Ellerslie Flower Show shifts to Christchurch
Exhibitors, while still busy dismantling their displays at the close of this year’s Ellerslie Flower Show in the Auckland Botanic Gardens, were stunned to hear over the PA system an announcement that the show was being shifted to Christchurch. People Comm Hort contacted were initially amazed that such a move was even contemplated whereas others particularly from the South Island felt it was positive. Organisers have set a date in March 2009 to hold their first Ellerslie Flower Show in Christchurch.

David Benny takes five awards at the NZ Rose of the Year
Rose breeder David Benny of Balclutha stepped up five times to receive awards at the Pacific Rose Festival Trust’s New Zealand Rose of the Year on Sunday 18 November at Hamilton Gardens. David’s bright golden rose, Gold Dust, not only took Best Floribunda but also Best New Zealand Raised Rose and Children’s Choice award, capping this with the coveted New Zealand Rose of the Year. To complete the five-bag haul, David’s Love Me Do took Most Fragrant Rose.

Trade Days shaping up well for Auckland & Christchurch
Bookings for stands at next year’s Autumn Trade Days in Auckland and Christchurch opened in early December and early indications are that both shows will be well supported.

Plenty of variety planned for 2008 Aus NGIA Conference
Seachange for an Essential Industry is to be the theme of the Australian NGIA’s conference in Glenelg, Adelaide, South Australia 26-28 March next year. Conference MC is retail expert, Debra Templar of Australian Retail Services. Business writer and commentator, Robert Gottliebsen will speak on ‘Seachange or Media Change?’ especially looking at how the industry, through developing a better image in the media, might ‘spin’ its way out of the water restrictions which have affected horticulture and agriculture more than any other big businesses. Dr Wendy Craik, ceo of the Murray Darling Basin Commission, will look at planning for and securing water and the long term future of the industry. The topics for the concurrently run technical and retail streams include benchmarking; labour saving efficiencies; cafes and coffee carts; hot tips on making your business attractive to new employees; business refinancing; plant growth regulators; and more.

Warren Kwok leaves California GC
In mid-February Warren and Carol Kwok and their three-year-old daughter, Nyah, leave California Home and Garden Centre in Lower Hutt and head for Singapore, expecting to live there for up to five years. Carol, who is Singaporean by birth and a lawyer, has accepted a very good position there and says Warren, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Annette Officer retires from Riverview Growers
After more than 30 years at Riverview Growers, sales manager, Annette Officer retired in early December to the new house she and her husband, Gordon, have built at Twizel. Annette spent 20 years on the road travelling fortnightly between Ashburton and Dunedin and was a regular at Auckland Spring Trade Days visiting the main North Island centres on the way with Margaret Buschl.

Nursery & GC Round-Up
“If you can’t be happy this year, I don’t think you could ever be happy . . .” That’s the comment of one nursery and the general feeling as the trade comes off an excellent Spring. Lack of rain in many parts of the country is the only real problem looming. Contributing comments in this Comm Hort report are: Jody Lusk Wairere Nursery, Auckland; Phillip Smith, Taupo Native Plants, Taupo; Greg Sampson, Cedar Lodge Nursery, New Plymouth; Ross Bayliss, Bayliss Nurseries, Christchurch; Peter Whitehead, Touchstone GC, Gisborne; and Warren Kwok, California Home & Garden, Lower Hutt.

Christmas bells ring GC tills across the UK
Kiwi journalist Mark Hotton reports that Christmas is big business for British garden centres – Christmas trees both real and artificial, lights, decorations, giftware and gardening present ideas are all being heavily promoted. Some operators have developed an additional 20 per cent in sales annually through festive lines and this extra ‘bite of the cherry’ has helped many garden centres that started out as small retail nurseries become significant retailers with £5 million-plus annual turnovers. Retailers have had a hard year. Plants have taken a beating with sales down slightly but there are positive signs. Helped by the ‘Jamie Oliver effect’, gardeners are increasingly growing their own fruit, vegetables and herbs. Vegetable seed sales have outstripped flower seeds for the first time since World War 2 and the trend shows no sign of abating – television programmes continue to promote the healthy benefits. ‘Local’ food is gaining popularity and many garden centres have responded to this by offering specialist food halls and/or farmer markets, with locally sourced food. Wildlife gardening is a popular trend, with several programmes extolling the virtues of having birdlife and insects in the backyard helping to lift sales.

Revamp Time at Petals ’N’ Pots
In the last 12 months or so, Petals ‘n’ Pots Garden Centre in Pukekohe, has made some major changes. A new roof was installed over the store during Winter. The revamp also included enhancing the large giftware department, repainting the outside and resealing the 40-plus carpark. But the piece de resistance was the installation of a new 65-seater café, Infusion. Story and pics are in Dec Comm Hort.

Young Horticulturist of the Year
The horticultural industry is in good shape if you measure it by the calibre of the eight contestants in the NZHITO Young Horticulturist of the Year competition on 9 November at the Auckland Botanic Gardens, says the NGIA. Each of these people came through as finalists in their industry sector and were determined to do their best in a range of practical activities as well as face an interview and do computer-related exercises, all in the space of a few hours. In the end it was the overall consistency of viticulturist Emma Taylor of Villa Maria Wines in Napier, representing the Viticulture sector, who took out the event. This sector also provided last year’s winner, Marcus Wickham.

Ellerslie 2008
We didn’t know it at the time, but this was to be the last Ellerslie Flower Show for Auckland -- and by all accounts it was one of the best yet. At least the international judges thought so -- they awarded a whopping 21 Gold Medals, compared with only nine last year. Comm Hort has a full report on this year’s Ellerslie Flower Show.

Growing Spectrum
Peter and Carol Fraser’s Growing Spectrum nursery in Kihikihi, south of Hamilton, took the NZ Nursery of the Year Award for 2007 and is Comm Hort’s feature nursery this month. The story begins in 1970 when Peter decided to start his own landscape business, running it from a tiny residential rental property. Three years later and now married to Carol, the pair bought four hectares in Kihikihi and started growing their own plants, opening a garden centre on the site in 1976. Growing Spectrum now produces a wide range of ornamental shrubs and perennials and is proud of a number of cultivars of its own. These include Coprosma Evening Glow, Hebe Turkish Delight and the new Coprosma Golden Glow which is due to be released next Autumn. Comm Hort profiles the nursery over 6 pages.

Veronica or Hebe? That is the burning question
Professor Phil Garnock-Jones has opened a can of worms by suggesting all hebes should be renamed veronicas. Professor Garnock-Jones says that all hebe and their relatives in the Southern Hemisphere, including Chionohebe, Derwentia, Detzneria, Heliohebe, Leonohebe and Parahebe should be transferred back to veronica. ““Even though it may be hard to draw a line precisely, it’s very clear that the closest relatives of some veronicas are hebes. And hebes are monophyletic meaning they have developed from a single ancestor which was a veronica.”

Divaricating Plants
Part 2 -- Nurseries who grow these unusual NZ natives are unanimous in their praise for them. They’re tough, don’t pose too many production problems and have many uses in the landscape. We talk to more nurseries about the experiences.

Book Review
The Management and Maintenance of Historic Parks, Gardens and Landscapes

PLANT BASICS
Fiona Eadie continues her dissertation on seeds -- after a slight diversion to Stewart Island which she describes as “A lost slice of New Zealand paradise. If you were travelling abroad and came across such a place your shooting finger (cameras at twenty paces) would become tired and your ears would demand a rest from the incessant calls of the wildlife. . . ” A “personal botanical discovery” she made “(showing my ignorance probably) was a red flowering olearia, Olearia colensoi var grandis (coastal leatherwood). Yes it has red flowers; well, red ray florets to be technically correct . . . . Someone needs to bring it into cultivation, for the Mainlanders anyway!”

Website tells what to grow where
Landscapers, councils or home gardeners wanting to know what native plant would be suitable for a certain place will find the new Oratia Native Plant Nursery website something of a blessing. It has a search feature which can suggest plants for a given situation. The user can then read a brief description of each plant and click for more details such as photos or growing tips. Plants can be ordered directly online and the site is linked through to the nursery database, which is regularly updated. The site is at www.oratianatives.co.nz

Above is a synopsis of articles printed in one issue of Commercial Horticulture - Magazine of the Nursery Industry.

For information on Commercial Horticulture, including subscribing, please visit the Comm Hort Feature Page.