planting a legacy
One of New Zealand's most distinguished plantsmen reveals the projects closest to his heart.
denis Hughes of Blue Mountain Nurseries at Tapanui in the far south can’t recall a time when he wasn’t fascinated by plants. His father started the nursery in the early 1930s and by the time Denis was a toddler, he was growing a wide range of trees, shrubs and perennials on what had been a rough bit of scrubland when he bought it. Cut flowers were grown too and much of Denis’ earliest memories are of trips to Dunedin with his dad to drop off boxes of flowers at florist shops.
Denis’ father and grandmother lived in an old cottage on the nursery during the 1930s and it still stands, or rather leans, today behind the garden centre shop and nursery office. It is surrounded by self-sown cabbage trees and other natives, plus an Abutilon ‘Orange King’ which his grandmother had planted when they moved in. “Abutilons thrive down here,” says Denis. “This one only gets an occasional pruning in spring if there has been a heavy snowfall or two during the winter.”
He has a reputation as a breeder of special plants, so it might seem surprising that he’s so keen on abutilons, but it’s an indication of his wide range of interests. “They’re great because they’re almost always in flower, and they bring bellbirds, wax-eyes and tui into the garden.”
He’s probably most famous as the plant hybridiser who produced Azalea ‘Pavlova’, one of the deciduous varieties which has beautiful double white, scented flowers. It has been a bestseller for several decades. Denis is also proud of other deciduous azaleas of his making, including ‘Pink Chiffon’ and ‘Caroline de Rothschild’. They’re great cold climate plants with two seasons of interest, producing a “magic”, fiery autumn foliage display over several weeks.
Denis usually only breeds ornamental plants, but he says that occasionally, he “goes off the rails and gets involved with vegetables.” This occurred with the crimson flowered ‘Hughie’ broad beans he selected and re-selected, and which are now marketed through Egmont Seeds mail order (egmontseeds.co.nz). They are also available in garden centres.
He got interested in these when he saw pink-flowered broad beans on a trip to England and realised how well they would fit into both vegetable and flower gardens. When he found that the seeds of these broad beans couldn’t be imported into New Zealand, he contented himself with showing photos of them when asked to talk about his travels to garden clubs, mentioning in passing what a shame it was that these seemed out of reach.
One day a woman, who presumably had been in the audience at one of the talks, came into the garden centre, put a bag of broad bean seeds on the counter and said to Denis, “I think you’ll be interested in these,” then departed without further comment.
Not at all sure what these seeds would produce, he sowed them. Most had quite ordinary flowers, but he noticed they were dwarf, plus some had soft pink rather than white flowers, which made him think there could be something worth persevering with here. Seed was saved of the pink flowered beans and by the third generation the first scarlet flowered ones appeared. These were impressive so Denis set to and within a few years the crop was consistently scarlet and he had 30,000 seeds. Now the growing has been contracted to Egmont Seeds and last year they harvested a ton of seed.
Denis has gained quite a reputation as a breeder of special plants but his range of interests is wide.
Francoas (or bridal wreath) are old-fashioned perennials which Denis can remember his father including among the cut flowers he grew. They are the current breeding project and for the past five years he has been growing around 7000 seedlings a year, selecting for stronger colours and shorter plants. “I’m aiming for a salmon pink and a pure white,” he says, eagerly anticipating next summer’s flowering and the weeks of fun to follow selecting those with potential. “Sometimes you think you’ve got a winner, but you have to make sure the colour remains good over the life of the flower, so it’s vital to record its performance every day over many days.”
Ornamental trees are another big interest. Those with attractive bark are especially good for cold climate gardens as they provide such a strong winter feature. Denis enjoys Prunus serrula, a cherry tree with mahogany-coloured bark, which he recommends planting close to a path. “It’s so tactile that passers-by can’t resist rubbing the trunk, which polishes it nicely.” White trunked birches are very popular in the far south, especially Betula
utilis var. jacquemontii, famous for its snow white trunk, but Denis is more enamoured of Betula ermanii ‘Polar Bear’, which they produce at the nursery. “It has even better yellow autumn foliage and a pristine white trunk.”
He laments the downturn in planting of walnut trees – inevitable as gardens become smaller. “The trunks of old walnuts are outstanding – such a pale bark.” Denis reckons there are some “seriously good” walnut varieties around nowadays, with much bigger nuts enclosed in paper thin, easily cracked shells.
One of the most curious deciduous trees sold by Blue Mountain Nurseries is Decaisnea fargesii. It has butter yellow autumn foliage and sausage-like blue fruits which are rather extraordinary. If you want a real talking point in the garden, this small tree is an ideal choice.
A newcomer among flowering deciduous shrubs which is proving very popular with customers is Calycanthus ‘Hartlage Wine’. No wonder, for the magnolia-like flowers are striking: a rich, deep maroon shade and they open over a long period, mainly from early to mid summer, sometimes longer. “It’s much tougher than it looks, but it does need shelter from strong winds and a cool root run,” says Denis.
Cornus ‘Greenvale’ is a vigorous tree which has proved a winner. It originated as a seedling – a cross between Cornus capitata and Cornus kousa var. chinensis – in the garden of Mrs Paterson at Greenvale. It’s outstanding because of its late flowering – starting in mid November and continuing until almost Christmas – and the large size of the flowers which start out soft creamy-green, then turn to cream, and red before falling. It’s semi evergreen, and the leaves that are shed in autumn turn a lovely soft apricot colour.
Fragrant flowers are a joy in the cold winters. The nursery grows several different Daphne bholua varieties, all of them upright in habit to around 2m. These include ‘Jacqueline Postill’ which is deep pink and white, and ‘White Ice’ which is Denis’ favourite and is a feature of his own garden. It’s strategically positioned by the front door and flowers prolifically all winter and into spring. “The fragrance is amazing. On a calm day it’s noticeable five metres away and when there’s an easterly blowing the scent follows me right to the front gate.”
Lapageria stand out among the climbers Denis has grown over the years. He reckons they are good value, and easy to grow provided they have a cool root run and a shaded aspect, such as a south-facing wall. The beautiful bell-shaped flowers continue for a long time and in great numbers on a well established vine. But they have fallen out of favour in recent years as they can get overgrown and don’t like being cut back. The pink, red or white lapageria flowers are a feature on the garden centre counter during spring.
He sometimes uses them to distract the bored, young daughters of customers who are taking a while with their purchases. “The flowers have sweet nectar at the top of the bell, so I tell the girls that they are magic and tap one of them onto their hands,” Denis explains. “The nectar spills out, they taste it and are astonished. Then I have to repeat the performance for the mums too.”
Native plants have always been an interest. Pseudowintera ‘Red Leopard’ originated at the nursery and it remains a big seller. Its foliage colour varies considerably in different situations. To bring out the best blood red colour, it needs rich soil and a south-facing, but bright light (no overhanging trees) situation. In a north-facing, all day sun aspect, the colour isn’t nearly as good. “It makes a superb hedge too, even if it’s only trimmed every second year or so, and is pretty well disease-free, apart from a bit of scale when grown in poor conditions, but one of the oil sprays deals with that problem.”
Selecting good forms of kowhai (Sophora species) from around the country has been an absorbing hobby for some time now. Kowhais are regarded as spring flowering trees, but in Denis’s collection there are some in flower for nine months of the year. He has an amazing range of these iconic natives. Some are prostrate, groundcover types, others are columnar, plus there are some which weep and need staking. Foliage colours vary between the expected light and dark greens to bronze and silver.
Friends tell Denis if they see a particularly distinctive kowhai. One of these was at Seddon, in a farmer’s paddock, 200m from the road. Denis hopped the fence, and took cuttings from a tree which is a hybrid between Sophora prostrata and Sophora microphylla. It’s an ultra compact, multistemmed tree with very small divaricating stems and orange flowers.
Even more intriguing was a little group of kowhai at Cape Palliser, on the rugged southeast Wairarapa coastline. Another helpful contact, who had described these as the most interesting kowhai he’d ever seen, had given very precise instructions as to their location, but they still proved hard to find. Denis was about to give up when he realised the gnarly, prostrate growing shrubs – with trunks as thick as his thighs and 3m to 4m across that he was sitting on – were actually the kowhais. Their stems had been made bare by the leaf chewing kowhai moth at that time of year. Cuttings were taken home to Tapanui where they were grafted onto seedling kowhai rootstocks.
By far the most diverse range of naturally occurring kowhai in the country is in the Taihape area, a veritable hot spot of natural kowhai hybridisation. Denis has gathered propagation material from the Taihape region on several occasions and they make up a considerable part of his collection.
One of Denis’ concerns is that his kowhai collection could suffer losses if they should have a severe winter cold snap, so he has wisely distributed his plants to other enthusiasts. The biggest group is at Auckland Botanic Gardens where the mild climate should ensure their continuation.
As to future plans, it almost seems that vegetables really are taking over from the ornamentals. He has been working on red seeded broad beans (not to be confused with the red flowered broad beans). This project started with just one plant raised from seed gathered by a late gardening friend and found on the windowsill of his potting shed after he died. These should be on the market in two years, adding to the legacy of this true Kiwi plantsman.
How to visit: Blue Mountain Nurseries Garden Centre & Nursery is at 99 Bushyhill Street, Tapanui, Southland. Open Monday-Saturday. Online catalogue: bmn.co.nz. Plants are couriered nationwide.