I am interested that so many
inappropriate plants are still being sold to /bought by(and lost by, no
doubt) the community. The number of azaleas at a recent local
supermarket's spring plant sale was extraordinary. I don't know if
they withered and died, or were sold...in order to wither and
die!!. With water restrictions meaning gardens are crisping
quickly, I wonder that someone in the trade doesn't take the challenge of
coming up with some stylish ways to change planting preferences...but people
still love their delicate "pretties". I recently asked for a
local nurseryperson to hunt up some particular Medit type plants, and was
met with a rather perplexed look, the concept being lost on the person. It
would be wonderful if, in this area, these types of plants became more the
rules, rather than the exceptions. It will take time to make
changes. I wonder how
much we drive the nursery trade, and how much it drives us
??
I believe its equally both. Most commercial
nurseryman, such as myself, have had the experience of trying to introduce
new lines of appropriate material, only to be met by total blankness &
ending up composting the lot. I did it on first setting up here with a full
line of indigenous Pelargonium species. Theres some beautiful stuff there,
but just nil interest. Is this inadequate education & marketing ? I
don't know. I have to make a living from what I grow, so it always comes
back to giving the customers what they want. And that is plants that flower
12 months of the year, don't die down to leave holes in the arrangement,
look lush & full etc , etc .... Native plants aren't necessarily
as great as drought hardy gardens go either. Consider that Kirstenbosch
waters twice a week through summer. Even my softest beds go longer than
that. In the wild, the native species will mostly germinate with the first
autumn rains & quickly get a strong root system developed to carry it
through the following summer. Anything introduced to the garden in a bag
doesn't have the same developed roots extending deeply in proportion to the
top growth. You're then looking at a few years nursing of these plants until
they've struck the correct balance to be able to survive longer periods
without watering. Great if you've completely done one bed & not touched
it afterwards. But how many people do that ? Invariably theres holes, or
things dying & new plants being introduced which the original watering
regime must be carried on with.
One of the big
difficulties for me is the whole question of fashions with what sells one
year not moving the next & plants you've given up growing being back in
demand again. And then fashionable colours. Forget selling yellows for the
last few years. Pure white gardens are the big thing amongst the wealthy
now. England & the Chelsea flower show are still the benchmarks of how
things should be.
My garden serves as my
stock beds, so consequently reflect this type of look. Not what I'd choose.
I have a plot back in NZ which is 1 hectare of regenerating native forest by
the sea. Given my choice thats how I'd prefer my garden to be - pure
indigenous forest with a house in the middle of it, a clearing for a fire
break & the only cultivated land being herbs, vegies & fruit
trees.
Regards
Glenn Breayley. Ragnarok & Valhalla
Research.
POBox 26158, Hout Bay, 7872, Capetown, South Africa
Ph/Fax
SA 021 7904253 E-mail v*@iafrica.com
Wholesale
nurseryman & Tillandsia specialist wholesale & retail
grower.
