Bright Wings

Garden ramble fundraiser

Lansdowne Presbyterian Church are holding a Garden Ramble on Saturday, 27 November, from 1 pm.

It includes eight urban gardens within Masterton and is a fundraiser for the church's centenary in 2012.

A feature of the Garden Ramble is an opportunity to view the Christmas decorations in Lansdowne Presbyterian Church, in Te Ore Ore Road, which has been decked out in wall-hangings, Christmas trees, candles, and a nativity tableau as a centrepiece.

The garden tour is modestly priced at $10. Older and less nimble folk can enjoy the display in the church - and a home-cooked afternoon tea - for a gold coin donation.

Lansdowne Church Garden Ramble
Lansdowne Presbyterian Church
Te Ore Ore Road
Masterton (map) 

Saturday, 27 November, 1pm to 5 pm
Garden Tour $10 (includes eight gardens and afternoon tea at the church)
View church and afternoon tea only - gold coin donation 

Further information:  phone 06 377-1047

Pukaha Mt Bruce turns its back on Wairarapa

The $60 ticket price for the Pukaha Mount Bruce Garden Tour is too steep for many in the Wairarapa, where gardening is a passion, but incomes are often very low.

The tour is clearly pitched at the Wellington market, where $120 for a couple would not be seen as extravagant, but unaffordable for local people on small or fixed incomes.

Many Wairarapa people, especially the retired, have devoted hours to volunteer work at the Centre, but garden tour ticket prices will be beyond them. A ticket price of $25 is the upper limit for local support.

I used to be a member, but was outraged at the huge increase in subscription prices and now very rarely visit the centre. With their eyes firmly fixed on lucrative coach parties of tourists and Wellington visitors, I don't think Mount Bruce care.

The Rose

The rose, it should be crowned with pearls of Arabia and Lydian gold.

Walafrid Strabo, The Little Garden (Hortulus), 9th century

Interested in learning about compost?

Compost Scoop, is a blog devoted entirely to the art (and science) of compost making and its value in the garden, together with its wider environmental benefits.

Something for both beginners and experienced compost makers, and environmentalists.

Music in the Garden: historic Masterton gardens on show

Two of Masterton's finest historic gardens were open to the public on Saturday, 21 November as a fundraiser for St Andrew's in the Paddock, Upper Plain.

“Last year we hosted a very successful garden tour,” the Reverend Liz Greville noted, “so this year we thought we’d focus on two gardens that were in easy walking distance of each other and put on some music as well.”

Live music was performed throughout the day in both gardens and included local musicians Pat McKenna (voice and guitar) and Rachel Thompson (keyboard).  Masterton musician Caryl Forrest (keyboard and voice) joined with MaryRose Ryman (soprano), Matt Painter (bass) and Amelia Ryman (soprano) from Wellington and performed everything from lieder to light music to Christmas carols.

While they were listening to the music, guests were treated to elegant afternoon teas and delicious cordials.

Ngahuru was built in 1917  and designed in English cottage revival style by William Fielding.  The one and a half acre garden is believed to have been designed by Alfred Buxton.

Woodchester was built for Ted and Lorna Norman soon after the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in 1931. It has had only three owners since and sits proudly on just over two acres, tucked down a long driveway off Cole Street.

The vexed issue of the Hosking Garden

The future of the Hosking Garden is worrying Masterton residents alarmed that the garden - Masterton's swimming pool from the early 1900s until the 1960s - may be demolished.

The concept plan  assumed demolition of the sunken garden and replacing it with an imprint - see 1B above.

If you look along the Dixon Street side of the promenade walk on the plan, the Sunken Garden imprint is flush with the edge of the walk, whereas the actual sunken garden is sticking out into this promenade area.

I think the council were a bit quick in moving on landscaping the adjoining area in line with the new plan.  The Hosking Garden now sticks out like a sore thumb into the promenade.

The entrance to the park - almost opposite Aratoi - has been realigned in accordance with the Richard Fowler plan which has made no attempt to connect the new lawns and gardens with the Hosking Garden.  Instead, the Hosking Garden has been left isolated and awkward looking.

If the Council votes to retain the Hosking Garden instead of the imprint, some rework of adjoining lawns, beds and pathways will be needed to ensure the garden is connected to the rest of the park.

And I'd like to see it planted more imaginatively in something other than the usual hectic plantings of annuals.

Di and Ian Grant highlight a further concern, writing in the Times-Age:

We do not believe the Council has the right to remove the sunken garden until it can tell citizens exactly what it will be replaced with and why this is demonstrably better than what we have now."

The only item on the Council website about the Queen Elizabeth Park makeover was the concept plan already noted above.

The Council has missed a great publicity opportunity with detailed plan on their website, and a scale model on display in the Aratoi foyer for anyone who wanted to have a look

It will be interesting to see which side prevails when the Council votes on the future of the Hosking Garden on Wednesday.

Spring shrubs in flower

The light was excellent for photographs late this afternoon. This little dogwood looks stunning.

Deciduous azalea

Viburnum Opulus 'sterile' (Guelder Rose).

Rhododendron reminds us of warmer temperatures

A sudden return to winter, freezing temperatures and snow had me trawling through my photos, looking for something to provide a splash of colour on my blog.

I photographed this during the Rangitumau Valley Garden Tour in 2006.

Bluebells and periwinkle

Spanish bluebell, Hyacinthoides hispanica

Periwinkle in flower.

While some regard this as a weed - and it can take over - it is beautiful in semi-woodland areas and makes a wonderful groundcover.

Bee colony collapse disorder poses worldwide threat to food production

Widespread bee deaths are the focus of attention at Apimonda, the World Apiculture Congress, according to a report on Seed Daily

Across parts of North America and swathes of Europe, but also now in patches of Asia, bee hives have been struck by a mysterious ailment dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

At normal times, bee communities naturally lose around five percent of their numbers. But in CCD, a third, a half -- sometimes even 90 percent -- of the insects can be wiped out. Eerily, no bodies are typically found near the hive.

The phenomenon is alarming for beekeepers, many of them small-scale operators or hobbyists, who lack the clout and subsidy support that other agricultural sectors enjoy.

But food experts and environmental scientists are also worried. The Western honey bee is a vital link in the food chain, fertilising nearly 100 kinds of crops.

Around a third of the food on our plates gets there thanks to Apis mellifera. By some estimates, this unseen, unsung work is worth more than 200 billion dollars a year, often through hives that are trucked to monoculture farms to do pollinating magic at specific times of the year.

Wild bees, bats and other pollinators are simply not numerous enough to do the trick. So when honey bees and beekeeping are devastated, the impact for large-scale agricultural production is clear.

"In China, fruit farmers in Sichuan are having to hand-pollinate their orchards," says Henri Clement, president of the National Union of French Beekeepers.

Despite intense investigation, the cause of CCD remains unclear. Mooted culprits include a blood-sucking mite called varroa; a single-celled fungal parasite called Nosema cerenae that causes bee dystentery and pesticides used in fields that are pollinated by bees.

Fingers in Europe have also pointed at an intruder, the Asian hornet, Vespa velutina, which lurks near hives and captures the poor honey bee in flight and devours it.

Other proferred explanations include poor nutrition -- that mega farms, stripped of hedgerows and wild flowers, and spreading suburbs, with their concrete, roads and lawns, are depriving bees of a decent diet.

Despite the many suspects, there has been no conviction, or at least none that singly explains why bee colonies should be collapsing in so many parts of the world at the same time. Climate change may also be an aggravating factor, say some experts.

One possibility is that CCD is a complex web of factors. Last month, entomologists at the University of Illinois reported that bees in CCD-ravaged hives had high levels of damaged ribosomes -- a key protein-making machine within cells. Their ribosomes appear to have been hijacked by so-called picornia-like viruses, which seize control of cellular machinary to make it crank out only viral components. Picorna-like viruses are carried by the varroa mite, which has spread by being accidentally introduced through commercial transactions of bees. "If your ribosome is compromised, then you can't respond to pesticides, you can't respond to fungal infections or bacteria or inadequate nutrition because the ribosome is central to the survival organism," said researcher May Berenbaum.

Meanwhile, researchers at Britain's University of Leeds have begun a three-year study to see if the bees' decline could have an earthier cause -- a lack of variety in the sex life of queen bees. They are investigating whether a decreasing number of potential mates means colonies are becoming less genetically diverse and more prone to disease.

Woodland in Carterton

Houhere - lacebark - under the canopy of large, old trees at Carrington, in Carterton.

An afternoon in the garden

A warm, still, sunny spring day in the Wairarapa - and the temperature in the 20s - was perfect for thinning out the canopies of some trees which were creating too much shade.

The beautiful blossom of the nashi pear demanded a photo.

With the warm temperatures of the last few weeks the cavolo nero has flowered. This wonderful vegetable - technically a kale, I think - looks like silver beet crossed with cabbage. It positively thrives in cold, frosty winter conditions and grows tall over winter, with palm-like leaves which you can harvest as required.

We finished the day with hamburgers quickly cooked on the barbeque, before the sun disappeared at 6 pm. The first barbeque of the year and very early in the season.

Emerging pear blossom

Buds on the old, gnarled pear tree, about to burst into flower.

Cellphone towers killing bees

Those of us who live in rural New Zealand know only too well the importance of the honey bee to horticulture, particularly the fruit industry.

InfoNews carries a disturbing report of research that shows that cell phone towers are killing bees because the electromagnetic waves interfere with the bees' ability to navigate back to their hives.

Last week I wrote a post about a bee swarm in my garden. A Greytown resident commented that she had seen very few bees. Greytown is well-served with cellphone coverage: I wonder if there is a connection between that and the absence of bees.

Melia tree in spring sunshine

Beads on a Melia Azedarach tree against a brilliant blue Wairarapa sky on a still, clear spring afternoon.

Also known as Persian Lilac, Chinaberry or Bead Tree, the fruit hang on the tree all winter, gradually becoming white.  These "beads" were apparently used in the past as rosary beads.

Bees swarm in garden

A huge swarm of bees, creating a great black cloud, arrived in the garden this afternoon and settled in a flowering camellia tree. 

Local beekeepers Neil and Diane Braithwaite donned beekeeping clothes and used loppers to remove surrounding foliage so they could get at the swarm clustered around several different branches. The swarm was so large it was dragging the branches down.

Underneath the tree they positioned their swarm box - like a large tea chest with a removable lid - ready for them to drop the swarm into it as they cut the branches.

Here you can see one of the cut branches completely covered with bees just before it was dropped into the swarm box.

While taking photographs I'd got a little closer to the action than was probably wise and ended up with an enraged bee caught in my hair. Fortunately my neighbour was able to brush the bee away before I got stung.

The swarm box has holes in the side and once the queen was in the box we sat down with the beekeeper and his wife for a cup of coffee and waited for the airborne contingent of the swarm to fly into the box to join the queen bee.

After half an hour there were only a few stragglers still in the garden. The swarm box was loaded up and driven off to populate another Wairarapa hive.   

A most interesting and educational afternoon and the first swarm of the season for the beekeepers.

Mint fresh

A couple of photos taken on a busy day catching up with some overdue weeding

New green shoots of basil mint.

A lovely pink azalea that is flowering spectacularly this year.

Spring flowers

With high cloud cover the light is excellent for bringing out flower colours. I think this is Lesser Celandine.

Glossy, green angelica, speckled with plum blossom petals

Wattle entwined with akeake

Plum blossom

Plum blossom is a real harbinger of spring. With several big, old plum trees in the garden covered with blossom, I had to take some photos.

The trees are noisily covered with hundreds of bees which is great to see, given all the dire warnings about their demise through the varroa mite.

After five minutes in the garden with the camera, I'm quite pleased with the result.

Spring is on the way

There's a strong sense that spring is on the way, with sunny, warmer days, the sun rising earlier and setting later, and spring flowers emerging.

After a cold, miserable winter there's a natural urge to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. It must be making things much easier for farmers in the midst of lambing and calving.

Spring bulbs are starting to flower and tiny seedlings are starting to emerge all over the garden. 

The weeds are also growing enthusiastically, but that's another story.

If you're a keen gardener Dave's Garden is a great site.