Learning, laughing and walking
BY GLYN CHURCH
Relevant offers
Gardening & Lifestyle
One of the real treats since coming to Woodleigh 25 years ago is to spend an occasional afternoon walking round Pukeiti with Graham Smith.
I'm sure most of you know that Graham was the director of Pukeiti for nearly 40 years and only retired two years ago. He's an absolute fund of knowledge about rhododendrons, and is one of the world's top experts on the genus. But he's not just a rhodo man, he knows oodles about other plants as well. He has a mind-boggling knowledge of a huge range of plants, everything from herbaceous to natives, from China to America and everywhere in between. Added to which, he's a hell of a nice guy. There's always lots of laughs when you're with Graham because he's got a wicked sense of humour.
Anyway, the reason for our afternoon walk was to look at the big leaf rhododendrons. They are pretty mind-boggling too. Not many of us appreciate it, but the collection of "big leafs" at Pukeiti is probably the best in the world, and here it is, just up the road from us. What's more, you can see it for free now the TRC has taken over the garden.
I should explain what the big leafs are. Most rhododendrons have a leaf as big as your thumb, or maybe two or three fingers, but these have leaves as long as your forearm. Some of them are simply immense, and if we could grow them at home, I'm sure we all would. But that's the problem. These particular rhododendrons need a cool, moist climate with regular rainfall, and not too hot in the summer. This rules out most of the world, really, so the great collections of these enormous plants are only found on the west coast of Britain, especially west Scotland, north- west coast of America, and here on the west coast of New Zealand.
When I say enormous, it's not just the leaves that are big, the plants are too. Some are as big as a bach, with flowers the size of a soccer ball.
The variety called Pukeiti, with its huge pink blooms, is in flower right now. In fact, quite a few of them are because they tend to flower early in the season. Consequently, most people miss them because they visit Pukeiti in the main season of October and November.
Here is how to get to them: Go straight down the main drive, veer right past the Lodge, straight ahead at the end of the tarmac, curve round to the right with the rockery on your right and down the hill. You'll see a small pond to your left, go up the hill and take the second left into the Pettison Walk and step over the Hauler log trench. You'll see some big leaf rhododendrons immediately on your right. The one with peaches and cream flowers is called Jack Anderson. This is a Pukeiti hybrid created by Graham and named after one of the Trust's stalwarts.
In fact, this rhododendron appeared on a series of stamps by Pete's Post back in 2004 using photographs taken by Pat Greenfield. Some of the other big leafs appeared in the same series. We'll see some of these just a little further along, past a big plant called Geoff Broker on your right. Then right there is Rh. sinogrande,which appeared on the $2 stamp. These come from China and their name translates as China big. They are also big, with fabulous shiny leaves and really do look good enough to eat. You can see the stamps at http:/ /www.petespost.com/ promotions-rhodos.htm
Walk on down until you see a little shelter on your left. To the right of this is a rhododendron with an abundance of peachy flowers. This is another of Graham's hybrids but as yet is unnamed. Just behind it is an interesting plant, an upright Daphne bhohlua from Nepal. The flowers are small but the scent is heavenly. It's the perfect plant to grow with the rhodos because it also comes from the Himalayas. All the big leafs are from the Himalayas, from Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam through to western China.
Aim to the right and walk down the hill and you will see a ponga fence on your left-hand side. Right behind it is the big Pukeiti rhododendron. This plant was grown from seed sent by an eccentric plant collector, Frank Kingdon Ward, back in the early 1950s. If you look right to the back you will see a strong purple- pink rhododendron, Rh. magnificum. Then to your left is a very handsome leaf plant with deep-rose, purple flowers. This is Gordon Collier, a name familiar to gardeners in New Zealand, and a long-term friend to Pukeiti.
Walk on a bit further, take a left at the Maxwell Walk and left again at the Hudson Walk. Wherever you look, left and right, there's another huge leaf rhodo lurking in the bushes like some vegetable dinosaur. And then, before you know it, you'll find yourself back where you started by the Hauler trench.
I thought we'd finished our tour but Graham had a few surprises in store. We walked straight across to the Larcom Walk. Just there on the right is a group of Rh. spinuliferum in flower. The flowers are very strange, almost like the cigarette plant, with thin red tubular flowers pointing skyward. This unusual flower was Rose Hollard's favourite rhododendron. Perhaps she was trying to be non-partisan when there were rhodos named after her husband and both her sons. Then just a few steps past the spinuliferums, there's a gravel path to your left. Immediately on the left are two big leafs in flower - Rh. macabeanum collected in north-eastern India by Jeremy Thompson.
Then more to the right is a fabulous glossy leaf rhodo. This was a double treat for me, not only is it very exciting to look at with its huge polished leaves but it turns out it's a new species. A man called Allan Clark sent the seed from Vietnam about 20 years ago, and here's one of the resulting plants. It's got a really catchy name, Rh. suoilenhense. I can't even say it, and no-one's going to know if I've spelt it correctly.
We had one more treat in store before walking back to the gatehouse. Just a short distance along the Larcom Walk is an upright rhododendron with bright red flowers. This is another new species, Rh. subansiriensis, named after a river and extremely rare. It comes from Assam. Try to look beyond the glorious red flowers to admire the smooth, pinky-grey trunks.
When I looked at my watch when we got back to the car park I realised we'd been gone three- and-a-half hours. Time just flies by when you're talking plants. I'm sure most people could do this walk in less than an hour but we were too busy yacking and swapping stories about this, that and the other plant.
Thanks, Graham, for a wonderful afternoon. Now all I need is for you to translate my pages and pages of semi-legible notes. What does "can have nil and a half and fully woolly all on the same plant" mean, please?
- © Fairfax NZ News
