Dreams and the autumn plant catalogue

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 13

Dreams and the autumn plant catalogue

GARDENER’S DIARY

By

Derrick Rooney

r Gardeners often speak of. the pleasures of autumn in leaf and berry, but there is another autumn pleasure, less immediate but no less , acute, for -it offers a chance to

dream. f This is the annual ritual of the autumn catalogue — the time when growers send out their lists of the trees and shrubs. they expect to market during the winter.

g I have been studying the autumn catalogues with extra interest this time, becuse we need a new tree to replace a decrepit and dying lacebark that shades our terrace. And now we have it: a Tibetan cherry, Prunus serrula. The site in which this tree is to go is a narrow strip of grass between the terrace and our side fence, and once the old lacebark that now occupies the area has been removed and the new tree settled in we will pave the area, thus extending the terrace

right out to the boundary. The choice of tree for -'this site was a very difficult one. Its top hamper is 'there for practical reasons

rather than aesthetic ones; its sole function is to cast

shade in summer, and allow sun to filter through in winter. It must grow fairly quickly, but show some restraint once it reaches the required size, because there is no room in this narrow strip for a forest giant.

The terrace is roofed with corrugated fibreglass, so only the trunk is visible from the house windows,' and it was really this that dictated our choice.

The terrace tree had to have a handsome trunk, and of. all the trees available I doubt if any has a more handsome trunk than the Tibetan cherry. It is not the < ’.y member of its family with attractive bark, but it is the only one with bark so handsome that' bark is the only reason why it is in cultivation.

Prunus serrula flowers as freely as any other prunus species* but later, and when the small, white flowers come out they are not very conspicuous among the leaves. The bark is always conspicuous.

It is very smooth, very shiny, and a rich reddish brown. In late summer, after the annual moult

(like many of the Austra. lian eucalyptus trees Prunus serrula sheds its bark annually; the technical name for this process is exfoliation), the trunk is at its glossiest, and in a good year it positively glows. The patina is as deep and as rich as that

of an ancient piece of mahogany furniture. Several ether interesting new. trees will be about t\is winter. One that tempted me (I resisted, but only because I could not think of anywhere to put it) is a gold-variegated form of the EDIBLE Spanish chestnut, Castanea sativa “Gold Splash.” It is a topical introduction, after the recent chestnut incident at Ferrymead, and it is being offered by Millichamps, of Ashburton, for a probably very reasonable price of $lO. One old favourite that I

have ordered this year is the “Japanese angelica tree,” Aralia alata. This is a large, spiny deciduous shrub, not to be confused with the common evergreen “aralia,” Fatsia japonica. Aralia alata has huge, pinnate leaves, more than a metre long when well grown, and in winter its bare stems have a rugged, picturesque outline. It was a great favourite in Victorian times, when it' was known as Aralia spinosa and was one of the few available autumn-flowering shrubs.

In New Zealand, an old gardener tells me, it was very popular in the twenties and thirties, but I have not seen it about in recent years. I used to, admire, regularly, a fine mature speciment in the Ham area, but this has been bulldozed out to make way for a block of flats, so the reappearance of the species in this year’s autumn catalogue is very welcome.

Another bld favourite likely to surface again this winter is a juniper, Juniperus “Conspicua.” This has not been offered in New Zealand, as far as I know, for many years, though it has remained a

firm favourite in Australia. It is a tough, droughtresistant blue shrub that should grow to about two metres in 10 years, and will be a welcome addition to the list of wind-resis-tant ornamental conifers, which is all too short. Like most of the ornamental conifers, it is a mutant, not a hybrid, and it can be expected to retain its attractive juvenile foliage throughout its life. It is a form of Juniperus pachyphloea, previously known as J. deppeana, and is being catalogued by Millichamps as “Juniperus deppeana pachyphloea.”

Another blue conifer that is likely to become more common this winter is the silver-blue selection of the Arizona cypress, “Blue Ice.”

When well grown this is the bluest conifer of all, and it has the great merit of being just as windhardy and drought-resis-. tant as its parent, Cupressus arizonica (or is it glauca? The taxonomy of this group is in a state of confusion). I have had this plant for a couple of years and in that time it has grown steadily up to shoulder

height It will have to go from its present site eventually, because I have plans for a lily pond there, and when that hap-

pens it will present a problem. It is, I think, the most striking conifer I have. I would love to plant it at

the gate, but if I did that it would become a target for every dog in the district, and that would do nothing for its good looks.