We’re counting down the days now till the Need for Speed Conference gets under way in Pukekohe. It’s not too late to register (just), and if you haven’t already done so, please have a look at the programme with our multi-talented speaker line up and list of places we’re visiting. Then ask yourself do you really want to miss out on this?? Once again we will have a 4 pack of enthusiastic young horticulturists helping out throughout conference, one of whom will be this year’s Western Region exchange person, Kelly Broadlick. Hope to see many of you there.

I was reminded of the real need for horticultural experts recently when I failed to pinpoint the reason all sixty-something Thuja Smaragds in my home garden started to look stressed and slowly  developed random brown patches. The once perfectly healthy specimens, ranging from half a metre to 3 metres, and from two to ten years old, in different parts of my one acre garden, all started to look off at once. I hadn’t pruned them, I am not close to other gardens, drought had been a problem in Canterbury recently so that had to be considered……etc etc. All possibilities went through my mind, and although I kept coming back to the thought that it could be canker I couldn’t find any signs of disease when I examined some of the plants with a magnifying glass.
In the end I delivered some samples to a local plant diagnostics lab and back came the definitive answer two days later. Yes, they did have cypress canker, along with some secondary Pestalotiopsis. I was given a picture of the Seiridium spores  they had found on the samples (my magnifying glass didn’t cut the mustard) along with much useful advice. Yes, the advice can be found on the internet but I needed the experts to tell me exactly what I was dealing with. I have been involved with horticulture for many years, but that still doesn’t make me an expert in all things horticultural. We absolutely need tertiary trained horticulturists/scientists here in New Zealand, however very few are being trained.

I will be writing more about horticultural education in my next couple of columns. And the Thujas? I am going to have a really big burn pile out in my paddock this year.

Regards, Jill             
 

2017 IPPS Conference
'Need for Speed'
May 18th - 21st 2017
  

 Register now for an exciting, action-packed tour through the heart of the Potato/Onion country.

We have a great line-up of guest speakers and nursery visits to Zealandia, Ardmore Nurseries, Icon Trees, Beaumont’s Nurseries, Rainbow Park Nurseries, Twining Valley Nurseries, Joy Plants and more!
 
For the first time, RNZIH (Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture) will be joining us for our conference this year.  There will be a Banks Lecture on Thursday Night -Terry Hatch on his expedition to the Sub-Antarctic Islands.
 
We have speakers on Kiwifruit, What’s new in the Potato World, Doug Grant on Ornamental Pumpkin Breeding,  Andrew Molloy on Rakino Island,, Jack Hobbs and Paula from Auckland Regional Council Botanic Gardens on their favourite subjects, Malcolm Woolmore and Dr Keith Hammett and Caroline Elliott on her and Jeff’s intrepid journey last year.
 
Friday night will be action packed with fun and games, and Saturday night will be at the Pukekohe Racecourse with a theme of “A Night at the Races”.  Dress up to a racing theme – any racing goes!  The auction will also be on this night.
 
PRE CONFERENCE TOUR:  Waiuku - Thursday 18^th May - Start time 9.00 am
 
NOTE numbers strictly limited – 24 maximum
 
Pre-conference tour consists of a trip to Kariotahi Beach and at least three nurseries including Kiwi Colour, Seedling Systems and The Native Plant Nursery, previously Taupo Native Plants, and also viewing Glenbrook Steel Mill.  We will lunch at the historic Kentish Hotel in Waiuku, this will be at your own cost.
 
 
POST CONFERENCE TOUR:  Far North
 
 Sunday 21^st May to Thursday 25^st to Cape Reinga. See programme for details.  NOTE numbers strictly limited - 20 maximum
 
If you are intending to go on the post-conference tour please book your accommodation and contact Lindsey Hatch as soon as possible.

Notification  of  upcoming  2017 Annual  General  Meeting
IPPS New  Zealand   Region

 

The New Zealand Region wish to advise of its upcoming AGM, at Ardmore Aerodrome 5pm Friday 19th May 2017.
 

IPPS Merchandise
 

A range of IPPS New Zealand merchandise will be available throughout the Pukekohe conference with one of the Horticentre Four Packers looking after sales. Eftpos will be available.  

IPPS Waimate Field Trip
 

Victoria Park – Jill Reader

A full day of visits planned for the Saturday meant an 8am start, so for many it was an easy trip to our first gathering place at the Victoria Park gateway – through the short walkway from the camping grounds! The founding fathers (and mothers) of Waimate had great foresight when back in 1881 they set aside 7.5 ha of land at one end of the town for recreational use to be known as Victoria Park.
A number of very old oaks and other English trees frame a banked cycling track built in 1891, and since those early improvements there have been many others – a Curator’s house, glasshouse, animal enclosure (wallabies!), aviary, bowling green and pavilion, playground, sports courts, and more; in fact the park provides a hub of facilities and green space that gives the residents of Waimate a rather special place. Just inside the main park gateway, the beds are brimming with annuals – 60,000 are still grown from seed annually, with the Waimate District Council one of the last in the country to still propagate their own. 
Victoria Park is very well maintained, and with a mere staff of 5 council parks and gardens employees, it was surprising to hear how large an area the council covers – Pareora, Cave, Lake Aviemore and Glenavy mark some of the council’s boundaries. Wattie (Graeme Watts) outlined to us some of the future plans for different plantings within the park, which all bodes well for its continued use and appreciation by the locals.
 

Dr Helen Brookes – Jill Reader

Our second visit on Saturday was to the boutique orchard of Terry Fowler andDr Helen Brookes in Georgetown. It would have been easy to overlook the entrance to this unique property tucked neatly into a hillside, bar for the fact that a small sign advertising fruit for sale was hung by the gate.

We had a wonderful and informative tour of the property by Helen, and were given the inside story on the leafcurl-resistant peach ‘Sweet Perfection’. The result of a chance seedling left growing by their carport, it was not included in the copper spraying programme the other stone fruit received but did not get leaf curl. Visitors from a tree crops group were particularly impressed, and as a result some budwood was sent for propagation to Thirkettles. This Haven-type peach also has some great characteristics that consumers are after – free stone, juicy and sweet. Bound to be a best seller with home gardeners.  

Helen and Terry also grow a range of nuts plus other fruit you would not expect in this area, including loquats and grapefruit. The plants all produce well, thanks to a microclimate formed by a  schist hill behind the property providing a thermal mass, and the area being located on the top of three terraces which slope down to the Waitaki River. It is not a big property but it is very tidy and the fruit and nut trees are a picture of health - the most impressive aspect is that all the work is done by the owners, who are in their 80’s. All in all a very interesting stop, with time here for a cuppa and some lovely morning tea before moving on. 

 

Riverstone Castle – Janine Smith

20 minutes north of Oamaru sits Riverstone Castle, the “fantasy- work –in- progress” home of Dot & Neil Smith. Here our IPPS Field Trip Group were entertained by Dots wit and enthusiasm as she showed us around and talked us through both the development of the business as well as her dream castle.

The castle sits on an island surrounded by its own man-made moat and even comes with a dungeon! Dot tells us that there is also a spa pool atop one of the turrets so they can relax in it whilst enjoying the views out over their dairy farm. The castle has been a lifetime in the making, 4 years in construction, but is finally nearly ready – 4 months and counting according to Dot!

The Smiths moved to North Otago from Northland back in 1983 and started their dairy farming enterprise, which is primarily still the core of the whole business. The property was named Riverstone due to it being solid river stone when they arrived – no soil or grass, not an ideal platform to begin dairy farming on! Dot informed us that over the years they have “chewed out” three lawnmowers with the stones! She also told us that being the passionate gardener that she is, she arrived at Riverstone with all her Bromeliads and tropical flowers, ready for that instant garden – all died within weeks!

 The hard economic situation of the later 80’s and in particular “Rogernomics” saw Dot think “outside the square” for an income. She began growing and drying flowers to sell and gradually took over the implement shed “one bay at a time. It was a hydroponic garden using cow manure and water. She has now expanded Riverstone into the eclectic visitor and retail experience that it is today.

10 years ago her son Bevan entered the business, opening the award-winning cafe/restaurant that is on site.  The cafe cooks between 300 – 400 meals per day and uses all greenery and microgreens as well as fruit produced by Dot in her garden. She describes the garden as an eating garden, not a show garden. The restaurant is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays which allows Dot to make jam utilizing the fruit grown on site, she also buys in fruit to supplement what is available. Dot and her son Bevan are looking towards developing a Farm Shop onsite that will be an outlet for their own milk and produce produced on the farm.

The garden, cared for by Dot, is a pottager styled garden. It is set out across 24 large raised squares that uses bottom stack from the haybarn, cow “***” – with 5000 milking cows plenty of that to spare and sawdust. They plant following the moon and find that it does work for them; however Dot did admit that probably what is in the soil contributes to their good results as well.

In thebeginning Dot also used blood and bone from the local freezing works, but this was too rich – killed all the seedlings!!  Dot unashamedly acknowledged throughout our time there that much of what she tries is trial and error and with no formal horticultural training she doesn’t have the concept of” won’t work or can’t do”  she just gets on and does, if it doesn’t work she will try a different approach until the desired outcome is reached.  Dot is an inspiration to us all on staying positive when times get tough and on persevering when you have a dream or vision!
We were lucky enough to have our lunch stop here –thanks Wattie! We were treated to several platters of food featuring produce grown in Dots garden as well as local salmon – a real treat! 
 

Headford Propagators – Jen Todd

After a brief Health & Safety rundown, Grant Hayman explained how the nursery had started on the6.9 hectare pastoral block and developed into two operations. A nationwide, plant transportation service and a wholesale, growing-on-lines and re-vegetation lines business.  The initial reasons for their location in Waimate was the central location to South Island Markets, an abundance of available water and the areas good alluvial soils.

Over the years plastic greenhouses, shade houses and heat beds are just some of the additions that have been made to the nursery. Recently a Da Ros tray filling machine was introduced and now a weeks’ worth of potting (roughly 24,000) is done in a day which posed another problem “the greenhouse was full in 2 days”.  This has allowed staff to have more time to maintain the plants.

The transport division currently has a fleet of 11 trucks with a special focus on plant transportation and also general freight. With the uptake of technology improvements this part of the business has remained competitive as a supplier of freight services nationwide. 
For the first 20 years, Grant & Robynne lived on-site but have now moved into Waimate.  They employ 27 staff from the area and produce around 1 million plants per year.  

 

Hook Bush Nurseries – Mary MacNicol

A hobby that got out of hand, Hook Bush nursery is nestled in a valley with temperatures extremes of -7C in winter and +35C in summer. It is the home of Ken Batchelor, grower of tough plants for tough conditions.

In the past, this had expanded to a garden centre in Timaru and a composting business with the help of 600 pigs. The business was downsized in order to allow Ken and his late wife Liz to tick a few items off their bucket list. Now it is full steam ahead, or should I say fog ahead, with the purchase of a fog and fan unit which has revolutionised the propagation of the perennials, shrubs and natives that Ken grows. Half of the production goes to Bunnings and the rest to landscapers, Mitre 10 stores and members of the public. A splendid morning tea was provided in one of the most delightful settings of the trip.
 

 

Plantorama is a wholesale and retail nursery located on the outskirts of Timaru and has been owned by Dave Caird for the last three years. It grows both field and container grown plants although more production is being done in containers
Grows open ground from rooted cutting for one year and then either pot or return to open ground for another year. One of the main crops is larger grade ornamental conifers which are grown in open ground for  1 - 2 years and will be potted this year. A nice tidy traditional nursery.

 

Banks Memorial Lecture

A brief history of the Subantarctic Islands and an illustrated talk on flora and fauna at the present time

By Terence (Terry) Hatch

The Banks Memorial Lecture is a free lecture open to the public. It commemorates Sir Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain Cook's first voyage to New Zealand. During a later distinguished scientific career, he was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London.

Venue: Pukekohe Park Events Centre, 222–250 Manukau Rd, Pukekohe 2120.
Date: Thursday, 18 May 2017.
Time: 7.30pm.
Cost: Free.

Abstract:
Terry Hatch will speak about a history of the Subantarctic Islands and his adventures there during his visit in summer 2016. This lecture will have a wealth of illustrations of the amazing flora and fauna he encountered.

Biography:
Terry Hatch is a horticulturist and conservationist. He has nearly 50 years of dedication to breeding plants, island revegetation, and the promotion of horticulture through his writing and speaking engagements. He won a Supreme Award for Horticultural Excellence at the Ellerslie Flower Show. He has been an active member of the Friends of the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens for more than 20 years, was President from 2001 to 2003, and became a life member in 2007. He is a founding member of the International Plant Propagators’ Society, New Zealand Region, becoming President in 2007 and serving as International President of the Society. His nursery, Joy Plants, near Auckland, has been highly regarded among horticulturists for more than 30 years. In the 2017 New Year Honours list Terry Hatch received an ONZM for services to horticulture.