More mountain daisies Native flowers to cultivate

Press, 4 June 1982, Page 9

More mountain daisies Native flowers to cultivate

p/ARDENER’S ® DIARY

Derrick Rooney

Some 58 good species of celmisia. or mountain daisy, plus a number of doubtful species and.' natural hybrids are listed "in the published Flora of New Zealand, 'and the great majority of them are handsome or floristically showy plants. Yet the number commonly seen in cultivation could be counted without using up .ahandful of fingers. , Probably this is partly because, of the irrational dislike many gardeners--^.'antf.nur-serymen — have of our native plants, and partly-be-cause of the reputation the genus has acquired for neurotic behaviour in spite of, as I noted last week, the happy propensity of a few specie's to settle in the garden. - -One of the easiest and. in its good forms, most gemlike is Celmisia gracilenta, a plant of the low-tussock community which is so widely distributed throughout the country that it known as the "common celmisia."

Thik is a very small plant; not to be confused with large, showy species like Celmisia semicordata (formerly C. coriacea),. and if it were: planted in a border it would very soon be swallowed up. But as it ranges from an elevation of 1700 metres right down to sea level in the few places where the original tussock community survives, it has many forms which are not at all" easy to get away in a rock garden, where it is very appropriately scaled to the surroundings.

Its leaves are very narrow, not much bigger in some of the alpine forms than the blade of a bradawl, which they resemble: and the

flowers can be 2cm across, on- very thin stems. The whole effect of a plant in flower is of a spiky and highly refined grass daisy.

At least, two distinct leaf forms occur, one with mottled leaves which can be very handsome (this is the common form in commerce and has been offered by numerous nurseries) and one with extraordinarily stiff, silvery leaves. The latter is the . common form in the Canter 7 bury high ’ country, where there are two other closely related plants which may very well be one composite species.

These are the minute Celmisia alpina, which is always found in bogs, and Celmisia laricifolia, which is found in most kinds of alpine vegetation except bogs. The Flora is jrather tentative -in its description of these, -and the main differences between them appear to be ones of habitat. ....

Above Porters Pass, fight at the limit of its ; range, I Have found tufts of Celmisia gracilenta 5 growing in - very dry, stony places. Up there the .little clumps are so hard and dense you .can jump up and down on them without making the slightest impression.

In the garden they grow a little more loosely and the leaves increase their length three or- four times without getting much wider. They are very distinctive, with margins rolled right back underneath and a prominent lower midrib that leaves a -'definite 1 channel along the top of the leaf. I have two clumps in the rock garden, one in. hot, dry

exposure to full sun and the other in the shade of a hebe where other plants overgrow it in summer, and both flower freely in late spring. I have not tried to establish C. alpina, but have had C. laricifolia a couple of times, and failed both times to get it away — other gardeners, I know, have problems also with this species, and it may well not be worth the effort.

A much bigger plant, more suitable for the border, is C. traversii, from Nelson. This is classed as a low-alpine, as it comes in about 900 m and does not go above 1600. I have had no difficulty establishing it in a cool corner, and it has flowered regularly for three years, though .it has not increased much in size. It is not so striking in flower as some of the larger species, but in leafage it is one of the most distinctive, and in areas where it is common, as in the Cobb Valley, it creates a unique landscape. The leaves are wide, thick and leathery, and on the upper surface are green, and smooth. Underneath they are densely coated with down which extends right out to the margins, where it is rich russet brown. The texture is like velvet, and there is a contrasting purple lower midrib.

This is one of the celmisias which hybridise readily. In the mountains near Hanmer Springs — just about the southern limit of C. traversii — a range of hybrids between this specie’s and the spectacularly-flowered C. semicordata have been recorded. Some of these surely must have high potential as garden plants, but as far as I know no attempt has been made to bring them into cultivation. Some have flowers more than 6cm across.

Another species which usually can be relied on to survive and even increase if given a little summer shade (preferably from a wall or building rather than a tree) is Celmisia lyallii.

Like most of the species amenable to cultivation, this comes from the drier mountain ranges on the east side of the Main Divide. Wherever it grows within its altitudinal range (from about 800 to 1700 metres) it is prominent in tussock or herbfield, especially where the vegetation has been burnt or grazed — livestock (even goats) find it unpalatable.

But if you weren't looking hard for it you could pass it over, because, except when it is in flower, it looks at first glance very much like a small wild Spaniard. For that reason it is sometimes called the "false Spaniard."

In the mountains the leaves of the false Spaniard grow up to 40cm long, but in cultivation, in what might seem to be more favourable conditions, it tends to stay smaller, perhaps pining for the cool air and fresh winds.

My plant, several years old, "is healthy looking, but only about 15cm high, and has not yet flowered, though when I looked closely at it the other day there was a slight swelling near the base, only just perceptible, that encouraged me to think it might flower next spring. Like nearly all our alpines. the celmisias tend to flower in the lowlands, if they flower at all, a good couple of months before plants in the mountains come into flower.

Very close to the gracilenta group, but much larger, is Celmisia major, which is surprisingly hardy and easy to grow — for it is a rare and localised plant in the wild and according to the Flora occurs only on the cliffs north of Manukau Harbour and on Great Barrier Island. There is a variety, brevis, with slightly shorter leaves which is found on, and in fact confined to, Mount Egmont.

This is hardy, free-flower-ing, and permanent — my plant has been with me for three years, and though some rosettes have wilted in the recent months of drought, it looks set to go on for at least one more summer. The flowers are large and the stems are short, making this a very decorous species.

A curious footnote to this plant is that although it is listed as endemic to Mt Egmont, there is a population of smaller, but otherwise similar, plants on the West Coast, just below Farewell Spit, growing right down to the high-water mark and constantly washed by salt spray from the Tasman.