the root systems looked small.
Outdoor classroom – rejuvenating tired perennial patches
[1] Many of us have areas of garden which look like this – tired and dull. Although this patch has been kept weed free, mulched and deadheaded, it is many years since it has been actively gardened. There is no alternative to a bit of hard digging.
[2] Dig out all the plants. You can see how heavily compacted the soil has become over many years. It was originally rotary hoed which made it light and fluffy but that was a long time ago.
Placing the plants on a mat beside where you are working will reduce the mess.
[3] Dig to at least the depth of the spade and dig again, breaking up any clods of dirt. This incorporates air into the soil and encourages worm activity. Rake the area to an even surface for replanting.
[4] Different plants divide in different ways so look closely at the plants. The pulmonaria at the top of the photo will pull apart easily to three separate pieces, all with roots and growing crowns. The phlomis at the bottom of the photo could be cut into many plants but I will take this to just two strong plants, reducing each to only one or two growing points.
[5] If you have dug well, you can replant using just a trowel. Try and avoid planting in rows – staggered drifts look better. I want a quick result so am planting at about 15cm spacings. Take the oldest leaves off the little plant, leaving fresh new growth tips. Remember that the soil is fluffed up and the next rains will compact it a little, so don’t plant at too shallow a depth. Only plant the strongest and the best divisions.
[6] We give a light feed of an all purpose fertiliser – in this case our locally produced Bioboost – and then mulch. This patch was dug, divided and replanted about three weeks ago and has a mulch of wood chip from our shredder. It should be well established and look lush and vigorous in spring time.
A step by step guide by Abbie and Mark Jury first published in the Taranaki Daily News and reproduced here with permission.
Renovating old camellia plants: step-by-step with Abbie & Mark Jury
A step by step guide by Abbie and Mark Jury first published in the Taranaki Daily News and reproduced here with permission as a PDF.
New Outdoor Classrooms are uploaded fortnightly.
Garden Mulches (Part 2) step-by step with Abbie and Mark Jury.
A step by step guide by Abbie and Mark Jury first published in the Taranaki Daily News and reproduced here with permission as a PDF.
New Outdoor Classrooms are uploaded fortnightly.
Garden Mulches (Part 1) step-by step with Abbie and Mark Jury.
A step by step guide by Abbie and Mark Jury first published in the Taranaki Daily News and reproduced here with permission as a PDF.
New Outdoor Classrooms are uploaded fortnightly.
2 comments