Florist Christchurch New Zealand News

Fuchsias Christchurch Florists

Fuchsias are native to tropical places, mostly Central and South America, although there are a few in New Zealand. One that grows there is a six-inch, frost-hardy ground cover that gets covered with bright red berries. It looks nothing at all like the tender, heavily flowered, shade loving plants we know. Worldwide there are more than a thousand hybrid varieties, some of which grow 12 feet tall and are considered to be trees.

Different kinds of hummingbirds -- and there are more than 325 kinds -- pollinate fuchsias many places where they're native. But that doesn't happen in New Zealand because hummingbirds are exclusive to the western hemisphere.

It's early June, and in this part of the country peonies and irises are either at their peak of bloom or about to be. To me, these two plants are inexorably associated with Memorial Day.

When I was growing up our family went to the local cemetery on Memorial Day to visit family graves. There were always peonies and irises blooming in that cemetery, although then, and I don't know why, people called them "pineys" and "flags."

June is a month of horticultural abundance for many invasive and/or non-native plants. The beguiling fragrance of the small white flowers of multiflora roses perfumes the air, but that's the only good about this plant.

The pretty white, pink, and purple flowers of dame's rocket line roadsides everywhere. It's a member of the mustard family and often mistaken for wild phlox. The white flowers of bladder campion are often next to them. Its balloon-like calyx behind the flowers is a dead giveaway.

The deep blue flowers of chicory are also beginning to appear. Most people recognize this roadside plant even if they don't know its name. It grows just about anywhere there's open ground. At times, though, its flowers are confusingly almost white.

The flat, yellow dandelion-like blossoms popping up in fields, meadows, and roads belong to one of the many hawkweed varieties. The most common one grows two feet tall and sometimes has orange flowers. Another kind is much shorter.

Honeysuckles are probably the most misidentified of the currently blooming plants. As a kid I knew honeysuckle as a vine with sweet tasting white and yellow flowers. That invasive vine is Japanese honeysuckle.

Other invasive types grow as big shrubs, particularly Morrow's honeysuckle. Tartarian honeysuckle is also a big shrub but has pink flowers. The best ones for gardens and wildlife, though, are the native everblooming varieties with orange, red, or yellow flowers.

More Gardening

Vegetables

Hedges planted in strategic places protect vegetable crops from wind damage but because they need regular clipping, busy gardeners and those with small patches may prefer to use windcloth, manuka scrub or similar.

The ideal shelter hedge is no more than 1.5m tall.

Keep its base compact by clipping plants hard from the earliest stages of growth and keep soil around them free of weeds.

Lonicera nitida, an evergreen honeysuckle sometimes sold as box, is suitable as a close-growing shelter hedge with small-leaved, dense growth.

Propagate from cuttings taken in autumn and winter.

Growing best on moderate to heavy soils, this honeysuckle has a root system which does not travel far into neighbouring plots.

Golden akeake or akiraho (Olearia paniculata) and Escallonia - the pink-flowered form is best - are other hedge plants suitable for the vegetable garden.

They can be grown from cuttings but a head start will be achieved if plants two or three years old are used.

Broad beans and artichokes, planted in the right position, will give temporary shelter to protect tender crops from strong, early summer winds.

Another shelter option is manuka scrub.

Flowers

Even the smallest section should have some space for a shrub or two, perhaps an azalea or rhododendron, a camellia, lilac or an evergreen native shrub.

Identifying a site's soil conditions will help determine what type will grow best.

Transforming hard clay or a rocky, dry slope into an area of fertile, friable soil is hard work but there are attractive shrubs that will grow in poor soils.

There are plants to withstand salt-laden winds and others that will grow in locations where high trees, steep slopes or tall buildings limit direct sunlight.

Avoid digging holes for shrubs in the middle of an uncultivated area.

Circles of cultivated ground surrounded by firm soil collect rain water.

Dig over a larger site to surround the spot where the shrub is to grow, covering the soil later with ground cover plants or wood chips.

Add compost, well-rotted stable manure, leaf mould or rotted straw to the soil.

Let this settle for a few days or weeks before planting the shrub.

Always consider how wide and tall the shrub will grow and provide sufficient space.

If planting several in an area with a main focal point of view, ensure tall specimens are at the back and short ones near the front.

Shrubs suitable for seaside gardens include rosemary, ngaio (Myoporum laetum), lilac and Olearia avicenniaefolia, which flowers in autumn.

For lime-free soils, try rhododendrons, azaleas, Kalmia, daphne, Erica, camellias, Pieris, magnolia, Gaultheria and hydrangeas.

For heavy, clay soils, Deutzia, Pyracantha, Spiraea and Weigela are suitable.

Tamarix and the spindle tree (Euonymus) are strong enough for wind-swept gardens.

Rock rose (Cistus), rosemary and many South African and Australian shrubs are suitable for dry, stony soils.

For shade or beneath trees, rhododendrons, Cistus and Viburnum are options.

Fruit

Blueberries are one of the most antioxidant-rich fruits and as higher intakes of certain antioxidants are believed to lower the incidence of some cancers, the popularity of this fruit is increasing worldwide.

The blueberry is native to the eastern United States and the fruit was collected by Native Americans for centuries before European settlement but it was not until the early 20th century that work was undertaken on developing large-fruited hybrids.

Notable in this work was botanist Frederick Coville (1867-1937) who had a keen interest in the foods used by Native Americans.

In New Zealand, efforts started in about 1979 to breed new cultivars with an eye to developing an export market.

Blue Magic and Tasty Blue are among the New Zealand-bred varieties.

There are three main types of blueberries: highbush, rabbiteye (the most heat-tolerant) and southern highbush.

Blueberries are often unsuccessful when tried by home gardeners, mainly because they will not do well in heavy clay soils and hate lime.

Like rhododen-drons, they prefer well-drained, damp peaty soil.

The fruit ripens from mid to late summer and the bushes need to be picked over several times as not all the fruit ripens at once.