GARDENS OF THE WORLD - TE KAINGA MARIRE, New Plymouth, New Zealand

Te Kainga Marire means ‘peaceful encampment’ in Maori. This garden has been created on a private property in the middle of New Plymouth, a city of 53,000 on the Tasman Sea coast of the Northern Island of New Zealand, which is part of the Taranaki region.

The owners of the property, Valda Poletti and Dave Clarkson, began work on this garden back in 1972, when it was pretty much wasteland. Over the years they planted many native trees and bushes, being careful to follow the natural association of plants in the wild as much as possible. The main goal was to make this place a ‘bird-friendly’ garden.

After all those years of efforts they have succeeded, proof of which is the return in the area of the ‘tui’ bird, a large forest dwelling honey eater native to New Zealand (photos below). Another ‘proof’ is the recognition bestowed to the garden by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Gardens Trust. This trust provides a list of private and public gardens to visit, which are rated using a star system, six stars being the highest rating. Te Kainga Marire holds that prestigious rating and is listed as a ‘garden of international significance’ by the trust.

Here are some photos of this remarkable garden:

The hebe plant, a New Zealand native, is grown in various areas of the world now as an ornamental for its showy flowers that attract butterflies. There's also a Hebe Society which promotes the cultivation of hebes and other native plants in New Zealand.

The Marlborough rock daisy (below) is a native of the South Island Marlborough region, especially in the Kaikoura area. They are now used as an ornamental in gardens as well.

 

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The tree on the left is called 'titoki', a New Zealand native short tree (up to 9 m high. It is among the most planted native tree in that country. The fruit of this tree is a favorite food of the New Zealand wood pigeon (photo below).



The garden co-owner/creator, Valda Poletti, is showing a nikau palm, the only palm tree native to New Zealand.

The fruit of that palm are another favorite food of the wood pigeon. The tree had many uses with the Maoris - food, food wrapping, basket and floor weaving, etc.

The pomme reinette du Canada (Golden Russet apple) below is, in spite of its French name, a cultivar from England dating from the 1800s. In this garden the tree is trained along a timber fence using the espalier method.

This mandarin tree grows in a natural setting with New Zealand wind grass (anemanthele lessoniana) in the foreground. This type of grass (zones 8-10) is popular with garden designers in North America.

The rangiora (above), is a small bushy tree endemic to New Zealand. Also called the 'Bushman's friend' because if its large leaves with a soft furry underside with antiseptic properties. It also had a variety of medicinal uses with the Maoris.

FERNS IN NEW ZEALAND

For a country with a temperate climate, New Zealand has a very large number of fern species, around 200. Among them is the tree fern, which can grow up to 20 meters high depending on the species.

The photo below shows a 'Rough Tree Fern' (dicksonia squarrosa),  which is growing near - and above - the garden creator's home. This tree fern is endemic to New Zealand and common. The trunks were used as fence posts by Maoris. For people unaccustomed to see such a giant fern, it is quite an impressive sight! 

This one below is the Golden Tree Fern (dicksonia fibrosa). Both species can reach heights of up to 6 meters.

This welcoming sign above describes the main features of Te Kainga Marire.

The tui bird (photos above) is attracted the same way we attract hummingbirds here in PEI - with a feeder (shown at the bottom of the photos) filled with a specially prepared nectar.

However this is not the only bird attracted to those feeders. The wood pigeon (below) also comes for a sip from time to time.

GLOWWORMS  : although I don't have photos of them there are even glowworms on that property. The garden creators have indeed built a special tunnel for them, through which we can walk and see those unusual animals. They are not real worms but rather insect larvae with bioluminescence. In New Zealand the glowworm is the larva of the fungus gnat, a carnivorous insect that lives in colonies of hundreds, so their light is enough to read a book!



Te Kainga Marire has been featured in 2008 in a BBC televised series entitled ‘Around the World in 80 gardens’, by Monty Don. Here’s the link to this report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6rTZbVjYbo
 

(article and photos by Denise Motard)

Gardens of the World - Auckland Domain, New Zealand

The Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park and one of the largest. It is located near downtown, includes the Auckland War Memorial Museum and is also near the Auckland City Hospital, the largest in New Zealand.

It includes the Wintergarden with two glass houses as worth visiting as the Domain outside.

There's also a 'Sensory Garden' designed especially for the visitors with disabilities, an unfrequent feature in a public garden.

Here are some photos from this domain-park-garden:

 This is what the glass house looks like from the outside.

  

The glass house has a nice collection of pitcher plants.

 

 

Pitcher plants are carnivorous and the ones shown here grow in South East Asia, Madagascar, Australia, and India.

They are climbers.

 

 

 

 

Above is a central piece near the entrance, a lotus basin - the large leaves are those of the sacred blue lotus.

 

The plant below - acalypha - has several names : cat tail, copperleaf, chenille plant. It is cultivated as a house plant for its flowers. Easy to see why. 

 





 

This tree is so large that the child sitting on its roots is dwarfed.

 



 

 

The Auckland Domain also has a Sensory Garden:

 





 

The goal of a sensory garden is to provide visitors with an experience that appeals to as many of the senses as possible, not just visual or olfactory. Features would include raised beds to eye level for someone in a wheelchair for example, with plants to touch to feel the various textures of leaves and flowers and seeds and trunks. Sometimes music can be included. This is what the central row looks like in that sensory garden:

 

Mandevillas (above) are climbers with spectacular fragrant flowers, a popular choice for many gardeners around the world. It would be considered an annual here - if we can grow it at all - due to being a zone 10-11 plant.

 

 

Finally, the photo above shows the Wintergarden main building from the outside.

 

(article and photos by Denise Motard)

 

 

GARDENS OF THE WORLD SERIES

A new series of articles will start this month on the blog of the Garden Club of PEI.

Each article will feature one or more garden(s) in another country or province.

Members who have travelled to other countries or provinces and have brought back photos of gardens are welcome to share them on this blog if they would like to. All you have to do is contact the club at : gardenclubofpei@gmail.com.

Those articles will be published in the winter to help us maintain some gardening mood in spite of the harshness of that season for growing any kind of vegetation.

Stay tuned!


Gyoen National Garden, Kyoto - photo Denise Motard

Pruning tips

The November 2013 meeting of the Garden Club of PEI welcomed Gary Schneider, who manages MacPhail Woods in Orwell.  He talked about pruning to promote healthy shrubs and trees.  "A good reason to prune is to keep the tree healthy," says Gary.  "I love seeing healthy trees in a healthy setting."  Gary has held pruning workshops for the past 15 years, and he cares about good techniques.

"Some of the best plants start very poorly," says Gary.  "Pruning well can improve plants considerably.  Plants respond well to good pruning. Prune early and prune often."

Smart selection:  Understand the conditions that make individual plants thrive.  Put the right plant in the right place.  Poor plant growth can result from poor nutrients in the soil, or from placing a plant in a location that is not suitable.  Try to put each plant in a location that is closest to its natural state with respect to amount of light, soil composition, and soil moisture.  Some examples:

• Red oaks need a large space because they grow quickly into a big tree.  Don't plant them close to a building.  Don't plant something you know will outgrow the space and think you can prune it back to the size you want.

• Yellow birches planted in the open will develop a crooked stem, and a rounded shape and sprout lots of branches like an apple tree.  In nature, yellow birches grow in a crowded area in dappled shade, and grow tall and slender with few branches because they are reaching towards the sun.

If branches are crowded too closely together, their connection to the main tree stem will be very weak.  You need to cut out some of the crowded branches to allow room for growth and to allow for a firmer bond.  

Gary has a particular dislike for Norway maples and Scots pine.  Both are non-natives, and are poor choices for PEI.  Norway maples are very susceptible to black tar spot and other fungal disease.  Scots pine have very weak branches that break easily.  "I've seen hundreds of Scots pine, and I have yet to see a beautiful one on PEI."

  

Trees respond well to being pruned in the right place.  Pruning at the wrong place will cause trees to respond poorly.  At the base of the branch is a swollen area called the branch collar.  Make your cut just outside that branch collar.  This type of cut will leave a nub sticking out of the main tree stem.  After growing for a few years, the stub will be covered over and healed.  If there is disease in the cut branch, the tree will wall off  the infection if it is pruned properly.  

Do not cut flush with the main tree stem.  A branch collar cut is much smaller in diameter than cutting flush with the tree stem.  A smaller cut will heal faster.  Also, if the cut is not completely straight, the wound will not heal evenly all the way around.  

Poor pruning may cause blight.  Do not lop off the tops of trees because that causes many branches to sprout from the cut top.

Pollarding: 

This is a pollarded plane tree in Geneva, Switzerland.  The branches are cut every year at the same spot to prevent the trees from reaching their full height.  In the summer when they leaf out, they form perfect balls of green leaves.  I'm sure they are not as pretty in the winter, when those monstrous knobby branches are revealed.

The leader:  If the leader (the top branch that points straight up) is cut off, two or more side branches will straighten up and there will be multiple leaders.  With one leader intact, the other branches will flatten out in search of more light.  If the leader dies or is cut off or chewed off by an insect or squirrel, pick the straightest branch and tie it up on the dead leader.  Prune away other competing branches.  

If pruning is done well, it is a flat, clean cut that has a good chance of healing well.  Crowded branches are more likely to crack or split the tree.  A natural break or split will not heal.  

The compressed tissue between two crowded branches is dead.  When the branches get older and heavier, the tree will split.  That is a perfect place for moisture and mould and rot to set in.

Sealing a cut is like putting a dirty bandage on it.  Water will eventually make its way under the sealant, and create a spot for mould and rot to set in. 

Red oaks often have a lot of dead branches.  The tree will respond favourably to having all the dead branches removed.  

Tools:  do not use a chain saw to prune trees.  Do not use anvil pruners (they come together and crush the stem)  A clean cut will close more quickly.

Use bypass shears.  They cut like scissors.    Gary recommends the ARS brand.  They cost about $60 and are made in the US, and are even better than Felco.  When cutting with bypass shears, place the blade against the main stem.  

Pruning saws can't be sharpened, but you can replace the blades. Generally, saws cut on the push stroke.  Japanese blades cut on the pull stroke, and are easy to control. 

sources:  saws:  www.bigbeartools.com has tools that Lee Valley does not carry.  Silky is a good brand.

www.bapequipment.com for ARS bypass shears or corona bypass shears

Garry also carries a sharp knife to smooth out cuts.

When dealing with a crack in a stem, cut in and scrape out loose bark and dead tissue.  The wound will heal faster.  

Use a holster to prevent losing a set of shears or saw.

When cutting, make your first cut away from the final cut, just to take away the weight of the branch and reduce the risk of breakage. You can even prune buds by rubbing them off with your fingers.  

You want branches to be no more than 1/4 to 1/3 the diameter of the main stem.  If the branches are bigger than that, they should be cut off.  

Shrubs - each have different pruning needs.  

• black currants:  cutting off old wood at the bottom will rejuvenate the plant.

• lilacs:  when they flower only at the top, it means the bottom branches are not getting enough light.  Cut off up to 1/3 of old wood. Don't cut off just the top growth. but don't cut off right at ground level either, because that causes a riot of growth.  You want to create dappled shade.

When to prune:  Ideally, the best time to prune is on a beautiful day in February.  But in reality, Gary prunes all year long.  Prune to repair damage any time of the year. If a tree has been damaged, but still has a good root mass, cut it off and it will sprout again and grow quickly. 

Gary suggests that people out for a walk in the woods should take their pruners with them.  Stop and cut off damage as you see it.  That is a great way to improve the forest.

  

Gary invites anyone interested to get involved with plantings in Fernwood, Morrell, and Charlottetown.

For more information about MacPhail Woods, visit www.macphailwoods.org

Garden Club of PEI - Summer Garden Tours 2013

Garden Club of PEI  -  Summer Garden Tours 2013

Welcome to our Sunday Garden Tours!

To Our Members:
Please feel welcome to bring family, friends, and supervised children. Please leave pets at home. You are invited to visit these private gardens on the listed date from 2:00-4:00 pm. Please feel free to ask questions of your hosts but do not monopolize their time. Please do not pick weeds, flowers, or seeds without permission. Please note that all tours are non-smoking. Take a map of the area you are visiting.

To Our Hosts:
Please place balloons or signage to mark your property; use ribbon or twine to mark out of bounds areas on your property. Please be available on site to answer any questions. Tours will take place, rain or shine, from 2:00-4:00 pm. Visitors may ask for the names of plants; if you do not know maybe other gardeners will. Relax and enjoy showing your hard work. Feel free to attend all other gardens in the Summer Garden Tour.

Sunday July 7 - North Rustico Tour:

 Penny and Gordon Shurson, 172 Gallant Lane.
Take Highway 6 to North Rustico; Gallant Lane is immediately before Jems Books (pink house). Follow Gallant Lane (Unpaved) to a division and keep left to #172 ( a 2 storey beige house with a brown roof on left.)
 Harry Pineau civic address #80 Line Road, North Rustico.
From highway 6 take highway 269 on the left. #80 is the 3rd house on the right.
 Errol Gallant - Villa Marguerite Seniors Home - 40 Churchill Ave North Rustico.
Property is next to Stella Maris church.
 Louis Peters, 50 Gulfview Crescent, North Rustico.
Take the first street past Montgomery Theatre.

July 14 - Charlottetown Tour:
 Allan and Marilyn Long, 61 Hurry Road , West Royalty.
Turn right at the end of the bypass Hwy on to Upton Road then take the first left on to Hurry Road. Follow the Hurry Road and take sharp right. #61 is the last driveway on the right.
 Jean and John Pater civic address #477 Union Road (Queens Co).
From Brackley Point Road take the first right past the Airport on to Route 221. Proceed approximately 2 km to the premises on the left.
 David Toombs, 10 Kent Street, Charlottetown. Property is located across from PEI Government buildings.
 Denise Motard,58 Nottinghill DR. Stratford .From TCH Take Kinlock Rd.(by Sobeys) and turn left on the Stratford Rd. ,then take the first street on the right which is Nottinghill.

July 21 - Charlottetown Tour:
 Judy and Henk Bondt, 17 Valdene Ave , Sherwood.
From Highway #2 (St Peters Highway) past Ellis Bros, Valdane Ave is the second street on the left from the intersection with Brackley Point Rd.
 Heather and Frank Robinson. 47 Corrigan Court, Charlottetown.
Take Queen Street north past Belvedere Avenue and take the first street on your left, Cooper Court, to Corrigan Court, which is the first street on the right.
 Nancy and Don Hughes, 116 Mt Edward Rd, Charlottetown, just off Belvedere Ave on the right.
Mt Edward Road is past Belvedere Ave on the right.
 Cheryl and Bert Desjardines, 129 MacRae Drive, East Royalty.
MacRae Drive is the first street on the left after passing Wright's Pond on the St Peter's Highway.

July 28 - Montague and Area Tour:
 Claudine and David Lister, civic address #5208 Union Road (Kings Co).
Take TCH to Cherry Valley and turn on to highway #3 to Montague. Union Road is Rte 22 on the right past Summerville. # 5208 is located 2 km from highway 3 and has parking on the property.
 Janet and Richard Knox, Victoria Cross.
There are 2 ways to access this property:
 From the Lister's continue south on the Union Rd to Victoria Cross. At the crossroad take the road that is straight ahead (not the road to the immediate left heading in to Montague.). The premises is on the right when your reach Knox's Dam.
 From Montague take Riverside Street, which is located on the right immediately before crossing the bridge in Montague if you are travelling south. Follow Riverside Street and cross a second bridge then follow the road along the Montague River to a "T" intersection. The Knox property is immediately ahead .
Parking is available in their yard or down by the dam.
 Sheryll and Brian Pound, 98 Alexander Crescent, Georgetown.
As your drive in to Georgetown the pulp yard is on the right and immediately on your left is the North Royalty Rd (Hwy 342). Turn on to the latter Road then take the next road on the right, Burnt Point Rd. Drive 2km to Alexander Cr which is a gravel road on the left.

Pest management for home gardens

The May 2013 meeting of the Garden Club of PEI welcomed Stephanie Compton, who spoke about pest management in home gardens.

Stephanie lives in Savage Harbour.  She has worked at golf courses, at Vesey's Seeds, and with the provincial Department of Agriculture.  She is starting a small business which offers horticultural services, and her family has taken over the management of Island Gold Honey.
For more about Stephanie, click this link:
http://acornorganic.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/meet-acorns-fruit-and-berry-network-coordinator

She says dealing with pests is about management, not control, because we will never rid ourselves of all pests.  The most important tool is using organic mulch.  Mulch will control up to 78% of weeds.
Organic mulch can be composted bark mulch, straw, eel grass sea weed, all of which have no weed seeds.  Using wood chips or sawdust as mulch has one drawback:  as it decomposes, it uses up nitrogen that is needed by the growing plants.  Newspaper and cardboard also makes effective mulch.  Compost is a very good mulch that adds nutrients to the soil.
Inorganic mulch includes plastic, landscape fabric, and biodegradable film.  Organic mulches are preferable to inorganic mulch.

The weed want sold by Vesey's Seeds is powered by a propane cannister.  It is a good organic way to control weeds on walkways.  Use caution, howver - you could start a fire.

Chemical weed control:  Iron is toxic in high doses. Iron is the active ingredient in products such as Weed b Gone.  It can be used as spot control for perennial weeds, but it will leave dead spots in your lawn.
Corn Gluten Meal, when spread on lawns or gardens, inhibits all seeds from germinating.  It does not affect plants that have already sprouted.  Do not spread corn gluten meal on a garden before your vegetable seeds have sprouted.  Buy it at Agri Co-op.  It is much cheaper than at a garden supply store.
Vinegar (ascetic acid) burns weeds.  It is effective on walkways.  It lowers the pH of the soil, and so it is necessary to apply lime to restore a balanced pH.  Use a spray bottle to apply it.

Disease control
Prevention is key.  Plant disease-resistant cultivars.  For example, Knock-Out roses are much more resistant to fungus diseases than regular hybrid varieties.
Boron will kill moss growing on lawns.  Spot spray a product called Solubor at the recommended application rate.
Clean garden practices will prevent many disease problems.  
Don't plant the same types of plants in the same spot year after year.
If you make your own compost, it must heat up to 60 degrees C in order to kill weed seeds and pathogens.
Dispose of infected material properly.  Do not put it in your own compost heap.  Double bag it and take it to the Energy for Waste facility.  Do not dump it in rural areas.  For example, tar spot on infected maple leaves will spread to new areas when leaves are dumped.
Late blight on tomatoes or potatoes:  double bag infected plants and leave in the sun to break down.
Black knot is a disease affecting wild cherry and choke cherries.  This is a disease that is hard to control.  Continuous pruning is the only method of control.  The affected branches should be pruned six inches from the affected area.  Burn the material or double bag it and take it to the Energy from Waste plant.

Chemical disease control

Sulphur dust forms a barrier that prevents fungus spores from attaching to the plant.  Repeat application after a heavy rain.  Baking soda dissolved in water can be effective.  Apply every 7-10 days or after a rain.
Copper mixes have been used in the past.  They are not used as much anymore.  Use caution.  Copper is toxic to fish and plants.
Bordo or Bordeaux is copper sulphate and hydrated lime.  It causes a drying action that dessicates plants.  It  forms a protective film which is drying and toxic.  It is best to apply it using a hand pump sprayer.
Compost tea fights diseases when used as a spray on plant leaves.  To make it, put some active compost in a burlap sack and soak in water 4-5 days.

Pest insect management
Monitor plants and check for problems often.  Insects can be monitored using sticky traps, lures, bait, pitfall traps, a sweep net, and by observation.  If you catch an insect and you want to know what it is, take it to Agriculture Canada research station on University Avenue, and an entomologist will identify it for you.
A home-made insect trap:  cut a plastic pop bottle in half.  Pour wine, vinegar, or sugar water in the bottom.  Squeeze in a teaspoon of dish soap.  Insert the spout end into the bottom end.
Or take a pop can, fill it half-way with diatomaceous earth, and lay it on its side in the garden.  It will attract earwigs, which will have their outer skins cut by the sharp diatomaceous earth.  Buy this at Agro Co-op in a 45-pound bag, which is much cheaper than buying it in small amounts at a specialty store.
Lures
A plastic dish half-filled with beer will attract and drown slugs.
to attract fruit flies, put balsamic or white vinegar in a dish, cover with plastic wrap, and poke a few holes in the top.
a mixture of sugar water and yeast will attract mosquitoes.
Red bait will attract apple maggot fly.
Meat will attract wasps and flies.
Diatomaceous earth will kill all crawling insects that walk through it.  Put a 4-inch wide circle of diatomaceous earth around each hosta plant to protect it from slugs.  Coffee grounds may work.
A circle of copper pennies around plants will deter slugs. They get a shock from the copper.
A mosquito magnet or a UV light trap or a bug zapper may attract more bugs to the area than you already have.

Mating disruption
This is not commonly used by home gardeners.  To fight coddling moth in apples, growers put twist ties impregnated with mating hormones.  this confuses the moths, and they won't be able to find each other to be able to breed.

Physical barriers

•  
• Diotomaceous earth (right) 
• copper or tin foil, coffee grounds, lime sulphur, nets and screens, are very expensive to use in large amounts.  It is not viable for low-value crops, and very labour intensive to apply and maintain.  

Natural insect repellant:  lemons, garlic, cinnamon, lemon balm - cinnamon and lemon rind keeps cats out of children's sand boxes.  Plants evolved to have strong smells as a way to protect themselves from pests.  e.g. scented geranium.  

Poisons

Bacillus thuringingus (Bt)- will kill caterpillars, mosquitoes, colorado potato beetle.  Need to apply the correct variety of Bt for the insect targeted.  Check the label.  

Pyrethrum or pyrethrin are neurotoxins which attack the nervous system of all insects.  They are not toxic to humans or dogs.  They break down when exposed to sunshine.  They can be toxic to fish, cats, and beneficial insects.  

Insecticidal soap must hit the insect directly and has no residual effect.  It dissolves the waxy cuticle of the insect's exoskeleton, dehydrating it.  The soap breaks the surface tension of water, clots the breathing tubes of the insect adults, larvae, and eggs.  Be sure to spray the undersides of leaves, where eggs are laid.  

Beneficial organisms

Ladybug larvae

Ground beetle

Beneficial organisms include earthworms, ladybugs (adults eat aphids), bees, spiders, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, ground beetles, dragonflies, lacewings, assasin beetle.
Bees and butterflies are natural pollinators.  The other species are predators.
Ladybugs can be a problem for grape growers.  They land on the ripe grapes when being picked, and give  the resulting wine a bitter taste.

To encourage the growth of beneficial soil organisms, aim for soil pH of 6.5.  Add organic matter and compost and mulch to help good bugs thrive.


Mycorrhizae (soil fungus) has a symbiotic relationship with roots.  It attaches itself to roots, gets some sugar from the roots, and in return brings nutrients to the plants.

cranefly adult

Cranefly larvae eat grass roots, and overwinter on slopes.  They kill lawns in spring.  Solution:  resod the area or plant with white clover, which is not affected by crane fly.  Mix white clover into lawn seed.

cranefly larvae

Lawn seed usually has three kinds of seeds:  perennial ryegrass, fescue, and kentucky bluegrass.  White clover is more drounght tolerant than grass, attracts beneficial bees, and adds valuable nitrogen to the soil.

white clover