Venue for Auckland Flower Show decided
Alexandra Park is the venue for the first Auckland Flower Show 20-23 23 November. Paul McLuckie of the Auckland Flower show Ltd believes it’s an ideal venue for the show because of its central situation, proximity to the motorway and to Cornwall Park. Permanent buildings including cafes, function rooms toilets, all-weather paving and good tarsealed parking are all positive features, he says.

Twigland Upper Hutt Closes
After 40 years of business, Twigland Gardeners World in Upper Hutt closed its doors at the end of February. Manager Jeff Jones said the change of attitudes to gardening, rising fuel and freight costs, the chains and changing demographics were some of the factors contributing to the closure.

Media expert in NZ for seminars
Growing Media expert Dr Ted Bilderback who is now in New Zealand on a NZ Peat and Carann-sponsored visit will be running a series of seminars to be held in various locations nationwide beginning mid-April. Invitations will be sent once the venues and timing have been finalised. To register your interest, just send an e-mail to Daniel.mahon@nzpeat.com or visit the NZ Peat and Carann stands at the Auckland Trade Day.

New nursery site for Annton’s
Annton Nurseries’ new nursery site on the site of a former horse stud just out of Cambridge will begin stage 1 of its production in March. Stephen Burton expects the nursery to be fully operational by November or December.

Dry times ahead
Longer droughts are predicted with Massey Professor Tom Barry saying that by 2080 severe dry conditions may be longer even from December to May. This will have a definite impact on agriculture and horticulture practices.

Bumper grape crop expected
This year’s grape harvest is expected to top a huge 24,000 tonnes, up 20 percent on last year thanks to the hot summer, say New Zealand’s wine growers.

Hortec 2008 postponed
The ongoing political situation in Kenya, has resulted in the postponement of the horticultural trade show Hortec. Planned for mid-March but will now be held later this year at date yet to be decided. Although the country had quietened considerably by the end of February, numbers of international exhibitors and visitors were expected to be well down.

NZ’s biggest pohutukawa found?
Plantsman Graeme Platt has discovered what he thinks could be NZ’s biggest pohutukawa – a 1000 year-old giant growing in farmland on the Awhitu Peninsula on the southern arm of Auckland’s Manukau Harbour. The tree’s branches spread over an area of approximately one third of a hectare. Graeme tells of his discovery in Feb Comm Hort, along with some great pictures.

March date set for Ellerslie Flower Show in Christchurch next year
The date for the first Ellerslie Flower Show to be held in Christchurch has been set at 11-15 March 2009. This followed feedback from a meeting of potential exhibitors held late last year.

International nursery consultant – John Stanley
Growing up in Aston, Birmingham, surrounded by tenement houses is not the most promising start for a horticulturalist.
So says international garden industry consultant, John Stanley, who is the subject of our Personality Profile in Feb Comm Hort.
“Up till I was 10, we lived above a garage and didn’t have a garden which made it hard to develop an early love for gardening.” But John has gone on the found a very successful business consultancy with clients around the world. He has written several books and estimates he does some 120 seminars a year.

Growing Spectrum Scholarship
Growing Spectrum has awarded David Foster of Te Awamutu a $3000 scholarship for free tuition at the Growing Spectrum Horticultural Training Centre course for 2008. The course runs for 36 weeks at Kihikihi and students gain Advanced Certificate in Horticulture Level 4.

Wisley medal for Keith Hammett
Dahlia Magenta Star, bred by Keith Hammett of Auckland, was awarded the John Brown Memorial Medal at Wisley Trials, UK, in late 2007.
“Magenta Star is quite tall and has a very vivid colour with dark foliage,” says Keith.

Green roofs: are they just novelties – or a serious trend
International GC consultant, John Stanley, believes demand for green roofs – gardens planted on top of buildings – may be set to grow both for commercial buildings and residential houses and could offer good marketing opportunities for the garden trade. He reports latest trends from around the world in February issue of Comm Hort.

Let’s expand the plant range on offer
“Hopefully we can avoid being caught in the vortex that is occurring worldwide -- the demise of specialist nurseries growing the more unusual plants versus the scary rate of expansion of the mass producer of a limited range . . .” So says Fiona Eadie in her February column in Comm Hort. She is calling for a concerted effort by the garden trade to expand the plant range on offer to the public. And she offers some practical ideas on how this might be done, by growers and by retailers.

Beetle to attack Wandering Jew
A Brazilian beetle (Lema obscura) may be brought into New Zealand to help control the weed Tradescantia fluminensis, commonly known as Wandering Jew or Wandering Willie.
The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) has received an application to bring the beetle in from the Auckland Regional Council on behalf of a consortium of regional councils and the Department of Conservation.

Pressure to lift plant prices in UK
One of the biggest issues for the garden industry in 2008 is what to do about rising plant prices, says says UK correspondent Mark Hotton in his report in Feb Comm Hort. “Until now, UK growers have absorbed most cost increases or found ways to reduce overheads, but it is now thought price rises are inevitable. Factors causing the price rises include more expensive imports from Europe due to a record low pound-to-euro rate; a plant shortage due to booming commercial development in France, Germany and eastern Europe; rising fuel prices pushing up transport costs; and wage increases imposed last year. “
A side effect of this is that UK garden centres are putting sales ability ahead of plant knowledge when hiring staff.

Cindy joins Lifetech
Cindy Barnes, after eight years working with plant breeder Keith Hammett, has joined the Lifetech tissue culture laboratory in Albany.

Divaricating Plants – Part 3
Comm Hort wraps up its coverage of divaricating plants in its Feb issue with comments from retailers, landscapers and councils on their experiences with these unique NZ plants plus advice on their uses and care.

More publications for Weekend Gardener
Weekend Gardener magazine, published fortnightly, is this year to add four new publications called “Our Gardener’s Quarterly” to its offering. The first, in February, is on Roses.

Agapanthus to be banned from sale in the Auckland region
From 1 July, Agapanthus praecox syn. A orientalis will no longer be able to be sold in the Auckland region. The Auckland Regional Council considers agapanthus to be a coastal weed and says it is also proving to be a problem with water tables along roadsides and bush edges. It will monitor growers, garden centres and casual markets to enforce the ban.

New product for control of codling moth and leafroller
Late last year, Delegate, a new product claimed to give greater control of codling moth and leafroller, was launched on the New Zealand market. New Zealand is the first country to register Delegate, produced by Dow AgroSciences, for commercial use.

New roses recognised at Palmerston North rose trials
Five new varieties of roses from top New Zealand and overseas breeders were recognised with awards at the NZ International Rose Trial Grounds in Palmerston North last November.
The top award, the Gold Star of the South Pacific, was won by SOMwarmag, bred by Rob Somerfield of Tauranga and entered by Glenavon Roses.

World Federation of Rose Societies President interviewed
Dr Gerald Meylan, President of the World Federation of Rose Societies, was in New Zealand late last year and gave an interview to Hayden Foulds for Comm Hort. The interview runs in the April/May issue. Dr Meylan believes the market for cut roses will increase since new varieties have a longer vase life. “Garden roses will also enjoy a new expansion, as they now bear more flowers and are much more resistant to disease. Roses will also be more prominent in municipal parks, since new varieties cost much less than traditional flower beds . . .” 

Independent garden centres combine in huge buying group
More than 40 UK garden centres have signed up to a new buying group, called the Growing Retail Organisation (GRO), set up by the UK Garden Centre Association in partnership with Associated Independent Stores, which is the biggest independent non-food collective buying group in the UK with a turnover of around 1.8 billion pounds.

Record year for National Garden Gift Vouchers in UK
Despite a poor Summer and difficult retail trading conditions, 2007 was another record year for sales of the National Garden Gift Voucher (NGGV) in the UK. A massive voucher promotion, which included door drops to four million targeted households, contributed to the record sales.

QSM for Keith Hammett
Well-known plant breeder, Dr Keith Hammett, received the Queens’ Service Medal (QSM) in the 2008 New Year’s Honours list.

The story of Franks Trees
Feature nursery in February Comm Hort is Franks Trees near Nelson. Proprietors are Frank and Tracey Goeddert who set up the nursery only four years ago, and now produce more than 10,000 bagged and bare root trees each year. The nursery has principally focused on grafted specimen trees, mainly deciduous. Frank was only 16 and had no English when he and his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1987. Our feature traces his development up to the present day.

IPPS Conference in May
Eight overseas experts are among the line-up of 18 speakers to present papers at the IPPS Conference 22-25 May in Auckland. We publish the details in Feb Comm Hort. Registration and other information is available at www.ipps.org.nz

NGIA Conference in June
The theme for this year’s NGIA conference is “Visions for a Sustainable Industry – What a Cool Idea!” It is set for 26 and 27 June, at the Napier War Memorial Conference Centre. Registration packs will be available in March. For sponsorship opportunities and more information, contact frances@ngia.co.nz, or ph 04 9183511

Plant photo competition open
The Royal Horticultural Society UK’s 2008 plant photography competition is now under way and entries close off 26 September. There are several categories, like best Plant Portrait, Garden View, Plant Close-up, etc.
Details and conditions may be seen at www.rhs.org.uk/news/photcomp.asp

IPPS pre-Conference tour details
Two one-day offshore island guided visits have been organised to precede the IPPS Conference in Auckland in May.
The first, on Wednesday 21 May, is to Tiritiri Matangi Island. and the second, on Thursday 22 May is to Rangitoto.

Bonsai expert closing nursery
“I’ve reached that age when we can slow down and do a bit of travelling,” says Joy Morton of Joy’s Bonsai Studio, Dunedin, one of New Zealand’s leading bonsai exponents.
Joy has been creating, selling and teaching bonsai for 37 years. She will continues with her teaching classes.

From the files of Commercial Horticulture Magazine:

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

There’s much more on all these topics in Comm Hort Magazine November – why not subscribe today!!

Industry loses a passionate powerhouse of perennials
Adele Penn, of Colorworx Nursery, Tauranga, one of the industry’s most enthusiastic and passionate nurserywomen, passed away on Thursday 18 October after the discovery 18 months ago that she was suffering from incurable motor neurone disease. Comm Hort staff extend their sincere sympathy to Dave and the family and the Colorworx team.

Carbon footprint research
The UK’s Horticulture Trade Association is funding a three-year research programme at Reading University to investigate the carbon footprint of typical garden plants. The project will investigate the positive environmental contribution that plants make in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Retail Round-up -- weather poor but sales hold up over Labour Weekend
“Whangarei was windy and cold, but we had our best ever Labour Weekend for 17 years”, says Trish Hosking, of Sciadopitys Garden Centre, “so we’re very happy. We spent the weekend running and for that matter the weekend before too.” This was the general concensus about Labour Weekend from GCs Comm Hort spoke to. Included in our survey were Rhys Gibbs of Nichols on North Road Invercargill and Nichols on Teviot Street, Sean Dixon of Old Stables Nursery and Gifts, Christchurch, new owners of Palmers Gardenworld in Palmerston North, Jenny Watts and Sharon Orchard, and Colin McPherson of Colin McPherson’s Garden Centre in Palmerston North. See Comm Hort Nov issue for full report on Labour Weekend trading.

Sciadopitys Garden Centre sold
Trish and David Hosking have sold Sciadopitys Garden Centre, Whangarei, to locals, Peter and Kris Ruddell.

Terry Hatch elected world president of the IPPS
Terry Hatch of Joy Plants, Pukekohe, is the new world president of the International Plant Propagators Society and will assume responsibility at the end of December. He and Margaret have just returned from this year’s IPPS tour in October, which started in Washington and ended with the international conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “The presidency comes round every eight years so at the board meeting as vice-president, it was inevitable that I’d get the role particularly as New Zealand is holding the international conference here in Auckland in May next year”, says Terry. He reports that all is on track for the Auckland IPPS conference with the New Zealand tour and most of the speakers and programme settled.

Changes at Allenton Nurseries
Lew Matthews, who has been general manager of Allenton Nurseries Ltd in Ashburton for the last six years took over as managing direction from Bruce McIlroy on 1 November 2007. Bruce and his wife, Philomena, continue as owners and directors of the company but Bruce’s main thrust will be with his busy Bentley and Rolls Royce Service Centre. Lew continues to handle the production of the nursery’s catalogue and general promotional work and from 2008 will be doing most of this work offsite. He will also work in an advisory capacity to the nursery management team.

Shifting a nursery no easy matter
Buying a nursery is one thing, but shifting it from Tauranga to Christchurch is another. Or so Greg and Jenny Tod found out after buying mail order business Parva Plants in July from its former owners, Ian and Barbara Duncalf. To read more you can find this story in this month’s news section.

New owners for importers Mercury Pots
Jenny Matheson and John Dallimore have sold their eight year old business, Mercury Pots Plus, Whitianga, to Waihekeans, Mike and Lorraine Jeffcoat. Mike comes from the financial world and Lorraine has been working on a couple of property projects which are now complete. Looking for something challenging and different but involved with gardening and landscaping, the pair are now busy coming to grips with the business and by Christmas will have move the pots and accessories from their Kopu depot to an Auckland warehouse.

Hilary Star swaps careers for a new role in teaching
This month the enthusiastic and always cheerful industry personality Hilary Star, after four years as sales manager of Plant Wholesalers in Auckland, took up a new position at Unitec. Her new role is teaching and managing the diploma in Not for Profit Management. Congratulations Hilary, and best wishes from Commercial Horticulture.

Winton Garden Centre in new hands
Sharron Kean is the new owner of Winton Garden Centre having taken over from Susan Johnston, who is now at Nichols on North Road, in Invercargill. Sharron has a farming background and describes herself as a very keen gardener who decided to “give it a go!” Since taking over, Sharron has bought in a good number of specimen maples, weeping cherries and birches which are selling very well, she says.

IPPS seeks young volunteers for 2008 conference
The International Plant Propagators’ Society (IPPS) is keen to hear from young industry people prepared to make up the 2008 four-pack, the team whose task it is to assist in running the annual IPPS conference. Next year’s conference is at the Langham Hotel in Auckland in May. The deadline for applications 18 January 2008. Phone 03 384 2339 or email nalinnz@paradise.net.nz.

Diamonds Forever rose marks 60 years in business
To mark their 60th anniversary, rose growers Matthews Nurseries of Wanganui have released a new rose called Diamonds Forever, a fragrant yellow hybrid tea.

Dunedin’s new tropical gardens
The Otago Museum opened a new attraction on 3 November – Discovery World Tropical Forest. There are almost 150 varieties of tropical plants from almost all of the world’s tropical countries. Phalaenopsis and paphiopedilum orchids, bromeliads, philodendrons, strelitizias, vrieseas, heliconia, ginger, hibiscus, ficus, musa, verbena and passionfruit are some of the subjects that have been planted. The forest provides the environment for the main attraction — the more than 1000 imported tropical butterflies.

Growing Spectrum’s Horticultural School
Comm Hort feature article: In the year 2000, Carol Fraser of Growing Spectrum Nursery at Kihikihi, opened a School of Horticulture in the nursery’s converted garden centre shop. It was the start of a successful enterprise now in its 7th year. Initially her school programme was 18 weeks but it was soon extended to a more useful 36 weeks. Class numbers vary between 10 and 13 with students coming from both the local area and as far afield as New Plymouth and Tauranga. A major proportion of the course is on propagation by way of seed, cuttings, division, budding and grafting across a wide range of plants. Students are able to monitor their plants right through the course. By the end of the year their observation skills are really honed, says Carol.

Appletons Tree Nursery Feature Nursery for November
Appletons Tree Nursery is situated in the Wai-iti Valley, some 30 kilometres south-west of Nelson. It produces four million trees a year and has developed some intriguing equipment to help it operate more efficiently. Started by Eric and May Appleton in 1968, the nursery has grown from its original 1.2 hectares into a 16 hectare ornamental nursery at Wakefield and the 45 hectare forestry nursery just under the flanks of Mt Heslington. Both sites have alluvial soils which provide good drainage.
The ornamental nursery supplies a huge range of seedlings. Its facilities include a 360sq m propagation house, 3000sq metre container and plug cell production tables as well as two large machinery and implement sheds. Appletons employs 16 full-time staff but this number swells by a further 25 staff during the busy Winter period when the trees are lifted and hand graded before being sent to customers all over the country with a proportion also being grown for export.
There’s a 5-page feature on Appleton’s in Nov Comm Hort.

Nursery Round-up
Kerry Johnstone talks to nurseries -- early Spring was great, they say, but then the colder weather returned and quietened demand. Covered in the survey were Graeme Humphries, Fiordland Nurseries, Te Anau who says: “People are buying more and more succulents and going back to the pebble gardens. Mulch and bark and low maintenance is in. Pungas too are popular.” Malcolm Cook of Designer Plants (topiary and standards), Tauranga says his most popular grades and plants are “the half metre and three-quarter metre stem. People are more interested in the conical shapes and clip balls. Syzygium, lemons, limes, cumquats, genistas Eugenia ventenati, and Metrosideros Springfire and Tahiti are our most popular standards. They’re good and hardy so in containers they can stand a bit of neglect. We released our PVR’d Syzygium Amber Glow this year. It’s one Richard Ware from Plant Production spotted in our nursery. Our label for this one was painted by an artist instead of having a photograph and it’s captured the colour of the plants very well.” Chris Boyd of Te Hana Nurseries, Wellsford who says “fruit trees have been very popular this year. People are definitely more health conscious and want to plant their own. Of course, citrus always sells but pip and stone fruit have also been strong, especially the older varieties. We always sell out of feijoas and guavas also moved well. Natives continue to go but the market for natives is tending to be quite competitive.” Lana Hope of Native Garden Nursery, Gisborne says when asked what plants are leaving the nursery in good numbers “because many of our reveg jobs for next year are frontline coastal plantings, it’s plants like coprosma, karo, pohutukawa, ngaio, flax, toi toi. Hebes and grasses which, say, three or four years ago were really popular, have declined considerably. It’s probably partly due to fashion and because people don’t know how to look after hebes to keep them compact. They leave them and they become straggly. Pittosporum hybrids just keep going and Griselinia littoralis for hedging and people also want lucida as well as puka for their glossy big leaves. Cordylines are also in demand. Astelias are another plant people really like and Corokia Geenty’s Green is still going well.” Plenty more comment in Nov Comm Hort.

NGIA’s Taranaki District Council re-formed
NGIA president Peter Fraser reports that following up on his visit to New Plymouth in September he met again with several Taranaki retailers and growers at the end of October. “The consensus was that they would get together more often and they are now re-establishing the Taranaki District Council which is a very positive move,” says Peter. The chairman of the TDC is Vincent Naus of Big Jims Garden Centre, Vance Hooper of Vanplant nurseries is the secretary and John Fiedler of Mountain Road Nurseries is the treasurer. “David Sampson of Cedar Lodge is a strong supporter and Geoff White is another who is getting behind the whole concept.

Garden Centre of the Year
NGIA has received 992 nominations from the public for its Garden Centre of the Year competition, with 104 members GCs nominated and 10 non-members.

Nursery industry needs to be prepared for climate change
During September the Government announced the general principles of its emissions trading scheme. In discussing the principles in Nov Comm Hort the NGIA says “It is likely that there will ultimately be an opportunity for the nursery industry in that the Government may allow carbon credits for the creation of permanent forests and arboretums, but until the rules are determined, it is difficult to assess the extra demand that could eventuate from these legislative changes.”For more information visit www.climatechange.govt.nz

NZ’s Unique Divaricating Plants
Comm Hort begins an in-depth look at these unique NZ plant forms, the people who grow them, and their uses in the landscape. Included is an article by Mark Dean of Naturally Native NZ Plants on the nature of divaricating plants. Mark says “Divarication is the twiggy-twisty form that plants exhibit in their branching structure. This form is easily seen in the common Corokia cotoneaster. Each branchlet is at an angle to the next, forming a twiggy intertwined mass. The leaves are small and are held inside the plant so that the outer form appears to be all twigs. Why we have plants with this characteristic is still a scientific puzzle. Some theories say it is a form evolved to protect the plants from the strong cold winds in this part of the world. Some such as David Bellamy, in his popular television shows, claim that plants developed this way to protect themselves from the browsing of moa. Whatever the reason the form is quite different and unique from plant forms in other parts of the world.” There’s much more from Mark on the topic.
Nurseries who produce divaricating plants and talk about their experiences with them in Nov Comm Hort include: David Hall of Signature Plants, Auckland. Lester Davey of Matai Nurseries, Waimate, Guy Bowden of Tawapou Coastal Natives, Whangarei, Blair Stuthridge of Arcadia Nurseries, Christchurch,

Sculpture In the Gardens
A new and already popular attraction at the Auckland Botanic Gardens is the Stoneleigh Sculpture Trail, an exhibition of 27 sculptures from many of New Zealand’s top artists. Comm Hort Nov issue has a 3-page illustrated feature on the sculptures and why the Gardens is getting into them.

Putting a $ Value on City Trees
It has been difficult in the past to put a value on a damaged or felled tree. If your neighbour hops over your wall and chops down a tree in your garden while you’re on holiday, what’s the value of that loss to you? This article in Nov Comm Hort looks at various ways UK authorities arrive at reliable figures.

Books
Books reviewed in Comm Hort Nov issue are “The (NZ) Native Plant Garden” by Dennis Greville and “Gardens of Europe – A Traveller’s Guide” by Charles Quest-Ritson.

Marketing New Plants Around the Worldz
Kiwigold is a NZ company formed five years ago to identify, trial and market new NZ plants around the world as well as bringing new plants here from overseas. The company’s Robert Bett describes the process in Comm Hort Nov issue. In its first five years, Kiwigold has introduced some 150 new varieties to the NZ market and currently has 60 New Zealand-bred plants being trialled internationally for overseas sales.

New fuchsia pest found in Britain
Evidence of the fuchsia gall mite (Aculops fuchsia), which has the potential to spread rapidly and affect gardens and greenhouses, has been found for the first time on mainland Britain. RHS entomologist Andrew Halstead says, “The fuchsia gall mite is very bad new for anyone who grows fuchsias. The damage the mite causes prevents further growth at the shoot tips and it destroys the flowers”. The Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate is assessing the extent of the outbreak to determine whether it is possible to eradicate the mite.

New image for Landscape Association
The Landscape Industries Association of NZ has adopted a new logo and brand name – ‘landscaping new zealand’. The official name will remain Landscape Industries Association of New Zealand Inc. The logo and the words ‘landscaping new zealand’ will become the new brand, with the acronym LIANZ becoming defunct.

Tesco takes over 21-store UK garden centre chain
UK supermarket giant Tesco, has taken over UK garden centre group Dobbies in a buy-out worth more than NZ $450 million. Tesco has been trading in plants and garden products for a few years from marquees in its supermarket parking areas and has been keen to snare a bigger share in the market. Dobbies with sales of NZ$187 million, is UK’s second largest garden centre chain – but that represents only about half a day’s sales at Tesco. Tesco says Dobbies, which has 11 outlets in Scotland and 10 in England, will keep on trading under its own name, continue to increase its number of stores and also add to its range of products selling everything from light bulbs to solar panels.

Palmers new Whakatane store caters for three climate zones
Just out of Whakatane on the Whakatane-Tauranga Road, Allan and Ann Clarke officially threw open the doors of their brand-new Palmers Gardenworld on the weekend of 22 September. The 4000sq m site has a generous 1600sq m of shop and crop cover and sealed car parking for 80 cars. It features a gift and décor department and its Le Jardin café with a French flavour will provide ambience. Including Ann and Allan, there’ll be four full time staff and up to 10 casuals. Allan’s expertise is in engineering and business and Ann has been a florist and managed her own gift shop.

Personality Profile
This month we meet Graeme Platt – outspoken, sometimes controversial, but never dull. Kerry Johnstone profiles the plantsman, nurseryman, pioneer, innovator, traveller, writer, speaker, and ecologist – who once described himself as ‘something of maverick’ within industry circles and possibly outside them too. Few, if any in the horticulture business in New Zealand, haven’t heard of Graeme Platt – he is certainly a nurseryman with a difference. See Comm Hort’s four-page article on Graeme in this month’s issue.

Melbourne Flower Show back on rails after State secures venue
Organisers of the annual Melbourne International Flower and Garden Sow were assured at the end of September that their Show will be allowed to continue to be held at the Carlton Gardens and in the Royal Exhibition Buildings into the foreseeable future. City of Melbourne councillors had voted in June to disallow all high impact use of the site after 2008. Now the Victorian Government has stepped in and announced that it will pass legislation to keep the Show in the park.

Regional finalists chosen for NZ Gardener of the Year
We congratulate two horticultural industry identities, Jo Dawkins and Fiona Eadie, who have been chosen with 13 others as regional finalists in the New Zealand Gardener magazine’s quest to find New Zealand’s Gardener of the Year. The aim of the search is to find and acknowledge gardeners who have contributed to the community through their passion for plants and gardening. Each finalist receives a $1000 prize package. The winner will be decided by public vote and win $10,000 prize package which includes a trip for two to the Ellerslie International Flower Show, $5000 to spend at Bunnings, $1000 worth of Kiwigold plants, $500 worth of Tui garden products and an assortment of other garden gadgets, books and tools. Voting can be done online at www.nzgardener.co.nz

International element to join IPPS conference next year
It is the turn of the NZ International Plant Propagators Society region to host an IPPS International Board meeting just prior to its own annual conference 22 to 25 May next year and planning is well advanced. A major highlight will be a 12-day pre-conference tour starting in the South Island and led by Grant Hayman and Mark Brown. People can also join this tour, with plenty of scenery and several nursery visits, at Wellington as it continues to travel up to Auckland. Malcolm Woolmore will lead a day trip just before the conference to the young volcanic cone of Rangitoto, and Jan Velvin will head a party to the Titirangi Matangi bird sanctuary. The IPPS conference will be held in the Langham Hotel.

Quieter but successful GLEE
More than 23,000 people visited the 1500 exhibitors at Glee 2007, Europe’s largest annual trade exhibition for the garden, pet and leisure industries held at the NEC in Birmingham on the 16-18 September. Although some felt it was quieter than usual, organisers pronounced themselves pleased with the event and the number of products and plants on display.

Native trees – do they add to or reduce carbon emissions?
Scientists are trying to determine whether native trees are adding to or reducing New Zealand’s carbon emissions. Two projects are under way at Ensis, in a joint venture between Crown Research Institute Scion in Rotorua, and Australia’s CSIRO. The research team is developing tools to predict native tree carbon emissions, “Our aim is to work out the amount of carbon that is being absorbed by living trees and the amount of carbon that is being released when trees die and decay”.

Weed-wise nursery award
Julia Colgan and Tom Lindesay of Kerikeri Plant Production received the title of New Zealand’s Most Weed-Wise Nursery in the inaugural Council of Australasian Weed Societies’ awards. The annual awards are being run in NZ and Australia to celebrate nurseries that sell only ‘environmentally-friendly’ plants that are unlikely to invade natural areas. “We were really pleased to win the award as we’ve always put significant resources into keeping the plants we produce as weed free as possible”, say Julia and Tom. More details on criteria and on how to enter for the award see www.nzpps.org.

Garden Design Conference Report
Top landscapers from the UK, Spain, USA, Australia and New Zealand enthralled 280 delegates who gathered in Auckland last month for the Garden Design Conference. Organised by Australians, Warwick and Sue Forge and their Auckland team of Lisa Powlesland and Jenny Taylor, all went smoothly from the pre-conference trip to several Waiheke Island gardens through the two days of addresses and the excellent dinner and social occasion on the Saturday night. Comm Hort has a full report of proceedings.

Trees And Climate Change
In an address to the Landscape and Garden Design Conference in Auckland last month, plant scientist Dr Gregory Moore of Burnley College, Melbourne, makes a plea for the public and designers to place more value on the importance of trees in the battle against climate change. One example he quotes: “In the event of increased Summer rainfall and flooding due to climate change, my Melbourne colleagues realised that our drains are not big enough to cope with the water. They thought the solution was to dig bigger drains but then they realised that the city can’t afford bigger drains. But then they made two further astonishing discoveries. When it rains, trees intercept and hold water in their foliage. Some 30-40 percent is held, not indefinitely, but it is held there. And the other big surprise? Engineers realised that when rain does fall from the foliage, it hits the tree’s root system which absorbs it. Amazing! The engineers were now able to account for 70 percent of the water so they didn’t actually need bigger drains as long as there are sufficient street trees and the water can get to them.”

Nominations flood in for Garden Centre of the Year
The NGIA in-box ran hot last month with on-line Yates Garden Centre of the Year nominations coming in from customers, and also plenty arriving by.

40 turn up for regional industry meeting in New Plymouth
Preceding a meeting in September, members of the NGIA Board gathered with invited guests from the Taranaki region at the Plymouth International Hotel. Around 40 people were in attendance and interestingly enough more non-NGIA members attended than members. It was a great opportunity for all to meet the Board members and other industry people from their region, said NGIA Pres Peter raser. The gathering was very well received by all who attended – indicating to the Board the need to repeat this event in other regions.

Retailing and Landscaping in California
Natalie and Jac Spyksma of Naja Garden Centre in Mangawhai spent two weeks in California recently combining visits to places of horticultural interest with a well-deserved Winter break. Natalie penned a five-page report on their trip for Commercial Horticulture. Of San Francisco: “Many of our (NZ) native plants were used in display beds, mixed in amongst annuals and perennials, and other plants from around the world. Things were kept immaculately. We rarely saw a blemish amongst them. Phormiums and cordylines were thick and lush and seemed untouched by disease and caterpillar attack. Private gardens were small as space is at a premium, but clipped and trimmed, shaped and manicured was the order of the day. Lots of flowers, Juniperus chinensis Kaizuka everywhere, always lovely in their manicured shapes, hebes trimmed and trained, even Coprosma repens beautifully shaped and clipped. Metrosideros had things done to them that would possibly have people here running to the authorities claiming, “abuse”, but it reinforced to us that you really are only restricted by your imagination.”

Spring Round-Up
It’s the time of year nursery people look forward to with great anticipation – and it’s here! So Comm Hort Editor Kerry Johnstone worked his fingers to the phone ringing around to find out how they’re coping. He asks nurseries and garden centres about what they’re doing and what they plan as Spring descends on the trade. Contributing comments are Leanne Ford of Big Trees on Lansdowne, Nelson; Alister Davis, Plantorama, Timaru; Joy Bristol, Bristol Plants and Seeds, Wanganui; Alan Haggo, Dawn Rothay, Auckland; Alan Baker, Baker Boys, Kerikeri; Sue Pawsey, Gardenways GC, Christchurch; Diane Watton, Paeroa Garden Centre, Paeroa; Janice Philburn, JJ’s GC, Hamilton; Michael Isherwood, Kings Plant Barn, Silverdale; Damian Luyten, Palmers, Whangarei; Nadine Barclay, Plain Garden Centre, Milton.

All About Seeds
Fiona Eadie continues her series on plant basics, “All those plants that believe an early start is in order have started to warm up to the start of Spring. The real smart plants though, are waiting for the right day-length (night-length to be technically accurate) before they will even consider bursting forth…”

Plants, Products and Services
New introductions of phalaenopsis, the world’s best-selling houseplants; Garden gloves are now all the fashion says Neville Dodds of glove importers, Takapuna Distributors; An electrically-powered utility vehicle from Pan Pacific Motion is billed as a useful machine for moving around nurseries, lifestyle blocks or parks and reserves. The Holdm Clip tying system for plants; New from Colorworx are three lavender hybrids – Lave, Winter Lace and Violet Lace.

Bevy of flower beauties launches Ellerslie 2007
In early September an array of beautiful ladies dressed as flowers, posed and paraded in the Toroa Room at Auckland’s Lanham Hotel to officially launch this year’s Ellerslie International Flower Show. The stunning costumes were created by award-winning wearable art designer Jenny Gillies of Christchurch.

Clopyralid herbicide to be taken off the retail market
Weedkillers containing the herbicide clopyralid will be taken off the retail market from 19 August 2008. However the deciding body, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA), says they will still be available for agricultural weed control and commercial turf management use. Clopyralid can be found in a number of products used to control broad-leafed weeds in lawns, sports grounds, gold courses, field crops and forests.

Hort people from Europe keen to work in NZ nurseries
Agriventures NZ has for some years been offering a service under which trained people from Europe can come to New Zealand for work experience, mainly in agriculture, as part of the programmes for the International Agricultural Exchange Association. NZ president of IAEA, Andrea Chalmers, says “We also have overseas trainees who are keen to work in horticultural industries such as nurseries and orchards”. The trainees, who mostly come from Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France and the UK, are between 18 to 30 and generally stay for between 6 to 12 months. For more information, freephone 0508 328 000.

Finalists selected for Young Hort of the Year competition
Eight sector winners have been found for the third year of the Young Horticulturalist of the Year competition.
The finalists are:

• Nursery and Garden Industry – Meredith Guy, technical manager of Gro-Pacific
• Hawkes Bay; Landscaping – Gavin Lodge of Ground Fix, Waikato
• Fruit sector of Horiculture NZ – Robert Humphries, Seeka Orchards and Packhouses, Tauranga
• Vegetable sector of Horticulture NZ – Jeff van Rijen from Waikato
• Arboriculture Association – Elena O’Neil of the Dunedin City Council
• Floriculture NZ – Louise Heller of Bloom Design, Christchurch
• NZ Recreation Association – Chris Vork, Pukekeura Park, New Plymouth
• NZ Winegrowers – Emma Taylor from Villa Maria, Hawkes Bay

New purple-fleshed potato
Crop & Food Research has come up with a potato with “attractive purple tones throughout the flesh” and is seeking expressions of interest in its further development. As consumers have become aware in recent years that colourful fruit and vegetables are better for you, the new potato is well positioned to capture the growing health-conscious consumer market as well as chefs and gourmet cooks looking for unique vegetables.

Waitakere City’s Big Green Roof
On top of Waitakere City Council’s new civic centre is the country’s biggest commercial building ‘green roof’. The year-old Waitakere Civic Centre sports a 500sq m “green roof” in a trial project aimed at providing information for other commercial building owners wanting to do something similar. Some 5000 plants were planted at 10 per square metre. The project cost approximately $200 per square metre including membrane, media and plants. See this story for more information.

New image for Liner Plants on the local market
Liner Plants NZ (1993) Limited, of Whenuapai, is re-branding itself for the NZ market as “NZ Liners”. The new short name is accompanied by a new logo, a new-look availability list and Kathryn Scott, the new local sales manager. With a strong focus on the local market, NZ Liners will be expanding its range of specialist plants both exotic and native. Growers can contact NZ Liners at 09 416 6981 for a copy of the new availability list.

Exchange programme possible
The Nextgen Group for nursery industry people under 35 is considering setting up an exchange programme for its members. AGM discussed inviting interested candidates to submit reasons why they should be considered for an exchange, initially within NZ. Nextgen membership has also now been extended to include anyone under 35 in any field of horticulture. In the next 12 months a membership drive will target LIANZ members and horticultural students at tertiary institutions.

New insect and mite database
A database is now available for those wanting to find information on New Zealand plants and their insect and mite herbivores. Plant-SyNZ can be searched by plant or by herbivore name to produce reports listing the herbivores associated with a plant or the plants on which a herbivore lives. It contains the names of 1386 plant species, 2482 herbivore species and 6209 herbivore host plant associations.

Nursery Round-Up -- “Counter your carbon miles – plant a tree . . .”
Gus Evans of Gus Evans Nurseries, Waikanae says: “we’ve noted another interesting thing in recent months. Four or five people have come and told us they’re flying to England or wherever and they say “we want to plant some trees somewhere so can we buy 10 trees to plant.” So they’re feeling guilty? “Yes, they say it’ll make them feel a little better about their trip. They see it as a kind of carbon credit. I reckon the industry could exploit this big time. Remember the slogan “Plant a tree and save the world?”
We could have something like “Counter your carbon miles – plant a tree.” It’s worth promoting somehow. It would make everybody aware.”
Also spoken to was Hamish Prebble of Texture Plants, Christchurch, who says: “We’re just trying to keep up with everything – landscape designs and planting and getting potting up again for Spring.”

Auckland Trade Day Report
The showery, cooler day predicted for Auckland Spring Trade Day on 22 August didn’t eventuate but landscapers and retailers still downed tools and headed in force for the Auckland Showgrounds. In this 6-page article, Kerry Johnstone reports on Spring Trade Day at the Auckland Showgrounds along with various pictures of the event.

Skills and experience aplenty in new NGIA Board members
NGIA president Peter Fraser, now some three months into his term of office, here takes an opportunity to introduce his board and executive. He also briefly outlines a few of NGIA’s plans and his goals for the future.

President finds the industry optimistic and eager for Spring
In his new role as NGIA President, Peter Fraser of Growing Spectrum Nursery, Kihikihi, says he’s finding himself spending a lot more time out of his nursery than in it. He talks about how important membership is to the NGIA and how valued people are to the industry, “we need to tell people why they should belong to the NGIA”.

Nominations open for Garden Centre of 2008
The opportunity for customers to nominate NGIA member garden centres for the Yates Garden Centre of 2008 begins this month. Nomination forms are in September NZ Gardener, Weekend Gardener and Spring Let’s Go Gardening. Customers can also go on-line to www.ngia.co.nz. Nominations close 30 September.

Feature Plant – Proteas Part 3
The final in the series on Proteas. Landscapers and retailers share their likes and dislikes.

Feature Nursery -- Kingflora
This month’s feature nursery, is Kingflora. The Francis brothers run a diverse operation in West Auckland, growing everything from celery to cut flowers to hedging to topiary. Immigrating to New Zealand in 1968, the family have been growing celery even before they left their former home in Liverpool, England. We talk to John Francis about the nursery industry, “Larger wholesalers are catering to the retail chains increasingly under contract conditions leaving smaller nurseries like ours being squeezed. The alternatives are to either bale out or change focus and specialise in niche areas…” he says.

Don’t Tease the Roses
In this month’s nursery management section, Judy Pratt of Tasman Bay Roses says gardeners are losing roses because of incorrect planting practices, and here she outlines her concerns and suggestions for success. The trouble is, she says, planting procedures for bare-rooted roses differ quite markedly from potted plants.
With the former the gardener must spread out the roots but with potted plants, the roots and block of soil must be entirely undisturbed. And gardeners, who have been brought up to believe they must tease out the roots, have to be specifically told not to do so or they will risk killing the rose. Instead, the pot should be carefully removed and the contents gently placed in the prepared hole without any root-tweaking or breaking up of the soil. For more see this article.

Issues With the Naming of Phormiums
Because the multiple naming of phormiums is seen as a continuing problem in the nursery industry, the International Plant Propagators’ Society held a forum on this genius at its recent conference in New Plymouth. Several phormium growers brought examples of their phormiums for informal comparison and discussion, and this is reported in Comm Hort this month.

Getting the Best From Your Tissue Culture Lab
To get the very best out of tissue culture, nurseries must work hand in hand with laboratories. Antony Toledo, of tissue culture laboratory Multiflora in Auckland, has some good practical advice to offer in a three-page Comm Hort article.

John Stanley Says . . .
John talks about how increasing your shopping basket size can lift your average sales.

AUGUST 2007 . . .

Saudis to build the world’s biggest indoor garden
The largest indoor garden in the world is to be built on 10 hectares in the Saudi Arabian desert near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Designed by British botanists and landscape architects, The King Abdullah International Gardens will cost an estimated 100 million pounds and feature the 400 million year history of trees, flowers and other plants from the Devonian period to the present.

Big programme to promote potato growing next year
Growers and garden centres, already reporting a renewed interest from customers in home vegetable planting, may well see a surge of interest in potatoes and potato planting because of a number of activities planned to celebrate the International Year of the Potato next year. The promotions, announced at the Horticulture New Zealand conference last month, are aimed to increase awareness of the potato as a food in developing nations and promote research and development of potato-based horticulture systems.

Montana Medal for book 50 years in the making
It took more than 50 years for author and botanical artist, Audrey Eagle, to complete a book that depicts every NZ tree and shrub, some of them now extinct, through 800 hand-painted images. Last month judges Dr Paul Millar, David Larsen and Morrin Rout awarded Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand the 2007 Montana Medal for non-fiction. They described the book as a “monumental work” and a “magnificent tribute to Audrey Eagle’s vision, perseverance and consummate skill as a botanical artist”.

Plants prefer their own kind
Research from McMaster University in Canada has found that plants of the same species share the human quality of altruism — unselfishness. In other words, always ensure that you put plants of the same species together in a pot as they will not increase their root growth at each other’s expense; whereas when two different plants share the same pot, each plant starts growing more roots in an endeavour to grab more water and any nutrients in the media before the stranger planted with it gets them.

Australian breeder to present many new plants at Trade Day
Bush Diamond, a new compact white anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paw) in the Bush Gem Series, is among several plants to be offered in NZ by Ramm Botanicals of NSW, who are exhibiting for the first time at Auckland’s Spring Trade Day 22 August. Ramm says it is keen to introduce their greatly-expanded range of plants to NZ growers and are releasing more than 45 new varieties including Pacific Series, brachyscome as well as ozomanthus, mandevilla, hardenbergia, and pimelea.

Council orders removal of ‘exotic’ Norfolk Pines
The Rodney District Council wants retired fruit tree grower, John Vallings, to remove several Norfolk Pines from his Muriwai farm property. John believes these Norfolk Pines should be allowed to stay — because they’re NZ natives. Graeme Platt of the NZ Botanical Research Institute in Albany, says he is prepared to support John’s claim.
He believes the Norfolk Pine, Araucaria heterophylla, evolved in the NZ region of Gondwanaland at least 120 million years ago. But it became too cold for it to survive in NZ and “it was forced on to Norfolk Island during the ice ages.”

Ex-Palmers man joins garden centre consultancy
John Russell, previously operations manager for Palmers Gardenworld, joined Brett & Associates earlier this year. The Brett international garden centre consultancy, based in Blenheim, has a large client base in several countries as well as NZ and offers a range of consultancy services from business planning, store layout and design, merchandising, signage to recruitment and people management, training, KPI monitoring and mentoring.

New nursery manager or Evandale
Karl Herman, previously the nursery’s production manager, has been appointed as nursery manager at Evandale Plant Production in Invercargill. Karl now 28, has been at Evandale for 15 years, “I love it. My family have owned nurseries and garden centres. It’s in my blood which is probably green. I’ve just always been passionate about plants”.

A great experience, says IPPS four-pack conference helpers
The call is going out early this year for young people in the industry to apply for the “four pack” positions for next years’ International Plant Propagators’ Society Conference which will be an international event held at the Langholm hotel in April. The successful applicants will be fully involved in the conference with particular responsibility to assist with the smooth running of the various activities and events.

Trees for Survival group aims to plant 60,000 trees a year
Wyn Blackie, a member of the horticultural department at Manukau Institute of Technology estimates she collects 90,000 seeds a year which are sown at MIT, then sold as seedlings to the conservation organisation, Trees for Survival, which last year co-ordinated the planting of 60,000 trees nationwide. By involving schools in the strategy, Trees for Survival says it teaches children about trees and their importance in the environment. The organisation has also developed partnerships with service clubs, councils, business sponsors and volunteers.

Students from overseas want more practical study options
An increasing number of international students coming to NZ are opting or more practical courses, rather than business courses, and this is boosting numbers taking National Certificate of Horticulture Level 4 courses run by the Royal Business College in Christchurch.

New nemesia and bracteantha
Three new Sunsatia Nemesia hybrids — Mango, Cassis and Guava — from Aussie Winners will be released in New Zealand in September/October. The Sunsatias have been bred to produce plants with greater vigour, more flowers and larger blooms. Also on its way, but in limited numbers from Aussie Winners, is Sundaze Bracteantha. These plants tolerate dry and hot conditions, are free-flowering and produce long-lasting blooms.

RNZIH Plant Raisers Award for Mark Jury
Plant breeder Mark Jury of Jury’s Nurseries, Waitara, has received the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Plant Raiser’s Award.

Nursery Round-Up
Comm Hort’s survey finds retailers in good heart in mid-Winter. A 4-page report is featured in this month’s issue and includes comments from Stephen Major of River of Life Garden Centre in Kaitaia; Barry Mackie of Mackies Garden Centre, Central Otago; Carolyn Harris of The Girlz garden centre New Plymouth; Adrian McLeod of Fairfields, New Plymouth; Daniel Hart of Oderings Nurseries, Havelock North; Kathryn Perkins at Kings Plant Barn in Howick; Wendy Wild and Nic Preece of Wild Things Garden Centre & Florist in Darfield; Angie and Neil Sca of Palmers Levin;

Autumn award to Grove
Grove Mitre 10, Auckland, has won the 2007 Quality Growers’ award for best display in its Autumn is The Time For Planting promotion.

Personality Profile - Appleton's
Just south of Wakefield, near Nelson, you’ll find the largely open-ground tree production nursery of the Appleton family and the home of Eric and his son Robert Appleton, the subjects of this month’s profile. Eric was born in 1934 in Middlesborough, an industrial city in the north of England. Among his earliest recollections are during the war years when as a young child, his mother Vera and he would bike into the countryside and pick bluebells, primroses and also things like blackberries “to eke out our rations.”
These trips awoke from deep within the young boy his great and lasting love of trees and nature generally. Eric left the UK on 10 September 1956, and journeyed across the world on a 197cm, two-stroke, James motorcycle with little more than the bare necessities and his travelling documents, to eventually reach NZ and the start of a new life. Meanwhile, there was little doubt that Eric’s son Robert Appleton would be introduced early to horticulture, working in the nursery in his school holidays, he says, “as a matter of financial necessity.” You can read more on the Appletons in this months issue of Commercial Horticulture magazine.

Garden Centre of the Year competition to be reinstated
The Retail Sector Group of the NGIA, with the support of Yates NZ, is keen to rekindle the Garden Centre of the Year award, last held three years ago. The award was designed to raise industry standards, but more importantly to raise public awareness of the value of their local garden centre. It is also an opportunity for garden centres to evaluate their “shopping experience” through the eyes of professional but independent judges and for staff to evaluate their own performances and have some fun.

Hampton Court Flower Show
Jacqui and Robin Stubbs walk us through a show that is just “one rung down the status ladder from Chelsea”. Jacqui reports that ‘a strong theme coming through this year was the perceived need to involve and educate children about gardening and the role of plants in their lives’. For the full 4-page report and magnificent pictures, see this month’s issue of Commercial Horticulture.

Feature Plant – Proteas Part 2
Leading growers in Australia and New Zealand share their inside information on the plant in a 6-page illustrated article. Taking part are: David Mathews of Proteaflora Nursery, Australia’s leading producer of protea; Clive Larkman of Larkman Nurseries, another Australian nursery in Melbourne; Jenni Hyde of Morgan Fields, Lyttelton on Banks Peninsula; Diane Mason of Masons Nurseries; Freda Gibbs of Gibbs Nursery in Dannevirke; and Mary Duncan of Vibrant Earth in Nelson.

Confessions of a Landscaper
Landscaper Mike Mansvelt, of Plantation, New Plymouth, explains his landscape philosophy and plant choice in five different landscape designs he and his team have created. Pictures of each of the gardens along with explanations of his design philosophy are featured in this article.

Recruiting And Interviewing Staff
Report of a panel discussion at the recent NGIA Conference. The discussion was the best-attended event at the conference which means it is a significant topic for the industry.

Book Reviews
This month Comm Hort reviews “The Rhododendrons of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo” by Dr George Argent, Anthony Lamb and Anthea Phillips – “a beautifully-produced monograph describing 42 vireya rhododendrons from Sabah, mostly from the Mount Kinabulu area.” We also take a look at “The Wirtz Gardens” by Peter Taylor, which talks about the history of the gardens along with 490 colour photos of 57 private and public gardens by Chilean photographer, Marco Antonio Valdivia.

All About Fruit And Seed – Part 2
Fiona Eadie continues her series on plant basics, talking about the importance of the role of fruit in seed dispersal. The full 4-page story can be found in this month’s Comm Hort.

New Products And Services . . .
New products and services featured in Comm Hort this month include outdoor furniture crafted from old wood, new growing media from coir pith, flexible water bladders that can hold up to 30,000 litres, and a range of concrete garden accessories.

Major nursery group formed by Jornas
Jornas Ltd of Christchurch has expanded its operations by taking over Zealandia Auckland, Andersons Zealandia South and Valley Nurseries. Simon Thompson of Anderson’s Zealandia, is general manager of the new entity named Zealandia Group Ltd, comprising of these three nurseries.

Growing Spectrum is Nursery of the Year
One of NZ’s largest wholesale plant nurseries, Growing Spectrum, has won the Dalton’s 2007 Nursery of the Year title. The nursery’s victory was announced at the NGIA/LIANZ Awards dinner held in Nelson in June over the other three finalists—Tharfield Nursery from Katikati, Waimea Nurseries from Nelson and Ambrosia Nurseries from Christchurch.

Thumbs up for conference
The combined NGIA/LIANZ Conference, held in Nelson last month, has proven to be a success and “something we want to repeat”, says new LIANZ President Elle Anderson. Both organisations were thrilled with the outcomes of the conference and the interactions between the two associations. New NGIA president, Peter Fraser, is hopeful that the next combined conference with LIANZ will be in 2010.

Living Earth moves
After 18 months of arguing its case before both the Environment Court and the High Court, the media and composting company, Living Earth, was granted resource consent in late June to move from its four hectare Pikes Point site in Onehunga to Puketutu Island in the Manukau Harbour.

Morgans Rd changes hands
After managing Morgans Rd Nursery for three years, Grant and Donna Robertson have taken the plunge and are now owners of the 3.5 hectare, Blenheim-based wholesale and retail nursery. Grant says previous owners Lee and Dawn Gilbert “have created a nursery they can really be proud of, building it up from bare land since starting in 1987”. The nursery sticks mainly to natives, landscape and revegetation trees, shrubs and grasses and is mainly targeting the revegetation market.

Beach care group grows pingao
A group of environmentally concerned people from Dunedin’s Tomahawk Beach and Smaills Beach, south of Dunedin, have raised $30,000 to establish a nursery to grow pingao, or pikau, as the grass is called in the area. The group, which started about seven years ago to help mitigate the problem of erosion and sand dune blowout by cleaning up the beaches and planting pikau, raised the money from lotteries, businesses and private individuals. The nursery, sited on a group member’s private property at Moa Head, will hold some 4000-5000 plants.

Plant Production turns 40
It has been 40 years since Richard Ware of Plant Production in Napier elevated his part-time backyard propagating operation into a fulltime business. Richard, who studied the Dip Hort course at Massey, propagated for Andersons Nurseries for seven years and at the same time built up his own propagation nursery in his parents’ backyard, selling liners to large Wellington and Auckland nurseries. As his business expanded, Richard eventually found the hillside property where he established his nursery from, and estimates he has supplied 60 million or so liners around the country. Congratulations, Richard, on reaching this milestone.

Nursery Round-Up
Our ring-around finds nurseries them beavering away and, even though it’s still mid-Winter, already starting to get excited about Spring..Included in the survey are Nga Rakau Nursery, Bruntwood Nurseries, Bayliss Nurseries and Tropi-Folia

Conference Report
Kerry Johnstone presents a comprehensive report on last month’s NGIA / LIANZ Conference. The combined event included field trips to Appletons, Vibrant Earth, Waimea, Big Trees on Lansdowne, and Gardens of the World. A full 10-page report of the event features in July Comm Hort.

Bay Nurseries for sale
Brothers Kim and Kerry Thorns of Bay Nurseries in Richmond, have put their nursery and garden centre on the market after 33 years in the business started by their father, David Thorns. Kim and Kerry plan to continue with their property development business and other commercial investments once they’ve sold. They also have a small orchard growing apples as well as working with cherries and avocados.

Growz on U Garden Centre opens in Thames
Paul and Irene Green, who run a landscaping operation, All Garden Works in Thames, now also own a new garden centre—Growz on U. They are no strangers to the garden centre trade, having owned a garden centre in the 1970’s before starting Aeroview Garden Centre, now Aeroview Gardenworld, further down the road. Melanie Crean manages the new garden centre just out of town towards Kopu. It is a large family business with Paul and Irene’s son, Michael, owning half the business and working in the landscape operation. Daughter, Paulette, runs the office and another daughter, Lisa, manages the nursery that supplies many of the plants to the garden centre.

Bayliss buys into Growell
Ross and Lorraine Bayliss, of Bayliss Nurseries in Rangiora, have bought into Growell Ornamental Plants, the plant broking business owned by John and Terri van der Elst of Waitara, New Plymouth. Ross, who has 30 years in the nursery industry, says he’s “relishing the new opportunity while staying in the industry I enjoy so much”.

Feature Plant – Proteas Part 1
In July issue Comm Hort talks to New Zealand’s leading growers of proteas, once so popular, and now looking like making a comeback. Although they are one of the world’s most attractive plants, proteas have proven to be a difficult plant and last year’s Nursery Register listed only 25 growers in New Zealand. In this month’s 5-page feature we talk to Geoff Jewell of Te Horo Ornamentals and Tony White and Wendy Marshall of Protea Patch Nursery about the pros and cons of these spectacular plants.

Feature Nursery Lowlands
This month Comm Hort’s feature nursery is liner growers Lowlands Nursery, owned by Ian and Robin Frankhauser, and located at Tikorangi, just 15km from New Plymouth. “We’ve developed it as we’ve gone along”, says Ian; he and his wife began in 1987. Now the nursery turns out some 630,000 plants per year and is still developing.

Rhododendron Time
A look at one of Taranaki’s major attractions — it’s annual Rhododendron and Garden Festival. Each year gardeners throughout Taranaki throw open their gardens to visitors from around New Zealand and the world, and this month Comm Hort features pictures of some of these magnificent gardens.

Making Pineapple Lilies For The World
Eddie Welsh tells of his love affair with eucomis, the pineapple lily. A long-time tutor at Massey University (from 1980-1999), Eddie began his own nursery in 1995. A visiting Japanese friend of his, Mr Saito, saw a bed of gorgeous pineapple lilies in the South African collection of the Auckland Botanic Gardens and said, “Eddie — I want 5000 of those bulbs!” starting Eddie on what was to be a 12-year quest which would lead him into “making pineapple lilies for the world . . .”.

Gardening In The Year 2032 – A Prediction
Ian Clark, manager of the Canterbury Horticultural Society, takes an educated look 25 years down the garden path. Making predictions as to what may happen in the future is a pick and mix at best, and all we can do is look at the trends among the array of choices available, and try to see what may fit into the shopping trolley. To get a better idea of what is expected in the future, you can read this month’s issue.

How Things Are Across The Tasman
Mike Skegg brings us up to date with what’s happening in the Australian garden industry. Mike, ex-pat Kiwi and CEO of the NGIA of NSW and ACT, says the New Zealand industry can learn plenty from what’s happening across the Tasman, where the ongoing water shortage continues to dominate and distort. Summarising, he said: “the water situation is critical in all States. Advertising funds have dried up. Hardware chains like Bunnings with 40 percent of the market are dominating. Landscaping is growing. Everyone is talking pet care. The best operators are still growing because they’ve taken someone else’s market share. To survive, small operators in Sydney have to have a niche or they’re disappearing . . .”

John Stanley Says . . .
Is your plant manager holding your business back? asks this article. Are we recruiting the right people to manage the plant area? This critical department needs a person who has retail, managerial and horticultural skills. Are plant managers keeping in tune with consumer trends outside of the core product of plants? Or have they become engrossed in the product at the expense of the other skills required? John provides a list of pointers for improving plant management inretail.

Budget doesn’t impress
The Budget, which among other things introduced Kiwisaver and 4 weeks annual leave, failed to excite the nursery trade, according to our ring-around. ”It didn’t address the bigger issues of the increasing interest rates, the high NZ dollar and the high Government spending,” said NGIA president Lance Bills of Harrisons Gardenworld. Others commenting were Andrew Boylan of Incredible Edibles, Gary Irwin of LA Irwin, Geoff Davidson of Oratia Native.

Vandals attack Botanic Garden
Vandals attacked specimen plants in the rock garden at the Auckland Botanic Gardens in the early hours of Sunday May 20. Plants were pulled out or snapped and two memorial seats valued at $2000 were damaged. One was broken and the other hurled into the lake.

Geoff Richards back to head NGIA Australia
Geoff Richards of media company, Richgro Garden Products in Perth, Western Australia, has been elected for the second time as president of the Nursery & Garden Industry of Australia (NGIA) at its AGM in May in Queensland.

A lingering Autumn keeps the tills ticking over
Throughout the country, contented garden retailers report steady sales. Commenting were Trish Hosking of Sciadopytus in Whangarei; Darryl Pierce of Palmers Rotorua; Jacqui Dann of Nichols on North Rd Invercargill, Peter Whitehead of Touchstone Gisborne; Christine Smith of Kaikoura Mitre 10.

Copper ion fertilisation -- a new weapon for root fungus
Hans Holtz of Auckland-based Novozone has begun importing Aqua-Hort machines which deliver copper ion fertilisation, a relative newcomer in horticulture and proving to be an effective, economical and environmentally-friendly technique for control of pythium and phytophthora. We report on how and why in Comm Hort June issue.

New fungicides to target citrus disease
New Zealand’s citrus growers now have two new weapons in their battle against diseases affecting their fruit. Teldor, which is mainly used for the control of botrytis in grapes, has been granted a new label claim for controlling the disease in lemons and mandarins. And Flint, used to control disease in grapes, kiwifruit and apples, can now be used to control citrus scab. Both are from Bayer CropScience, Auckland and we have more details in Comm Hort June issue.

New software links stock control to the net
John Liddle of KingGrapes has combined with Marjo Gisberts and Paul Stewardson of InfoServices of Lincoln to form ToucanLogic. This has developed the inventory sector of InfoServices HortBase nursery management software so it can upload directly on to the internet.

New marketing man for Living Earth
New marketing co-ordinator at growing media, compost and fertiliser company Living Earth, Auckland, is Andrew Bramston.

Personality Profile
Our personality this month in Comm Hort many not be a nurseryman or a garden centre owner, but Peter Arthur of Touchwood Books, Hastings, is certainly one of the industry’s characters. We profile just a little of the colourful life and interesting career of the bookseller from the Hawkes Bay.

Décor Gardenworld – 40 Years Young
Using the catchcry, “Forty Years Young”, Dave and Ginny Clark, with Dave’s parents Laurie and Lois Clark and 70-80 guests, held a party on 7 May marking the exact day of the opening of their family garden centre, Décor Gardenworld in Bethlehem just out of Tauranga, 40 years ago. Also present were Bob and Jean Banyard who founded the business with the Clarks and stayed for 14 years. “Even my accountant of 37 years was there,” Laurie says.

IPPS Mountain Conference – Part 2
Kerry Johnstone concludes his report on this four-day conference in Taranaki. We have pictures and coverage of visits to Sandra and John Michielsen’s Tree Nursery; Ian Cassie’s Nursery where camellias, rhododendrons and magnolias reign supreme; and Ian and Robin Fankauser 1.5 hectare Lowlands Nursery. Last on the day’s visits was Mark and Abbie Jury’s large garden and nursery, Tikorangi.

Feature Nursery – Michielsen’s Tree Nursery
This open ground Taranaki nursery grows mainly deciduous trees and ships its hardy stock to customers throughout the country. “We decided from the outset to grow deciduous trees because you don’t have to root prune with a spade, you can undercut with a machine and these trees are what we grew and knew when we were contract growing for D&D years ago, “ says John Michelsen. “We’ve continued to add more plants over the years, but we tend to stick to different lines and grades from the other nurseries in the area. For instance, we’re one of the few around growing cherries.” There’s a 5-page feature in June Comm Hort.

On Tour With Colin Campbell
Well-known Aussie garden commentator, Colin Campbell, a New Zealand expat, recently took a group of keen gardeners on a tour of some of Queensland’s outback gardens and sent Comm Hort this report -- an insight into gardening in adversity

The Chelsea Flower Show 2007
Full report from Jacqui and Robin Stubbs. “Some years at Chelsea I have felt that the Show Gardens were fantastic but more akin to a theatre set but this year nearly every garden had ideas that could easily be transposed to real gardens . . .”

All About Fruit And Seed
Fiona Eadie continues her series on plant basics. ”Flowering plants differ from cone-bearing plants in that they produce fruit. It is generally thought that it is the presence of this fruit, protecting the developing seed within, that has led to the flowering plants domination of our planet,” Fiona says.

John Stanley Says . . .
This Comm Hort article describes how garden centres in the UK, USA and South Africa are selling gardens as complete packages. “At B&Q stores in the UK gardeners can buy ‘design kits’ for model gardens and have them installed on their own properties.” A South African garden centre is offering Gardens in a Box. John says retailers must look at different ways of presenting plants to their customers.

May 2007
A phone-around to garden centres throughout the country reveals that the Autumn planting message is definitely getting through to the gardening public. The popularity of vegetable planting also appears to be on the up, and some retailers report increasing numbers of younger people coming into their outlets. 

We report on a two-day meeting by the recently formed NZ Garden Independent network, a group of 10 garden centres.

Smith’s Gift and Garden Centre closes in Kerikeri. “We tried everything,” says a disappointed manager Lorraine Johnson, who noted wryly that their closing down sale saw the garden centre do more in two days than it had in three months.

Successful Swedish furniture manufacturer, Ikea, plans to open the first of a string of garden centres in its stores through Europe starting August. If successful, it will open garden centres worldwide.

A new garden centre, called Inspirations, has opened in the shopping mall complex at Greenmeadows in Napier.

Lea Harrison, has purchased the grass growing-on lines nursery, Grassroots, Christchurch, from Irene Kent and Chris Franks and has renamed it Southern Grasses.

Tui Downs Nursery, Kerikeri, has taken over the 400 variety vireya collection amassed by John Kenyon of Te Puna Cottage Gardens, Tauranga.

Vernon and Erica Harrison are to retire after 40 years in the trade and have sold their Harrisons Trees, Palmerston North, to Terry and Lesley Patching, who will relocate the operation to near Feilding.

Josephine and Stephen Thorpe have put their Hilltop Garden Centre on the market. “We’ve enjoyed the work but have got tired of a seven days a week operation,” says Josephine.

FEATURES IN COMM HORT MAY 2007

NURSERY ROUNDUP
Kerry Johnstone catches up with nurseries around the country

REPORT FROM AUSTRALIA
Ex-NGIA man, Bob Wynyard, compares garden trade conditions in NZ with those in Australia

THE IPPS MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE – PART 1
Kerry Johnstone reports on the International Plant Propagators annual four-day conference in Taranaki

FEATURE NURSERY – FOREVERGREEN
New owners are making big changes at this GOL specialist nursery

FEATURE PLANT – PSEUDOPANAX.-- PART 4
How Councils use pseudopanax in amenity planting

THE NIKAU PALM – PART 2. Graeme Platt

OPENING UP THE TRANSPORT ARTERY
Grant Hayman, of Headford Propagators, has set up a specialised plant transport service running weekly from the bottom of the South Island to Kerikeri in the north, and return. This is opening markets for nurseries like never before.

BOOK REVIEWS

NEW PRODUCTS

April 2007
Peter Cave says in 18 months time he’ll be closing his 30 year-old Cave’s Tree Nursery in Hamilton. Nurseryman Hans van Mill is re-opening a garden centre on the site of the failed Petals ‘n’ Pots garden centre in Albany. After 21 years Betsy Sewell and Reg Platt have put their 4ha Christchurch property on the market and will close their Premium Climbers nursery.

FEATURES IN COMM HORT APRIL 2007
NURSERY ROUNDUP
Kerry Johnstone catches up with nurseries around the country

PERSONALITY PROFILE – MURIEL DAVISON
The story of the lady who created Maple Glen Gardens

EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES IN CHINA
Australian nurseryman, Russ Higginbotham, reports on a recent trip

TRADE DAY REPORT
There was a good turnout of nurseries at Auckland Autumn Trade Day last month. There’s a full report with pictures on this site – click the button above.

FEATURE NURSERY – GELLERT’S
To call this South Auckland “state-of-the-art” is no exaggeration

FEATURE PLANT – PSEUDOPANAX.  PART 3
Landscapers talk about their experiences with this NZ native

THE NIKAU PALM – Part 1.
Graeme Platt takes an in-depth look at this NZ icon

PLANT BASICS
Fiona Eadie discusses fertilisation in flowering plants

REPORT FROM AUSTRALIA 
There’s too much water in Darwin, too little elsewhere

March 2007
It’s been steady but slow since Christmas say the retailers we rang for March Comm Hort – and everything is running late.

“It’s a late season because my own tomatoes look now as they would normally do in November, so I’m hoping they’ll push into flower with this drier weather,” said Peter Dunshea of Twiglands in Wellington, echoing what home gardeners throughout the country have been saying.

Linda Fussell of House and Garden, Church Corner, Christchurch (formerly McCully’s) said sales had been “very spasmodic” and Janie Poulton of Palmers Taupo said “it’s been a slow time through February,” but rain on March 1 after three weeks of none “should bring the gardeners out.”

However Rhys Gibbs of Nichols on Teviot, Dunedin, reported being “very positive following a strong Christmas through to February

In other news, we report on tour of NZ nurseries and garden centres by a group of 24 nursery people from Alberta, Canada, where they have “only 120 frost-free days per year and a small growing window. You don’t know how spoilt you are being able to grow almost year round,” said tour leader Wayne Beck.

Bob and Cath Matthews held an open day to mark the 60^th anniversary of their Mathews Rose nursery in Wanganui.

Merv Cox, of Cox’s Begonia World in Christchurch says he is going to retire after almost 60 years in the nursery game. The nursery is for sale but the land will be subdivided if no sale is made.

Kings Plant Barn, which now has a chain of garden centres in and around Auckland, celebrates 15 years in business.

Veg-Gro Supplies is re-named Horticentre Ltd

300 people turned out to hear a talk by British nurseryman, Adrian Bloom, of the long-established Blooms of Bressingham nursery. Commenting on a decline in overall plant sales in the UK, Adrian said it was linked to changing demographics “an increasingly older population and a younger population which is not really interested (in gardening), especially those under 40.”

A new Palmers Garden Centre opens in Levin. Owners are Neil Scarisbrick and Angie Leyshon, newly arrived from the UK.

We report on a big revamp of Goldpine Garden Centre in Richmond, Nelson, with pics of its new and unique red sail cloth covers.

Daltons announce they’ll be sponsoring a Nursery of the Year award this year.

NGIA’s membership manager, Kimberley Barr, is leaving in April and will move to Australia later this year. Her place is being taken over by Francis Palmer, formerly manager of Williams Garden Centre, Wellington.

8000 people visited the Auckland Botanic Gardens on its open day to celebrate its 25^th anniversary.

We have a report on the recent Australian Nursery Conference, dominated this year by discussions on the country’s drought and ways to combat its effects on gardening.

Kerry Johnstone reports on his conversations with nurseries around the country

FEATURES IN COMM HORT MARCH 2007
BUSH FIRES COME TO PANROCK RIDGE
Nurserymen Neil Marriott tells how he and his family fought to save their White Gum Nursery and its precious grevillea collection.

FEATURE NURSERY – KERIKERI PLANT PRODUCTION
Tom Lindesay and Julia Colgan tell the story of their nursery, which began on a stunning lifestyle block on the Hokianga Harbour.

FEATURE PLANT – PSEUDOPANAX.  PART 2
This month retailers talk about their experiences with this NZ native, what’s popular with the public and why.

MAYOR ISLAND
Graeme Platt is back, this time in search of the perfect-flowering pohutukawa on Mayor Island, off the coast of the Bay of Plenty.

BOOK REVIEWS 

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM SPAIN
John Stanley reports on a visit to Barcelona

February 2007
A return to vegetable gardening?

Garden retailers report that a cooler, wetter start to Summer this year has been good news because it’s meant people have been able to keep gardening longer than normal. Common themes reported to Comm Hort about sales into early Feb were that roses have been selling steadily and the trend back to vegetable gardening is continuing.

“Shrubs, colour vegetables, especially lettuces, cabbage, broccoli and silver beet are our major sellers,” said Greg Diack of Diack’s Nurseries Invercargill. “Vegetable and fruit gardening is popular. We’ve bought in a lot more edibles this year,” said Kaye Reardon of Williams Mitre 10 in Wellington.

“There’s a definite swing to vegetable and fruit tree growing . Smaller sections mean people are espaliering fruit trees and also citrus such as mandarins. We’ve also held pruning and fruit tree growing seminars during the Winter and it’s catching on well,” said Adrian McLeod of Fairfields, New Plymouth.

NGIA optimistic about 2007
“The NGIA is really looking forward to this year,” says its president Lance Bills.

Things that are going well for the Association and its members he notes are the new gift card scheme, the revamped Let’s Go Gardening magazine, the Cool Kids Grow programme in schools, and the PTL trolley system.

A highlight of the year will be the combined NGIA / LIANZ (landscape industry) conference in June. “We’re expecting a very good turnout, possible 250 or more.”

You can get more info on this, and the NGIA generally, from its website www.ngia.co.nz

IPPS conference programme
This year’s IPPS annual conference will be held at the Quality Hotel in New Plymouth 26-28 April. It’s a big one and you can make a week of it by taking in the pre-conference tours to Mt Taranaki, Pukekura and Pukeiti Parks, and the Coast and islands.

New strains of phytophthora found
Landcare Research, ENSIS and HortResearch, using DNA-based methods, have identified several previously unrecognised species of phytophthora in New Zealand which are associated with ill-health and death of kauri and other trees.

One in particular, phytophthora kernovia, previously known only from Cornwall in the UK, was found under diseased cherimoya trees and from soil under kauri in Northland.

Angela is back
Angela Moon-Jones, formerly with Tui Products and more recently in real estate with her husband Rob, has joined Fairfax magazines as advertising manager for The New Zealand Gardener.

Native plant seed collector fined
Simon Vallings of Forest Floor Nursery was fined $800 plus $200 costs in December after he decided to change his plea from not guilty to guilty to a charge of taking native seed from DoC administered land. But, he says, its was worth it. “It costs $250 per concession to collect seed now and I’ve been collecting for 10 years so it’s only $85 per year.”

Trinity Roses for sale
Lloyd and Ann Chapman of Trinity Farm Roses in Otaki, well known for its range and quality of its old-fashioned roses, have the business on the market.

Palmerston North Rose Trials
Six new roses with the potential to grace the gardens of New Zealand for many years to come have been recognised with awards at the New Zealand International Rose Trial Grounds in Palmerston North.

Winner of the premier award was an exciting new rose called SOMlinone, bred by Rob Somerfield of Glenavon Roses, Tauranga. There’s a full report on the trials in Feb Comm Hort.

New buttercup identified
A rare alpine buttercup with large yellow flowers has been identified in North Otago mountain ranges.

Landcare Research botanist, Dr Peter Heenan, has named it Ranunculus acraeus (pronounced a- CRAE-us).

FEATURES IN COMM HORT FEBRUARY 2007
PERSONALITY PROFILE – SAM McGREDY
A truly international figure in the world of horticulture, rose breeder supreme Sam McGredy, tells his story.

NEW MICHELIA SELECTIONS
They could make michelias rival camellias, says Mark Jury.

THE FANTASTIC POOR KNIGHTS ISLANDS
Join Kerry Johnstone on a trip to this horticultural treasure

FEATURE NURSERY – JORDAN’S OF TINWALD6
At 133 years, Jordan’s is now one of New Zealand’s oldest nurseries

FEATURE PLANT – PSEUDOPANAX.  PART 1
A profile of one of New Zealand’s best-known native plants

HOW THINGS MIGHT BE IN 2026
John Stanley looks into his crystal ball and finds good news for independent retailers

NURSERY MANAGEMENT
Work-experience student, Peter van Rijssen, compares the nursery scenes in New Zealand and Europe

WIND POLLINATION
Fiona Eadie continues her series on Plant Basics