Gardening with Gael - Early spring sees manuka in bloom

 

Above a handbasin in my house is a Waipu tile featuring two little green birds on a sprig of flowering manuka.

Among all the lovely tiles that were designed during the 80s that is one of my favourites. Manuka flowers, I think, are as beautiful in their way as the more lauded cherry blossoms. White, pink, red, single or double, the perfectly formed five-petalled flowers clustered along the stem among the short narrow leaves are an attractive sight in early spring. 

Manuka or leptospermum scoparium is most commonly known as teatree. Captain Cook was reputed to have used the leaves to make a tea-like drink. A prolific scrub-type tree it is often used in borders around the perimeters of subdivisions and as one of the first species to grow on regenerating land. It appears to be able to grow anywhere. Here on the coast the build-up of leaves beneath the bushes is a great nursery for other plants.

Our manuka is in flower already. The hillside of manuka and kanuka that Box planted beside the tea plantation has grown so fast that the trees along the border need trimming to keep them back off the tea plants. As I trimmed the edges I noticed that some of the manuka had formed a strong single trunk and was branching from about a metre. It occurred to me that flowering manuka would make splendid topiary.

I set about trimming back invading kanuka and manuka to make way for my specimens. 

Manuka is often trimmed to make neat tidy hedges. If trained from a young age the needle-like foliage creates a dense edge. There is no reason why they couldn’t be used as topiary as well. It will be a couple of years before my attempts have the appearance I am striving for. Then, this morning on my way to Whangarei I noticed a single trunked white flowering manuka which has clearly been trimmed into the traditional lollipop shape. On my way home I stopped and photographed it in the fading light (see picture). I think a trimmed manuka could rival roses in a formal setting. Hybridised forms have more prolific double flowers and the colours range from the pink and white found in the wild, to glowing red. I am envious of my friend Jill whose garden glows this time of year with one of the red varieties.

In the wild, older manuka can grow to be spindly and top heavy. When trimmed back they do not sprout new growth from their stems the way pseudopanax and coprosmas do. Instead they make marvelous firewood. 

I am now wishing that Box had just planted manuka instead of the kanuka as well. I’d love to see a completely white hillside and he is talking of having bees. The demand for manuka has increased enormously. I asked our local nurseryman Eden Worsfold from Rural Design about the increase in demand. He says planting manuka has become a fashionable trend which has been influenced by the manuka honey industry. In a way it has created a type of monoculture. He says one of the issues is the genetic selection of the higher Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) manuka seed/plants. Eco sourcing which protects the diversity has gone out the window. For example higher UMF sourced plants from Spirits Bay are now being planted in different regions, such as Gisborne. Trees from different regions in the past were significantly different. 

When I look again at my tile, I realise the little birds may be kakariki. They ingest the leaves and bark of manuka to rid themselves of parasites and by chewing it and mixing it with preen oil apply it to their feathers. Thank you Google for that last information. 

I am now wishing that Box had just planted manuka… I’d love to see a completely white hillside and he is talking of having bees.

Manuka is often trimmed to make neat tidy hedges. There is no reason why they couldn’t be used as topiary as well.

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