From the files of Commercial Horticulture - NZ's Nursery Industry Magazine:
The Nursery & Garden Industry Association of NZ has announced that a pilot scheme to collect and recycle used plastic planter pots and other containers will start this July. The NGIA says this is a step along the way to a national roll-out of the programme by end of June next year. To be known as ‘GardenWise’ the pilot programme will involve a cross section of industry members from growers through to retailers in two locations, Christchurch and the Waikato.
Living Earth sets up new plant in SI
A state-of-the-art 3000sq m Organics Processing Plant to convert garden and food waste into organic compost, was opened in Bromley Christchurch on 11 March.
Goji berries - a new offering for the grow-your-own marketGlucina’s Tropical Exotics Nursery at Matakana, near Warkworth, has begun distributing its new Goji berry plants (Lysium barbarum) to NZ garden centres.
“Goji juice, dried berries and chocolate-coated gojis have been the latest health trend around the world,” says Kevin Glucina. The plants are deciduous long-living perennials which develop a trunk not dissimilar to an old grape vine. They can grow to 3m with multiple fruit-bearing branches which can be pruned for small gardens.
We have more on this in Comm Hort April / May issue.
Nursery Round-up
The recession is affecting nurseries, but not that much. This was the message Comm Hort’s editor Kerry Johnstone got from growers in his ring-around in late March.
Phil Dunn, Ribbonwood Nurseries, Dunedin: “The recession is affecting us but not drastically. We’ve got fewer forward orders for Winter than usual but we are picking up a few now. The media talking it up doesn’t help because it makes people more nervous about spending.”
Kristin Parkes, Fantail Nursery, Auckland: “It’s been a little quiet but it’s picking up now with Autumn coming on. We’ve had good weather and 3 degrees this morning (24 March) so it’s getting nippy . . .”
David Fletcher, Moores Valley Nursery, Wellington, was less optimistic: “We’ve certainly noticed it (the recession). I don’t think it’s that good out there for anyone in the horticultural game. It’s the worst we’ve seen it in our 14 years. . . . I think if we have a Spring like last one which was not too flash, we’ll be lucky to get out of it. There’s a tightening everywhere and people out there are struggling. I’m realistic about the outlook. We do both wholesale and retail and these have both slowed.
I prefer to brace for harder times and have things turn out better, than the other way around . . .”
Trade got good vibes from the Ellerslie Flower Show
The Ellerslie Flower Show, held in Christchurch for the first time this year, was a huge bump on the radar for nurseries in the South Island in early March and it remained a big talking point for weeks after. Greg Tod, Parva Plants, Christchurch, said: “The whole Ellerslie thing has been great for the nursery industry in Christchurch. The keen gardeners were humming before Ellerslie and it’s carried on. We’ve had a faster response to our new catalogue than we have had for previous catalogues. We hope it continues.”
Libby Benfield, a merchandiser from Marshlands Garden Centre & Café, Christchurch, had attended the Show. “I found it very good, particularly the strong edible displays. For a first time event, they did very well,” she said. With respect to the Show’s impact on the garden centre, Libby laughed and said “it stole (that) weekend’s trade. We were abnormally quiet those two days.” However she felt sure their business would benefit. “It will stir along trade, especially the edibles.”
Brent Gardner from Oderings Philpotts Rd, Christchurch had been looking forward to the inaugural Ellerslie, believing it would be huge. Attendance figures (some 75,000), seem to have backed his predictions. “The whole event was huge and we’ve certainly noticed a positive spin-off. We’re busier in what is traditionally a quiet time for us. Even while the Show was on, over the weekend, our numbers were up, and we’re probably up 50% this week, although it may well be a fairly short-term effect.”
A self-professed “newbie” to the industry, Tiffany Vaughan, owner of Kaizuka GC, Christchurch, was excited by the impact of Ellerslie on both her business and the city.
“It certainly affected trade. I went (to the Show) and I saw everyone there,” she laughs. “We’re new here, only 8 months. After the Show we’re invigorated and we’re fresh. For its first year in the south, it was amazing.”
Comm Hort’s April/May issue carries a 5-page pictorial review of the Ellerslie Flower Show.
Rakaia’s Millwood Nursery to close after 15 years
Richard Wisker is winding down his Millwood Nursery and will close it in about 18 months time. He says that after 15 years the business model he mapped out at the start is nearing the end of its cycle.
Rose Convention for Vancouver
The 15th World Rose Convention is being held in Vancouver, Canada from June 18 to 24 this year. For further information see www.worldrose-vancouver2009.com
NGIA Conference set for July in Palmerston North
This year’s NGIA Conference has been re-scheduled for 29-30 July in Palmerston North. Members felt the original Queenstown venue may have been too expensive.
Invitations are being extended to associates overseas as well as those in the landscape industry. Phone 04 918 3511 for more information.
Trade Show for Sydney in August
The Nursery & Garden Industry Association of NSW and ACT is organising an industry trade show in Sydney 25-26 August this year.
Called Green Expo Sydney 2009, the show will be held in the Grand Pavilion in the Rosehill Gardens at Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Garden Centre with a difference
A breath of fresh air is how international nursery industry consultant John Stanley, describes Terrain at Styer’s, a revamped garden centre in Philadelphia, USA. “If you’re going to Terrain at Styer’s expecting to see glitz, you’re going to be very disappointed,” says John. “This journey is not about capital investment in retail fixtures. It is about taking existing buildings and making them work for retail in a more effective way . . “ There’s a 3-page feature with pics about this unique garden centre in Comm Hort April / May issue.
Our picture shows one of the unusual display fittings that caught John’s eye.
Feature NurseriesWe have illustrated articles on three nurseries in April / May Comm Hort.
1. Nelson landscaper Richard Blaikie, pictured, has started a business called No Mow. This offers attractive low-growing, mat-forming, groundcover plants produced and sold in polystrene boxes. The plant blocks are tipped out like a Christmas cake before being cut into small plugs for planting out. They are being used for erosion control, rock landscapes or on areas near paving where it’s difficult to maintain grass.
2. Weird and Wonderful Plants Ltd. This is a nursery set up by Richard Morten on a 7 acre block at Hinds, south of Ashburton. The “weird” are succulent plants pollinated by flies and the “wonderful” are natives such as phormium, hebes and flaxes – the unusual combination of products the nursery produces.
3. GreenLinc is the name two Christchurch brothers, Thomas and Philip van Zijll de Jong, have called their new nursery, set up to grow the bread and butter plants they constantly need in their landscaping work.
There’s plenty more on these nurseries in Comm Hort April / May issue.
Loss of Bruno Torfs’ remarkable gardenThe bushfires that ravaged the hills north of Melbourne on 7 February, also almost completely destroyed a very special garden. This was the Art and Sculpture Garden created by painter and sculptor, Bruno Torfs, whose stunningly lifelike terracotta sculptures and lush landscaped garden at Marysville has attracted many thousands since it opened 12 years ago. Before the fire, the figures and animals, some realistic, some whimsical, some fantastical, were strategically placed throughout the garden in clearings by pools, rising from or surrounded by lush fernery and eucalyptus and ash trees. Most were lost in the fires – but Bruno has vowed to rebuilt to gardens once again. We have pictures and all the background about the Torfs gardens in Comm Hort April / May issue.
Fiji and its Magnificient Kauri – Part 3
Plantsman Graeme Platt here concludes the report on his 11-day trip to Fiji in search of agathis macrophylla, the Fijian kauri. After reviewing the many fine specimens he encountered Graeme finishes on a gloomy note. “Overall, the state of Fiji’s natural environment and the long-term prospects for much of its indigenous flora and fauna is not greatly different from the rest of the world, which at best can be described as extremely bleak. While Fiji’s traditional village subsistence communal living with its hunting and fires caused severe environmental damage in the past, the modern consumer society with its addictive demand for luxury commodities has created devastating economic pressure on what little remains,” says Graeme.
“The ultimate time bomb hanging over the environment of all the Pacific Islands, and the entire planet for that matter, is the uncontrolled expansion of the human race. Fussing about the loss of trees and birds is not going to achieve anything while the human population continues to expand uncontrollably towards its inevitable ruin . . .”
One of New Zealand’s finest plants — the Poor Knights LilyGuy Bowden, of Tawapou Coastal Natives Nursery, Whangarei, discusses the Poor Knights Lily (Raupo Taranga, Xeronema callistemon), in a 2-page feature in April / May Comm Hort. He says is one of our finest flowering plants and ranks as one of our best horticultural subjects. He backgrounds its history and provides planting and cultural advice.
Defence mechanisms – the many ways plants fend for themselves
In Part 3 of botanist Fiona Eadie’s examination of this subject she looks at role roots have to play in plant protection.
