Hawke's Bay and Gisborne have four of the best tree collections or arboretums in New Zealand and during the last week of April I was able to visit all of them.I led a tour of the NZ branch of the International Dendrology Society to visit John and Fiona Will's 'Trelinnoe Park' on the Napier-Taupo Road, to Michael Hudson's 'Gwavas' on Highway 50, and to Bob and Lady Anne Berry's 'Hackfalls' at Tiniroto, on the back road between Gisborne and Wairoa.
Diane and I then joined up with the New Zealand Gardens Trust having their annual meeting in Gisborne, and with them visited'Eastwoodhill Arboretum'.The autumn colour was a bit late this year but we saw lots of magnificent and uncommon trees. These four arboretums (an arboretum is a collection of trees - a dendrologist is one who studies trees) have rare and unusual trees from all over the world. Now that it is virtually impossible to import new plants we as a countryshould be very grateful these private individuals have amassed such huge collections of trees from around the world.
I managed to get a sample copy of "PLANTING AND MAINTAINING A TREE COLLECTION" by Simon Toomer for the two get-togethers. Toomer is Director of the National Arboretum, Westonbirt, in the UK and his book covers all aspects of collecting and maintaining trees, labelling and recording where they came from, when they were planted and so on. A 232- page hardback with 107 colour photos, $80.00.
At the NZ Gardens Trust conference in Gisborne American plant hunter and nurseryman Dan Hinkley gave two lectures. The first was on plant hunting and the second on "Making Windcliff", his new garden in Seattle. Dan has written two books: "THE EXPLORERS GARDEN - RARE AND UNSUAL PERENNIALS", a 380-page paperback, $58.00, and "THE EXPLORERSGARDEN. SHRUBS AND VINES FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE WORLD", a 352- page hardback, $90.00. Both are very well illustrated with excellent colour photos throughout. He has been hunting for plants in China, Korea, Nepal, Chile, Costa Rica, South Africa, Japan, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, India and New Zealand. He has found a cornucopia of new plants. Both books are good reads about the various expeditions and the plants found.
Dan Hinkley writes well: "Today I had warm soup in a styrofoam bowl with tasteless buds of daylily floating atop. Sadly the village is filled with mangy, starving dogs, none of which still have four limbs.We are currently holed up in a hostel with no heat and lukewarm water. Everything in my world is wet, and my wads of saturated seed heads are scattered about the room, looking like some horrid experiment in germ warfare. We are an oddity here. The entire cafeteria went quiet and stared when we entered, and all studied us as our meal was served to see if we would pass muster with chopsticks; they all seemed rather disappointed that we did not drop the first piece of bony chicken into our laps."Taiwan 1999.
"BEETROOT - THE VITALITY PLANT AND ITS MEDICINAL BENEFITS" by Margaret Briggs is the first monograph I've ever seen on this plant Beta vulgaris so I ordered 3 copies, took them to a show at Paraparaumu and sold them immediately. It covers the history of beetroot and the other members of the beet family - sugar beet, fodder beet and silver beet.History, cultivation and uses are all covered with half the book devoted to recipes including borscht soup.A 160-page hardback with a few ornamental black and white line drawings, $20.00.
It's feijoa time again. We have "THE FEIJOA RECIPE BOOK" by Wyn Drabble, a 64-page soft back with lots of colour photos, $25.00."FEIJOA RECIPES" by the NZ Feijoa Growers Assn. A 32-page paperback with masses more recipes and no pictures. Includes how to make feijoa wine, $20.00.
"A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN NZ" by Bee Dawson is proving very popular. When James Cook first visited NZ in 1769 he gave the Maoris potatoes and various seeds. On his return to England he mentioned there were lots of seals around the coast of the South Island and the sealers arrived, bringing their own seeds, as they were dumped ashore and left to fend for themselves for long periods. They saw there were lots of whales and the whalers were next to appear on the scene. The missionaries followed and much had happened before the 'first' Four Ships arrived at Lyttleton.A 303-page soft back book, well illustrated with black and white and coloured historical illustrations, $50.00.
On Saturday May 22 we will be at the lifestyle Farmers Field Day at the Otaki Racecourse. This is a show we always enjoy doing.Very nice crowd and organiser.
We will not be at Mystery Creek Farm Field Days.
"SAVE YOUR OWN SEEDS" by Kay Baxter is based on her 25 years experience in NZ conditions and situations. Runs through the various plant families and how they set seed, and then explains the basics of seed storage. The last part of the booklet tells you what do be doing, month-by-month.. A 34- page stapled paperback, $10.00.
It is past mushrooming time and today we have just had a very good frost so our chances of a good feed are very slim.We have just got an excellent new book "MUSHROOMING WITHOUT FEAR" by Alexander Schwab, which concentrates on positively identifying the edible mushrooms. The poisonous ones are basically ignored. Excellent colour photos and text it covers ceps, boletes, chanterelles, puffballs, horn of plenty and cauliflower mushroom.There is a chapter on handling, drying, freezing and cooking. The book ends with a few pages on the hallucinogenic fly agaric. A 128-page hardback, $50.00.
"MANUAL OF A TRADITIONAL BACON CURER" by Maynard Davies is for those of you raising your own pigs. Starting with butchering the animal it takes you through all the steps to make bacon, ham, sausages, haggis, salamis, black and white puddings, pates, trotters, and faggots. Hundreds of recipes illustrated with colour photos showing how to do things. A 225-page hardback at $75.00, which is cheap when you consider the cost of having a pig professionally processed.
Found in a warehouse… A carton of my favourite vegetable growing book -"VEGETABLE GARDENING IN NZ" by Ralph Ballinger.A 136- pages paperback fist published in 1979 and reprinted several times. Ultra practical, mostly black and white illustrations showing depth to plant, distance between plants, distance between rows and when to do it. Good month-by-month calendar at rear, only $20.00.
