Reader Letters – Issue #292

Nameless delight

I have had this rose (pictured left) in my garden for many years. It is completely free of thorns, and each branch is covered with blooms lasting for weeks. The blooms don’t lose their petals – when they turn brown I just remove them from the stems.

This beautiful rose delights visitors and yes, they all want cuttings, which I gladly give. It is also almost disease-free and I have not seen it elsewhere.

It flowers from spring to autumn like other roses and the largest bloom is about 7-8cm across. The petal edges turn pink after the second or third week and most blooms stay tightly cupped.

Your magazine is so informative. Since I started gardening five years ago I’ve learned so much from it. I was never interested in planting vegetables but now I enjoy it.

Thank you so much. I look forward to each issue. Good on you, team. Keep it up.

Grace Hooper, Manurewa.

•  Can any reader identify this rose? It has got us beat. – Editor

Frame up

I always read the letters page and love to pick up tips to help me in my new garden.

With this in mind, I thought you would like to see my frame for a climber.

It’s made of two ready-made cloches bought from Mitre 10. They are stapled one above the other around the upright post of the pergola to make a firm, rigid framework for my new rose.

Sue Cowley, Darfield.

Enduring hibiscus

About 27 years ago, my late wife was out on her lunch break when she saw a potted hibiscus for sale in a garden centre. She bought it and returned to work where she met up with our parks and reserves superintendent. He told my wife that it was just a cutting and it wouldn’t grow.

How wrong he was. That hibiscus bloomed in its first year. Some years later we moved home and took our lovely hibiscus with us. Then we shifted it again into a more sheltered spot facing north.

Now, after 27 years, it is still covered with huge golden blooms the size of a side-plate. I have to prune it every year and each year it gives me great pleasure. It is the jewel of my garden. Needless to say I love my garden, as do my neighbours and many passers-by.

S R Heywood, Hastings.

Potman’s double duty

The flowerpot man that 
featured in the recent article on making a gift for Mother’s Day, is easy to make from old terracotta pots. Wire and PVA outdoor glue will hold the heavier pots in place. You don’t need the base plate or special shoes; just invert a larger pot for the body and smaller pots for the feet.

My potman is not only a garden feature but also a snail-catcher. He’s tilted slightly with snail bait underneath and by night he’s lit up by the garden light beside him.

Anne Cresswell, Palmerston North.

Sage words

Just a note to say you have solved a mystery in Issue 289. I have been in my unit five-and-a-half years and not known what this shrub was called. I now find, from your coverage, it is Bethel sage. It flowers for months and I love its bright pink colour.

Congratulations on such a useful and helpful magazine.

Clarice Porter, Lower Hutt.

Ringing applause

Many thanks for the Master haus tree ring received recently from the draw in Issue 287. I planted a small grapefruit tree 18 months ago and it was getting knocked about by the mower. The tree ring will provide much-needed protection as well as keeping the base clear of weeds.

Susan Ross, Auckland.

Great greenhouse

Thanks so much for running the greenhouse competition in Issue 286. I have attached some pictures of Josh and Amy George with the new Winter Gardenz greenhouse the family won. They are so excited and can’t wait to grow and harvest their veggies.

Liz George, Parakai.

Hot monster

Five years ago I bought what I thought was an eggplant from the Whangarei Growers Market. The plant grew and developed fruit but these were a different shape from an eggplant’s. After a little investigation (the fruit turned red and I tasted it), I found out I’d bought a chilli known as a rocoto.

I’d planted it in my 2m glasshouse which has a roof, back, and glass on one side, allowing plenty of aeration.

My chilli plant loved this environment and grew the height and length of the glasshouse. It is now sprouting through the vent and taking over the adjacent shadehouse. It’s so huge I call it my ‘Chilli Triffid’.

We’ve picked about 40kg of chillies this year and are waiting for the next crop shortly.

My neighbour’s little boy kicked his ball over the fence and the neighbour went to retrieve it. He saw the chillies and, mistaking them for capsicums, 
picked a few and made soup with them. They had 
to tip the soup out, it was so hot. It was my Chilli Triffid’s revenge. He hasn’t jumped the fence to pinch chillies again.

People love my chillies and are amazed at the plant’s size. I make homemade preserves with them and hot chilli chutney.

Now the challenge is to see how tall the plant will grow, how far it will spread and how long it will live.

Mandy Thorburn, Whangarei Heads.

• Your rocoto, (Capsicum pubescens) is common in Peru and Bolivia. Rocoto pods have thick walls, like a bell pepper, but are quite hot. This pepper is a species – most other chilli peppers are hybrids from Capsicum annuum. Although most rocotos are red, there is also a yellow type (called manzano in Mexico) and an orange variety. Rocotos vary, coming about halfway up the scale – known as Scoville heat units – that rates chillies’ hotness. – Editor.