NZ plants in a USA greenhouse

16 years ago

I moved to the USA from NZ as a teenager and now that I'm buying my own home here I want to be able to bring a little of home to share with my children and husband (and to use as a much needed hideaway from the hectic pace of being a mom of four)...

I've been collecting NZ plants for the last few months, and have them potted up and stashed in my semi-heated greenhouse for the winter. Next spring I will be building an additional greenhouse specifically for a NZ garden and these plants (and more) will be planted directly into the ground.

My point? I'm trying to figure out what else to include in my little haven.

So far I have:

Dwarf Bottlebrush (a US cultivar but similar to the ones I remember on the beaches of home)

Feijoa

Kowhai

Tea Tree - Ruby Glow

Tea Tree - Dark Shadows

Tea Tree - Gaiety Girl

New Zealand Rock Lily

Phormium Maori Maiden

Phormium Pink Stripe

Eucalyptus Silver Drop

Several cultivars of hebe

There will be passionflower growing up one wall and kiwi on arbors outside the greenhouse.

I also plan to include freesias around a small pond in the greenhouse as a memorial to my grandpa who loved them and grew them everywhere around his NZ home.

I'm also considering growing my tulips in there too since I always grew them for contests for my grade school (and won). The squirrels are killing me with their appetite for the rembrandt tulips I've been trying to grow and I'm going to attempt to keep them safe by growing them indoors.

So what else should a New Zealand garden include? The temperature should never get below 35 farenheit next winter, but could be higher the following year after we add power and heating.

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Comments (2)

vetivert8
16 years ago
Suggest you also use the Pacific Northwest forum on Garden Web - and, if you get contacts from gardengal48 - treasure them. She's a professional gardener in your area. Knows her stuff greatly.

Are you inland or coastal where you are? Cool-ish with reasonable rainfall?

Think about ferns such as Blechnum and, if you can get them, orchids such as Earina and Dendrobium. Maybe Microtis and Thelymitra.

If it's drier in your haven - how about Libertia and Mazus radicans, Raoulia (the coastal one from round Wellington tolerates more damp than the 'vegetable sheep' variety), Clematis paniculata and other native Clematis, even Muehlenbeckia(!).

Some of the pittosporums and Coprosmas should be fine. They grow in Tongariro National Park within the snow range and are hardy. You'd have to be careful with drainage, though.

If you have any time to go up to Canada, into BC, take a trip to the Butchart gardens to see what will grow - even outdoors - in your area (give or take a few hundred miles!!)

You might also look at Cordyline indivisa rather than australis. It gows fairly high in the hills and appreciates plenty of mist and rain. Bigger leaves than the lowlands cabbage tree.

I have a vague memory that someone has introduced a dwarf version of toe toe. If you can't get it then have a look for some of the South Island tussock grasses - Chionochloa, along with Uncinia and the various carexes. They often blend well with driftwood, pebbles, and low Coprosma with tangly branches.

Hope that gives you a few notions.

Squirrels and bulbs - and mice and raccoons... Makes the possums seem like an asset! Big pots should work - with windbreak mesh tied over the top. Check out the bulbs forum, which is used to dealing with this 'critter problem'. There are lots of suggestions, and most are polite/practical.
wmc1
15 years ago
You could try and put chicken wire on top of tulip bulbs outside and the squirrels can't get them.
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NZ plants in a USA greenhouse

Comments (2)

vetivert8

wmc1

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