Nook Road Nursery started life as Maryeds Garden in 1968 and has been running in some form ever since. The current economic climate has affected the business viability and it has become uneconomic to continue trading.

18 October 2011

Spring Greetings everyone – although at this very minute it is more like winter with rain lashing us & new snow on the hills this morning it is positively chilly & I am very glad I resisted the impulse to plant my runner beans & zuccinis in the weekend.

Autumn colour in the Garden
Autumn is such a beautiful season in Central Otago with the iconic golden Poplars and the red of the rosehips on the hills. When you live in a climate like ours it makes sense to include some autumn colour in the garden, this can be in the form of foliage, flowers or berries & fruit.
We like:
Foliage:
Trees
Acer (Maple)
Amelanchier
Betula (Birch)
Carpinus (Hornbeam)
Cornus (Dogwood)
Fagus (Beech)
Fraxinus (Ash)
Gleditsia
Liquidamber
Malus (Crabapple)

Suddenly it seems summer is gone, I've had my last swim (I think but may be tempted if we get some another hot day), the Quince are starting to drop - jelly making time and the Autumn Crocuses are popping up in random places in the garden. We have had some great rains so the ground is green & quite soggy in parts which is unusual for Central Otago as we are usually sun bleached and parched at this time of year.

Plants to encourage the birds

Nectar Lovers – Tui, Bellbird, Waxeye

Non native plants:

* Grevillea
* Lauris Noblis (Bay)
* Honeysuckle
* Prunus Companulata
* Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker)
* Correa
* Banksia
* Embothrium (Chilean Fire Bush)
* Tagasaste (Tree Lucerne)
* Phygelius

Native Plants:

* Knightia excelsa (Rewarewa)
* Phormium
* Kowhai
* Kamahi
* Clianthus (Kaka Beak)
* Cordyline australis (Cabbage Tree)
* Metrosideros (Rata)
* Pohutukawa

Here we are at the start of a brand new year with a very clean and tidy shed as Jamie's son Locky & his beautiful wife Anna had planned to get married in the potting shed in early January so there was a mad flurry of cleaning and tidying of the shed and shade house. At the last minute they decided on a marquee on the front lawn which worked very well and has left us with something of a clean slate to start the year with.

Bringing in the birds

This morning while out walking at 6am I was amazed at the dawn chorus - the birds were so loud & sounded so happy to be alive it was truly a celebration. By the time we got back at 7 they had quietened down & were going about their day. We often get asked about plants to attract birds to the garden & at the Nook we are fortunate to have regular visitors of the feathered variety. Jamie feeds them sugar water in the winter: half a cup of sugar dissolved in 1 litre of water.

I have just come back from checking out some of the gardens in Europe (not the main purpose of the trip but if you are a keen gardener & love plants you just can't help but look when you are somewhere different)I saw such a range it is hard to know where to start - from the cute little window boxes full of geraniums on the Swiss Chalets to the impressive vegetable gardens at Villandry in the Loire Valley in France which were like a work of art.

Winter Gardening – This is the talk I gave to the Wanaka Garden Circle a couple of weeks ago - a bit long but some useful info in there if you live as we do somewhere that has a definite winter.
Soil:

Soil moisture is a major factor in plant hardiness. Plants suffer more when their roots are in water logged soil. Wet soils are colder than drier soils and the roots freeze in the ground. Many plants can cope with severe cold if planted in well drained soils. Plants will generally succumb in clay soils that have high moisture content with these heavier soils being slower to warm in spring.

Anzac Weekend saw us hurriedly cleaning out the potting shed to accommodate our Art Exhibition which was supposed to have been in the garden set amongst the autumn colours. The rain had other ideas however & we shifted the less weather proof exhibits inside. People still came & everyone seemed to enjoy it, there was an interesting range of pottery, painting, photography & woolcraft. We have some very talented people living in our area. We will do it again later in the year & hopefully be able to have more outside as the Nook really does make an ideal setting for art.