Friday, April 29, 2011 TARANAKI DAILY NEWS 13
GARDENING www.taranakidailynews.co.nz
STIHL SHOP NEW PLYMOUTH50 Molesworth Street, New Plymouth
Ph: (06) 759 2032 • www.stihlshop.co.nz
Juliet Street, StratfordPh: (06) 765 5690
Lord ofthe LeavesUPGRADE TO FIRST CLASS! Come in for a Blower, walk out with a ShredderVac for no extra cost!
STIHL SHE 81 Electric ShredderVac
STIHL SH 56 ShredderVac
STIHL SH 86 ShredderVac
NOW $345SAVE $50
NOW $545SAVE $100
NOW $745SAVE $100
STIHL BGE 81 Electric Blower STIHL BG 56 Blower STIHL BG 86 BlowerOffer valid until 30 April 2011 or while stocks last.
3658229AA
Right into Outdoor Power Equipment
MANAWATUGARDEN FESTIVAL
7 & 8 May 2011 • 9am - 4.00pm daily • Manfeild Stadium, Feilding
` Celebrity Speaker – Ruud Kleinpaste` Fionna Hill - microgreens ` Landscape designs ` Lawnmower racing ` Entertainment` Plant crèche
Manawatu Garden Festival - all enquiries and bookings toT 06 323 1956 F 06 323 1967 E [email protected]. W www.gardenfest.co.nz
The friendly gardening show that helps your garden grow.
SAVE MONEY buy your early bird tickets!Adults $8 (Children under 15 years FREE)Available at Feilding Herald, Feilding United Traveland Harrisons Garden World (Feilding & Waikanae)
Send payments with stamped, self-addressed envelope to:Manawatu Garden Festival, PO Box 370, Feilding
Over 160 trade stalls sharing garden expertise and knowledge
10th Anniversary
3640
118A
A
Renovating old camellia plants: a step-by-stepguide with Abbie and Mark Jury.
Photos: ABBIE JURY
1Camellia sasanqua‘‘Sparkling Burgundy’’has had quite a bit of
work done on it over theyears to thin the branchstructure and to lift thelower levels to allow lightbelow. This has made afeature of the size andage of the plant which isnow more of a small treethan a shrub.
2However, this camellia has little in its favour. The toplayers of foliage are not in good health and lookscruffy and full of dead wood. We will rejuvenate it
by cutting it back very hard to bare wood. This is bestdone any time from now until early spring.
3The plant is virused which affects itsvigour. Virus in camellias is not alwaysbad. It is what gives variegated leaves
and two tone flowers. However, if you thenuse the cutting tools on a healthy camellia,you will transfer the virus. It pays to disinfectsaws and secateurs immediately afterfinishing the affected plant. You can do this bysimply dipping in a bucket containing dilutedbleach.
4Cut back to whatever level you wish. Most camelliaswill resprout and come again even when cut off atground level, but we want a bushy shrub about 1.5
metres high by summer so we are leaving bare woodystems around that height, cut a little lower at the sidesthan the centre to give a rounded shape. If you leavesome of the old trunks, you keep a strong structure
and shape for the bush.If you cut off at theground, you will bestarting over with acarpet of fresh shootswhich may not give agood long term shape.
5This Camellia yuhsienensis was cut back early lastspring to completely bare stems with not a singleleaf remaining. Such ruthless cutting forced dormant
leaf buds into life and it is now a bushy little shrubalthough we won’t get as many flowers as usual foranother year.
Vireya Rhododendron Rio RitaRio Rita was bred by the late OsBlumhardt, one of this country’sforemost plantsmen and plantbreeders in his time. It was namedfor the irrepressible Rita Watson andit always makes us smile because theflower is so well suited to the boldpersonality and immaculategrooming of the namesake. Rita wasvery keen on vireya rhododendronsand her North Shore garden boastedsome of the best grown plants wehave ever seen in a garden situationthough we were told shesubsequently gave up growingvireyas and took up line dancinginstead. Rio Rita is a leucogigas
hybrid (crossed with Dr Sleumer)and the flowers are voluptuous andfragrant. There are five flowers to atruss and this photograph is of twotrusses side by side, which is why itlooks quite so full. Each flower isabout 10cm across, which is large.
Most vireyas don’t have a setflowering season because they comefrom the equatorial areas where dayand night length is pretty much thesame all year. This means you canhave some in flower all the time ifyou have sufficient plants anddifferent varieties. However, theywon’t tolerate more than a degree ortwo of frost and wet feet will killthem very quickly. As a guide, thebigger and more lusciously fragrantthe flowers are and the larger theleaves, the more susceptible theywill be to cold temperatures and lessthan ideal conditions. This meansthat Rio Rita is by no means theeasiest vireya to grow well, let alonekeep alive at all, but if you have theright conditions, it certainly puts ona show. Abbie Jury
call us now on(06) 759 0810
You don’t have to share with your workmates
Why home delivery?
Recommended
