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We were better weather prepared this day so the weather got better as the day went on.
"Mark's small property on the fringe of Wanganui City occupies part of the extensive peat lands that lie between the higher inland terrain and the coastal sand dune belt that stretches from Paekakariki to Patea. Carefully managed these sites can be very productive with their organic soils and good surface drainage over a reliable watertable."
"From bare paddocks grazing cattle five years ago this same property now has a wide variety of fruit trees, some nut trees a coppicing firewood block, a subtropical area, as well as trial areas for plums, figs, asiminia trilobas etc."
"This property has not been established with a commercial focus. It is intended to be an attractive area in which to live one day as well as an edible landscape and an experimental tree crops orchard."
Gail’s report:
After a “singing in the rain” introduction we could study the map of the orchard layout and list of the temperate orchard plan. Several apple varieties were ripe for the picking and we got to taste them. According to the apple connoisseurs on hand it was discovered that “Discovery” was mislabelled and probably “Liberty”. Too late (or was it early) they proclaimed. Tasted OK anyway and goes to prove you can’t always believe the label.
The fruit trees were in rows with mixed herbal ley along rows and mowing strip between. Lots of fragrant and pungent plants here to scare the nasties away.
Yacon (one of the lost crops of the Incas) was cunningly supported and easy to harvest in stacked tyres.
"In planning the design the property lent itself to division into four quarters with a different land use in each. There was no intention of ever subdividing the property but the layout would allow division into four sections if ever that was desired. This was a design contingency given the property's location on the edge of the town."
Mark had used acacias? to protect some of the more frost tender crops and he was advised to get a digger in to remove them as they would regrow/coppice and be impossible to get rid of unless the roots went too. Also the vision of so many Paulownia when fully grown was too much and suggestion that he limit them. They great a lot of dense shade as late to lose leaves and early to get them. They also coppice well.
"The land use goals are to -
- Develop the property using a combination of organic, permaculture and biodynamic systems, learning and refining these systems over time.
- Plant those trees that would suit the conditions as well as push the limits with more adventurous plantings eg subtropicals."
"The fruit trees began fruiting this year after a poor season in 2001, compounded by possums and pukekos. There are heritage and disease resistant apple trees, together with a number of plums, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines etc. Some of the trees are seedling trees that may be budded or grafted as superior varieties are found. More plum trees will be added as exciting prospects are discovered and propagated through the Great Wanganui Plum Search. (The coppice block may be cleared to make way for more plums). The subtropicals were badly frosted in the winter of 2001, with a number of varieties being killed even though they were protected with frost cloth. The gaps may be flled with oranges and figs in 2002."
At an earlier conference he had bid on a tree that is now considered endangered in its homeland of Chile(?) so as it had to be trimmed up for ease of mowing there were plenty of takers for cuttings with Mark’s handy secateurs. He is never without them strapped to his belt it seems - even at Conference Dinner! Anyway the Podocarpus parlatorei is now assured of survival on Tree Cropper properties throughout NZ (thanks to Eric Cairns for writing its name in my notebook).
"Clive and Nikki were traditional sheep and beef farmers until about twenty years ago when they discovered the fascinating world of bamboos and palms. To a farmer who already loved trees this was a life changing experience. Since then they have extended their interests to cycads, cacti and other dry climate plants from the sub tropical regions of the world and to trees of all types."
Gail’s report:
This amazing property was featured in Growing Today, March 2002 and extra copies were available at the Conference so we had a fair idea what we were going to see. What we were not prepared for was the enormity of the project. Looking at pretty pictures just didn’t give the sense of space - except for the ‘prickly and spiky places’ where I felt far too fat for the pathways. The Opuntia robusta cactus had fruit and I would have liked to have been able to pick some as I have read they make the most delicious jelly - but special prickle proof equipment would be needed. Spreading-type bamboos were well contained in their special tubs.
"The gardens are in four distinct zones, the Cycad House, the gardens around the house, the garden bowl across the road and the arboretums."
"The Cycad House contains many species from Mexico, Madagascar and the Pacific Islands. Included are Pachypodiums [relatives of the frangipani], Euphorbias and a number of plant oddities."
"The gardens around the house were started in 1982 and contain foliage trees, bamboos, palms, alocasias, ferns and cycads."
"Across the road the huge amphitheatre-like garden bowl expresses their enthusiasm and perseverance. Started in 1990 the large garden area has been developed around four themes:
- Succulents and cacti on the north facing slope
- The palm forest on the south facing hillside
- The subtropicals on the same hillside behind the telephone box and The bamboo groves."
Clive had just returned from the International Araucariaceae Symposium so was full of enthusiasm for that species which he considers to be “the most magnificent family of trees to ever grace our planet”.
"The cool southern North Island environment should have created insurmountable diffculties for a person interested in the outdoor propagation of subtropicals but this has not proven to be the case. Certainly winters are cool but the slow drop in temperature during autumn and the slow rise through spring allow the plants to adjust and most manage to survive and thrive. Proximity to the coast ensures the worst excesses of winter cold are avoided. Soils, if anything, are too rich for many of the dry subtropical plants and many complete their life cycles in shorter times than in their home ranges. Rainfall is enough to be generally reliable but not so much that rampant year round growth strangles young plants."
"Visitors to the 'subtropical bowl' should leave behind in the bus all their preconceived notions of what constitutes a garden and what plants one should expect to see in a New Zealand garden. Be prepared for the unusual, bring your notebook and plenty of film for your camera. One side of the garden is devoted to green subtropicals such as bamboos, palms and plants with particular appeal such as datura and michelia. On the dry side of the bowl are the aloes, agaves, cacti in all their forms, cycads and tree lobelias."
After a ramble around the various areas and slipping on some of the tracks and bridges (Roy said he wouldn’t rescue me if I fell down the gully - but guess who nearly came the cropper) some of us took a jaunt through part of the arboretum. Here was a marvellous selection - all clearly labelled for the ignoramus and protected by drums. Mark’s day was made when he found a grown up version of his Mexican hand flower Chiranthodendron pentadactylon with a flower - not to mention seed pods.
"For those with more conventional tastes the arboretum should act as a return to the known and the familiar. Planted in two areas, in the valley in front of the Cycad House and south of the main garden bowl, the mostly young trees are an eclectic collection of deciduous end evergreen trees. Included are eucalypts, araucarias, oaks, maples, magnolias, abies, and to tempt tree croppers, jujubes and guevenas."
"All together there are more than 2000 named varieties of plants on view."
"Roses are at the heart of the Matthews farming and horticultural business; at any one time 600,000 of them."
"While the bulk of the business involves the propagation of thousands of bush and standard roses the nursery is continually pushing the boundaries. Two metre tall standards carrying three or four compatible varieties crowned by a weeping cultivar are one novelty, another the half height standards to fit the reduced scale of small urban town house gardens. Developing new varieties is an important part of the business. It involves making hundreds of hand pollinated crosses each year, growing -on the seedlings and maintaining meticulous records. This is followed by a ruthless process of culling to find the few that are worthy of field trials for up to four years before a decision is made to name and release the new variety."
Gail’s report:
It is hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm when people are really dedicated to their business. Even those who thought they wouldn’t be particularly interested in roses couldn’t help but be impressed with the extensive research and trials that are carried on here and Don certainly had the group fascinated. A former Tree Crop guru Dr Phil Gardner was mentioned several times as having been an inspiration. Work on virus-free plants is more interesting than one would first think, and we had a time trying to distinguish between virus and other nasties. When the roses are ready for sending to the outlets they are stored in pumice where they don’t suffer any setback. A costly cost-cutting exercise one year was to use sawdust - only to discover, when they lost the entire year’s supply, that it was treated sawdust.
Most of us mentally selected our favourite rose and wondered what you had to do to get one named after you - mind you that works both ways - it would be hard to fall in love with a rose named after a person you definitely did not like!
"Tom Matthews, the founder of the nursery and one of the architects of the Central Districts Great Plum Search project, has spent a lifetime in the nursery business. With his commercial growing responsibilities now passed on to a younger generation he satisfies his passion for growing and finding better plants by propagating and building a collection of crab apples."
The selection of Crab apples was fascinating and of course several of us wanted to grow them but they are proving difficult to source. I ran out of film so I was very grateful when Milton McKerrow took some photos for us to use. Tom looks justifiably proud of his magnificent results - some named after him and his wife Pearl. Jelly King had huge fruit and a tip was to add some of a redder variety to make a deeper coloured jelly. Of course the one I fancied - with drooping clusters of dark red fruit - was not on the market I was told. We were asked not to touch the special grapes or the rose hips in the glasshouse where the roses are growing on for selection of new varieties. But some of us were lucky enough to be offered a sample of a perfect grape, meticulously pruned and thinned that Tom grows for his own delight.
"Crab apples do not enjoy the same consumer appeal as roses but have been a long term interest for Tom and his wife Pearl, who must have made crab apple jelly from more crab apple varieties than anyone else in New Zealand. Yellow crab apples, reds and purples, all can be produced. So can bird resistant varieties and varieties with white, pink, red and bicolour flowers, and hopefully in the future, yellow flowers - all form part of the experimental programme maintained by Tom."
"Quoted commentary is from the Field Trip Notes"
Photos: Milton McKerrow, Gail Newcomb
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Created: 5 June 2002 - Updated: 2004 September 05