Warm Wintergardens

 Our garden club visited the Auckland Wintergardens on Saturday. I took Pat, Cenny and Paula in my car and Barbara, Janette, Thera, Bev and Linda came in another. Our club seemed to have shrunk a bit over winter but we made the effort and was nice to see each other during the daytime! And the wintergardens too. 

The windows of the glasshouses had recently been cleaned and restored so everything was looking new and to my mind, a bit TOO new. I did miss the lichen and the wildlife and the cat that used to nap in the tropical house, where all the vines had been cleared away, it seemed they had put fresh plants in or rearranged it. 

The temperate house was full of cyclamen, cinerarias, ornamental kale, and golden daffodils that had heavy heads. The ladies exclaimed over sisikyou lewisia (we looked it up) a succulent that looked like an aeonium but had a dainty flower. 

There were also signs saying DO NOT TOUCH and beware, the fruits are too hot, and could kill you - the forbidden fruit being super hot chillis/capsicums/bell peppers of course. It's just like the Garden of Eden! (except we were all clothed, because it's winter). We didn't see the stinky arum lily, maybe it was having a nap elsewhere. My favourite cat's tails plants were there though, but the chocolate plant and the bananas had disappeared. Maybe they got eaten. Pink orchids were in bloom, and the hanging baskets had pansies and lachenalias in them. There were curly spider plants. There was water lilies that hadn't appeared yet. 

The fernery also seemed to have been weeded and seemed a bit forlorn, where was the enchantment, and mystery? I didn't hear any birdsong there. Maybe they'll return, but that's what happens when you remove all the insect life it seems. 

Outside Iceland poppies were on the beds, and the fountains were playing. We had a mackerel sky. It was a beautiful day, and after seeing the Wintergardens we had lunch at the kiosk, which was very noisy and busy but I had a nice meal of lamb cutlets and a juicie of fresh fruit, worth the wait so I'm not complaining. Then on the way home Cenny and Paula visited Pats garden which was gorgeous as usual, so all in all we had a lovely time. I'll post some pics later. Though I'm never very good at taking photos possibly someone needs to be a garden photographer, I'm too busy seeing and experiencing everything through my own two eyes. The Wintergardens watch you too because there are  CCTV cameras inside to make sure nobody steals any plants or takes cuttings.....I'm thinking what happens if garden security does catch someone? 

I think maybe they end up in garden jail or thrown in the slough pond. 

Matariki

 Matariki marks the beginning of the gardening year. In Auckland it was 'wet and whiny' according to the Prime Minister, so anyone hoping to get up at dawn to see Matariki Stars rising has a slim chance...after all, we are the Land of the Long White Cloud and often that cloud blocks out the stars, and brings rain. 

A far better indicator would be when the kowhai start blooming, as they are on my Dragons Gold specimens. Some of the are lopped and stunted thanks to Dad's pruning efforts. He doesn't like anything shading his weather station, or blocking the night sky. He's taken photos of the moon and the habour bridge lights, as if in compensation for the lack of garden decoration. 

I haven't made a fuss over Matariki as it has come in the school holidays where it's pyjama day everyday. But it has marked a turning point for a new beginning though who knows what that may be this year. 

I'm somehow supposed to apply all this matauranga (knowledge) to the garden but so far have been failing  as my marama (moon calendar) keeps turning and so far no indication of any change or growth. It's been too wet to prune the buxus, I've only done one bed, my GardenPost lily bulbs I ordered have not arrived, the rain lilies have not appeared even after all that rain, the tangelo needs pruning and feeding, and we haven't been meeting for Garden Club in the evenings. However this Saturday is going to be our day trip to the Wintergardens, and I'm also going to a Rivercare meeting Thursday evening where an ecologist is going to talk about Matariki and Matauranga. 

It was  Miss Asher's birthday (memorial magnolia tree) on July 17 and she is looking stately and in bloom. I've surrounded her with irises this time though none have bloomed yet. Others who've passed on in the past year include Beth and Jane, both women of faith and my best teachers. Beth's geraniums are still growing and I have yet to figure out what to plant for Jane. Jane had her funeral on Thursday and it seems God keeps wanting me to continue her legacy by being Bible teacher in schools. Despite me being NOT one who naturally teaches. I remember when I first taught I was so nervous I was shaking and couldn't speak in front of anyone. They say 'fear of public speaking' is the number one thing and I sure had it (avoided speech contests in school, never acted in stage dramas, never signed up for  talent quests, hated presentations, never spoke a word in class, never wanted any attention to myself, and never got up in assemblies) however that never stopped Jane for believing I had something to offer. I am quite lucky in that I now have a karaoke microphone that could amplify my voice if need be. Karaoke does give you the words to say anyway. Otherwise nobody would ever hear me. Thank you Lord for technology.

The thing with plants is they don't talk. Or maybe they are so quiet we can't hear them.  I guess that's why I like them, they have a secret language all of their own.  If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, is there a sound? The kumara does not speak of its own sweetness. 

I am thinking of a Karaka tree to plant for Jane (although where exactly, I am not sure, perhaps at Edmonton School where she taught?) as she moved from Henderson to Karaka which was a world away (and in some aspects, another town) and that will be something to remember her by. Or maybe a beautiful tree fuchsia Kotutukutu that likes being beside rivers as she used to live near the Henderson Creek.  I'm not always one for staying up and stargazing for Matariki but I'm always observing the native plants during the day.  Belinda Jane Greenslade RIP 

Puddles, Mud, Gumboots

 July school holidays are kind of like living in Lockdown again. You actually can go out, but would you want to? Gardening is not an option...unless you have a great hankering to garden in puddles, mud, and wearing gumboots. The people with wings have flown away to far off lands and are probably enjoying the weather in Fiji, Samoa, or the entire Northern Hemisphere. It's too bad I'm not a bird, I would have flown the nest by now.

I have been reading more George Orwell, this time a book called 'Books vs Cigarettes'. In one of his essays he writes that he counts up the cost of books he buys and concludes its not much more than buying cigarettes and probably a healthier habit. I've been chain-reading books for the past month like people used to chain-smoke cigarettes. Now I've heard everyone's into vaping and contributing to the plastic rubbish problem. At least cigarette butts biodegraded in the garden and were made of somewhat natural plants like tobacco and weed, but those vapes? Who knows what's in them? You may as well be inhaling weedkiller fumes.

The other essay that made an impression on me was 'Such Such were the Joys' about his boyhood as a scholarship student at a private school called St Cyprians that was prepping him for Eton, THE school for British elites (kind of like Kings College) and how snobby and bullying everyone was there and what sadists the Headmaster and Headmistress were. I can only say in my experience of working in private schools that he's not far wrong, more than 70 years later, and nothing much has really changed.

 I did work in Kings College when our gardening team planted up their river bank with natives and others maintained the sports fields and grounds. My boss had planted up the front entrance and it was typical iris and guara fluffy flowers that was his trademark..but we all knew elite schools like that would never teach horticulture and get the students actually working in the gardens or planting anything. Can't get their hands dirty! 

I have yet to find my dream job. I want to say that it will include a garden, AND a library but what manifestation that will take in the future I have no idea. Garden to Table, I think is a wonderful initiative but it needs to be in all schools with qualified Master gardeners and cooks teaching this as core curriculum.. complete with seed libraries and botanic garden field trips. I wish everyone would read a book that made me cry called 'The Power of a Plant' about a teacher in the inner concrete jungles of NYC (this is where most all 'To Sir with Love' tales are set) whose students who have little hopes or aspirations at all and are fighting all the time in class...until he discovers what he thought was a bunch of onion bulbs in a bag are actually daffodils and this magically transforms his rough and tough potential gang members into...kind and loving upright citizens who want to green up the Bronx, where you never see a garden anywhere. 

At least, that's his story and he's sticking to it. They call his team the 'Green Guerillas' and then go round seed bombing the derelict wastelands. I'm not sure if this will go down with many young Auckland students who's experiences in horticulture mostly extend to growing marijuana under lights at home. Well Stephen Ritz, you tried. 

Otherwise, I'm thinking, where is Auckland's answer to RHS Wisely Gardens? Where are all our future park ranger/gardener/playground caretakers going to learn their craft? Is gardening only ever going to be a pastime for the rich and wealthy to pay someone else to do? Must we all flounder around with expensive vegepods when we have no idea how to look after our own whenua?