The path alongside the lake with nikau and cycads The unique garden and nursery that is Gardenza

Transcription

1 The path alongside the lake with nikau and cycads The unique garden and nursery that is Gardenza S CIENTIST, NURSERYMAN, plant enthusiast, garden designer, traveller and, more recently, a horticultural tutor is probably the best way to describe David Brundell, owner of Gardenza the nursery and garden at Glenbrook Beach on Auckland s West Coast a few kilometres from Waiuku. And a recent visit to his mainly subtropical plant nursery and large garden, yarning with him for a couple of hours, certainly reinforces this summation. Always interested in plants and of a scientific bent, David left Auckland Grammar to study at Massey University where he gained a Bachelor of Horticultural Science and subsequently a Master of Horticultural Science degree with his thesis on the flowering physiology of kiwifruit. After what David describes as a Rolls Royce education with excellent lecturers and content, he gained a position with MAF, undertaking extensive research on greenhouse tomato and other vegetable crops for Auckland growers. During that time research policies changed focus towards assisting the export sector so David accordingly turned his attention to a number of ornamental and floriculture crops. These included cymbidium orchids, sandersonia, gloriosa and tuberose. As well, a number of flo- riculture crops were trialled for acceptance into the Japanese market. In the early 80s, David, with his cousin, Alastair Thomson, moved into the private sector to develop the export potential of sandersonia and zantedeschia tubers. They set up initially on David s property then the following season acquired 4ha on the neighbouring property where they constructed greenhouses and tunnel houses to grow-on tissue-cultured zantedeschia and seed-raised sandersonia for the international tuber markets. David also periodically spent time in Kashmir, India, where he was a technical consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat assisting an aid project to develop floriculture in that troubled region. Thousands of lily bulbs, gladiolus corms and rooted carnation cuttings were initially imported from Europe and trial plots were established in the famous Shalimar gardens overlooking Lake Dal and constructed by the Mughal emperors in the 15th century. It was an amazing and rewarding experience, says David. During this time, David began developing a small but productive kiwifruit orchard on 4 hectares of his own 8 hectare property. The orchard is still producing but today, David is working on the gradual replanting of new kiwifruit varieties which are more in demand than the old Hayward variety. David says, The world is keen to evaluate new varieties. Demand for the yellow-fleshed varieties appears strong and the profitability of Hayward is marginal at best. About 15 years ago, with his kiwifruit orchard in and producing, David turned his attention to developing a large garden on the rest of the property. Although his original intention had been to plant only natives in his garden and he had already begun doing so, he had for several years nursed a desire to do something with exotic ornamental subtropicals. He had already amassed a large 22 COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE, JUNE/JULY 2011

2 It s not just the plants which impress visitors to Gardenza. It s the lakes, islands, undulating hillocks or mounds and a volcanic mountain, more Mt Taranaki than Rangitoto and yet to be given a name - all the result of some massive earthworks being carried out. Below: Palm species and aroids make a fine foliage display in this grouping near the house at Gardenza Above right: this shot of early work gives an idea of the scale of earthworks needed to create the as yet unnamed mountain at lakeside plant collection explaining, MAF was more liberal in those days! From California in the mid-80s he obtained a fine collection of nerines. He also made several collecting trips to Chile after hearing about that country s flora at a bulb conference in California. The world s best clivia? In fact, it was David s interest in nerines that led him to Europe in 1986 where he met English statesman and horticulturist Sir Peter Smithers, who had retired to his home in Vico Morcote in Switzerland where he had created a unique naturalised garden overlooking Lake Lugano. As an aside, David says, Peter was a personal friend of writer Ian Fleming and it is acknowledged that he incorporated aspects of Sir Peter in his character, James Bond. Certainly, Sir Peter s wife Lady Smithers possessed a gold typewriter which was used in the film, Goldfinger. Anyway, Sir Peter gave me an offset of one of his best clivia which became named as Vico Yellow. He d also sent one to Dr Shuchi Hirao in Japan and a photograph of the clivia eventually appeared on the cover of the Japanese Journal of Horticulture with the caption the world s best yellow clivia. I realised then I had done nothing with this iconic clivia. Seeing the Freaky light throws reflections into the water as visitors make their way through the woodland planting beside the lake picture gave me the impetus to get going and to really put the effort into breeding from it. Most clivia are orange and the yellow is a mutation of the red and is a recessive so breeding yellow varieties could be challenging. I pollinated Vico Yellow with an- other yellow hybrid to find the progeny showed strong plant vigour and broad leaves which produced gigantic infloresences and flowers with wide overlapping reflexed petals. Vico Yellow is scented and this characteristic is found in the progeny. COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE, JUNE/JULY

3 Heaven Scent, Lunar Impact, Full Moon and Mighty Sun are some of David s named selections. The nursery The 8ha Gardenza Nursery is situated in what is predominantly a farming and orcharding area but in recent years it has seen the spread of lifestyle blocks and one or two nurseries. David says frankly that the nursery is small but he is happy to have something he can maintain within manageable proportions. Well-organised, it does not require a large staff and presently there are only two very conscientious nursery workers - HITO trainee, Shane Moka (See Feb/Mar issue) and Miriam White who has her Diploma in Landscape Design and is often asked to assist people with their own garden designs. Shane and Miriam carry out virtually all the nursery tasks but also spend time planting in and maintaining the garden and David praises both highly. We are a small tight team but it s working well. David emphasises good communication as an important factor in running the nursery even with a small staff. The nursery itself comprises a 15sq m propagation house, 150sq metre shadehouse and a 500sq m packing shed. Gardenza s catchcry is Unusual bulbous plants for woodland and subtropical gardens. I ve specialised in these ornamental subtropical bulbs believing there was a niche market for more unusual plants. And clearly, David s favourite plant is clivia, the plant which has brought him wide recognition. David Brundell, left, with Miriam White and Shane Moka These take up a good half of the shadehouse. And when they flower they make a great sight with the bonus of a distinct frangipani fragrance. One plant David says will sell, even if it s not in flower, is a rare Hymenocallis festalis hybrid commonly known as the Sacred Lily of the Incas. Flowering in mid-summer the pure white flowers are both delicately intricate in design and pleasantly scented. Another reason for their saleability is that David is the only nurseryman growing them. Among David s other favourite plants are scadoxus species from South Africa, especially S. Multiflorus spp katherinae, the Fireball Lily, which flowers in Summer, and S. puniceus Alba, the white mutation of the normally orange paintbrush lily which flowers in Winter. Among the other plants David grows and enjoys are various species of crinum, hippeastrums (amaryllis), heliconia, and hamaenthus. Hamaenthus coccineus in flower in the Autumn is absolutely spectacular with its naked scarlet flowers that give way to gigantic prostrate blue-green leaves. I ve completely sold out of them. In Spring, our biggest seller is Hippeastrum papilo, the Butterfly Amaryllis, which has very attractive deep burgundy and lime-green flowers. Heliconias also move well once you have explained they re not the banned variety of ginger. I m also into palms, especially the nikau and have groves in the garden originating from Little Barrier, Norfolk Island and the Kerma- Clivia are the dominant plant in the shadehouse at Gardenza along with unusual bulbous plants for woodland and subtropical gardens 24 COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE, JUNE/JULY 2011

4 Kiwifruit plants grow quickly when grown vertically, says David dec Islands which all have great forms. Propagation material comes predominantly from the garden s own plants. In turn, the nursery supplies plants for this ever-expanding garden and also for visitors to Gardenza or those who see his plants at various markets and home shows. David explains that he produces his plants for sale in 17-25cm pots with prices ranging from $15 to $30. These grades work well considering we re in recessionary times although my market for these kinds of plants is also proportionately small. Emphasis is placed on his comprehensive website co.nz and Friends of Gardenza (FOG) newsletter, both of which do much of David s promotional and informational work. In each newsletter a particular plant is highlighted along with various tips and upcoming events. David is toying with Facebook as another way of getting his garden and plants out there. It s immediate. For example, I could send out a blog with an image when the blood lilies are in flower along with special offers, he says. Above left: Hippeastrum papilio makes a great show Left: Hamaenthus coccineus in flower in the Autumn is absolutely spectacular with its naked scarlet flowers that give way to gigantic prostrate bluegreen leaves Above: a rare Hymenocallis festalis, Peruvian daffodil, commonly known as the Sacred Lily of the Incas. Flowering in mid-summer the pure white flowers are both delicately intricate in design and pleasantly scented. Above right: Gardenza s iconic clivia, Vico Yellow The garden With David, it s the garden rather than the nursery which dominates the conversation. It s clearly something he loves and is an ongoing task with projects almost continuously in progress and more in mind for the future. The garden itself is a great mix of subtropical, native and woodland specimens. I m a horticultural technocrat by training, not an artist but I ve been lucky to have such a big area to develop and plant. I enjoy mixing with various foliages with subtropical colour from various countries if doing so achieves a stunning effect. Some examples are a dense grove close to the house comprising various aroids, nikau and banana; a nikau underplanted with pink-purple; a bright red heliconia against green foliage and the orange spray of maturing Chamaedorea woodsoniana seed. But it s not just the plants which impress visitors to Gardenza. It s the lakes, islands, undulating hillocks or mounds and a volcanic mountain, more Mt Taranaki than Rangitoto and yet to be given a name - all the result of some massive earthworks being carried out. Each stride along the paths provides changes of view and tremendous vistas across the larger of the lakes to the huge array of plants David has planted in the last 20 years. Fishtail palms, Ficus dammaropsis, various nikau, crinum, gazania, calla, hedychium, heliconia, scadoxus, hamaenthus, ophiopogon, musa, numerous taro the list goes on and there is little question that the combinations work well. Continued overleaf COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE, JUNE/JULY

5 Busloads from garden clubs and societies descend on Gardenza through the year to view the gardens and buy plants. These enthusiasts are from the Waitakere Garden Club Of course, each season brings its own palette of colour. David says he s intent on improving the botanical content of the garden although there seems to be plenty of this already. And right now I m working on getting more colour coming through in Autumn. During the year, David hosts busloads of garden clubs and societies and other groups like Probus and IHC taking them through the garden and to the nursery where they can make their purchases of plants they have seen and admired. One of the high points of his year is Gardenza s Spring Festival and Clivia Pageant which is in early October usually over three weekends. It s a time when the clivia are out and the lakes are crystal clear a very festive occasion. Wine, coffee and tea is available and many people come and make a picnic of it. A contribution to the gardening world The garden is also one in the Heroic Gardens which are open for display each March. It s my contribution to the gardening world. After all, I ve had some wonderful help from other people over the years and it s nice to be able to share some of the special plants I ve gathered and bred. The organisers were keen for it to be included and it does attract a lot of people, says David. For David, education and the ac- quiring of knowledge is a lifelong process and he is an active member of many plant clubs and societies, both locally and internationally. And he is now imparting knowledge to others, tutoring Level 2 and Level 4 Certificate of Horticulture for the Skills Update Training Institute, an accredited private provider in Auckland. As a bonus the innovative distance-learning programme is without course fees. The last intake of 20 adult students ranged in age from their late 20s through to 50s. It s very interesting and a new challenge. And it s a great opportunity for motivated people to gain a useful qualification. To visit Gardenza it is necessary to make an appointment. Ph or visit for more details. Spring is a festive season at Gardenza, the clivia are out and the lakes are crystal clear 26 COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE, JUNE/JULY 2011