Stuff Magazines

OTAGO PENINSULA - Two winter-flowering blooms leave their mark at the Castle gardens.

Two cold weather flowering plants leave their mark at the castle gardens.

blooming highlights

Many of these are Rhododendron arboreum or its closest rhododendron relatives and hybrid progeny. Rhododendron means tree rose; arboreum translates as tree-like, so there you have it. These rhododendrons are marvellous heritage plants for the garden with some space and the right conditions. Arboreum rhododendrons have compact, rounded trusses of pink, white or red flowers which are held above a collar of long, dark, green leaves.

The red arboretum is less hardy than other forms, so was largely restricted to Cornwall in England where hybridisers set to work soon after its introduction from the lower Himalayan mountains.

‘Cornubia’ is a much-loved classic hybrid bred in Cornwall in the early years of the last century. Its parents are R. arboreum subsp. arboretum, R. thompsonii and R. barbatum. For the uninitiated, those parents are the best of the best big reds. The flower truss of ‘Cornubia’ is larger and looser than R. arboreum, the corolla inheriting its flared shape from R. thompsonii. In all the years of extensive breeding since, the early large red ‘Cornubia’ has not been surpassed.

This rhododendron requires a loose, leafy, particularly well-drained soil. It enjoys a mild, temperate climate which does not experience long dry or hot spells and where it’s not too cold in winter. It prefers part shade and shelter from wind.

Alas. This column is a requiem for the glorious old ‘Cornubia’ in the Larnach Castle Garden where, for many years, like a trumpet call, it had announced the onset of spring. Our ‘Cornubia’ died from phytophera, a soil borne pathogen. Perhaps it’s been too wet lately; maybe it had reached its allotted span. One as to accept losses in an older garden. A replacement is to be planted.

Every year sees the introduction of divine new cultivars of hellebores. I am always tempted.

An outstanding new strain bred in Devon, England, is the Rodney Davey Marbled Group. They are handsome all-year garden plants, their foliage alone earning them a place in the discerning gardener’s garden. In late winter, “look at me flowers” erupt from this decorative mottled foliage. These age into interesting and subtle colours. ‘Anna’s Red’ has big red flowers produced in abundance. These flowers look out at you bravely, whatever the weather. Others in the RD marbled group include ‘Molly’s White’, which is the best and most robust white hellebore that I have seen and ‘Sophie’s Choice’, which is white with the petals crisply edged in a carmine pink. ‘Penny’s Pink’ is a paler pink in the centre of the large flowers shading to a deeper pink so it glows in the garden. Rodney Davey and a partner spent 12 years of solid work developing this outstanding strain.

To really flourish, hellebores require a good, deep, rich, well-drained soil that does not dry out. They are best in partial shade but with some sun. Most hellebores seed like crazy and are best quickly deadheaded unless you have a large woodland area. The Rodney Davey strain is sterile so this chore can be omitted.

If you want to divide a hellebore – don’t. They don’t like it. Go and buy another one.

MARGARET BARKER has spent more than 50 years restoring and developing the gardens around Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula, rated a six-star garden by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. She is an Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture.

Dunedin hill suburbs are lit by early flowering tree rhododendrons as winter’s grip loosens its hold.

CONTENTS

en-nz

2022-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuffmagazines.pressreader.com/article/283145727471925

Stuff Limited