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YOUR GARDENING QUESTIONS THIS MONTH
Your questions answered.
QFEELING SEEDY I’d like to pick fresh herbs for cooking but my plants quickly flower and then die off. Is it possible to stop herbs going to seed? ANGELA BRACKEN, AUCKLAND
AMany herbs with soft green leaves such as basil, coriander, chervil and dill are annuals or biennials. They’re not long-lived plants – two to three months or even less over summer is normal. They’ll rush to flower and set seed (known as bolting) in hot weather or if the soil dries out. Watering, harvesting and pinching out the growing tips will slow bolting but won’t hold it off indefinitely.
Over spring and summer sow new batches of seed every six to eight weeks so there are new plants coming on. Coriander in particular is best grown from seed as transplanted seedlings are notorious for bolting. Parsley is a biennial but can flower in its first year. Cutting out the flower stalks can keep a plant going a bit longer but get some replacements in quickly to be ready when the old plants call it quits.
All is not lost even if your herbs do rush into bloom. The flowers are pretty and they’re very attractive to bees and other pollinating insects. Some herb seeds such as coriander and dill seed are useful for cooking too. Allow a few plants to flower so you can save seeds to plant and to eat.
Perennial herbs – thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, oregano and mint for example – also flower but that doesn’t spell the end to the life of the plants. Just enjoy the flowers (as will the bees), then trim plants back to keep them compact and encourage fresh growth.
Chives are related to onions and are very easy to grow from seed. They’ll bulk up into a clump of slim bulbs that flower every year. The flowers have a light oniony flavour and look very pretty in a salad. Barbara Smith
QWARTS AND ALL Could these strange growths on my Japanese sasanqua camellia be seedpods? The other seed pods are normal. There are seedlings under the tree. Will their flowers be exactly the same as the parent tree? FAYE MOORHOUSE, KATIKATI
ANZ Camellia Society president Pat Flockhart identified the growths as leaf galls – not seedpods.
Galls occur when tissue cells swell abnormally into lumpy growths similar to the way warts occur on animals. Galls can be caused by various things: climatic changes, fungal or viral infections, damage by other plants, insects or mites. Just cut them off. The overall health of the tree won’t be affected.
Camellias don’t come true from seed so the seedlings below the tree won’t necessarily be the same as the parent. To find out, you’ll need to be patient. It can take five to seven years for a seedling to flower.
There’s a chance that you may end up with a flower that is distinctly different. This is how new cultivars are created.
Hybridisers deliberately choose parent plants with specific characteristics – growth habit, disease resistance and size as well as flower colour and form – in order to create new cultivars. Out of thousands of crosses there might be one desirable, marketable new camellia. There’s no guarantee you’ll have a showstopper among your seedlings but it would be fun to see.
Visit nzcamelliasociety.co.nz for growing tips and to find a Camellia Society branch in your area. Barbara Smith
QMYSTERY ROSE Our elderly neighbour told us nearly 30 years ago that this rose was growing in our garden when she moved into the area in 1930. It blooms for about six weeks in midspring. Can you help with a name? ISLA TENBETH, DUNEDIN
ARose grower and collector Georgina Campbell thinks this rose is ‘Souvenir de Mme Léonie Viennot’. It is a very beautiful and healthy rose.
If grown against a fence or frame it can be encouraged to climb as well but it’s lovely as a free-forming true shrub. Georgina loves the colours within the flowers and the arching growth habit.
In her garden, Cheops Garden near Hastings, Georgina has a growing collection of close to 1500 varieties of heritage and modern roses – many collected from old gardens around New Zealand. A special feature is the collection of Sam McGredy roses which she continues to hunt for.
Georgina is the Convenor for Heritage Roses Hawke’s Bay where the group have fun being “rose hunters”, with the hope of old and interesting roses turning up within the community. Search for Hawke’s Bay Rose Hunters on Facebook to see what they are up to.
Often these roses have passed down through families and are very healthy with minimum care including low water requirements, so are perfect roses for others to grow and enjoy into the future.
Cheops Garden is open to groups by appointment and for community fundraisers. For details and bookings email georgec@nowmail.co.nz. Barbara Smith