Gardening with Gael - Just ask the experts

GREAT GROWERS: My friend Marg getting a few tips from plant expert and Waipu nursery owner Cess Adams.

“You know that man,” said Marg to me on our way to yoga, ”the one at the market with the quinces? Well, last Saturday he had lilacs.” 

“Lilacs?“ I replied. “Wow, real scented English lilacs?” 

“The very ones,“ said Marg. “Several colours and well grown plants.” 

So off to the market I go to talk to that man.

That man’s name is Cess Adams. He can be found at the market alongside our resident rosarian Vicky with his own tub of brightly coloured roses freshly picked from his garden/nursery, Adams’ Nursery at Waipu. Cess describes himself as a ‘gardeners nurseryman’ propagating a wide variety of interesting plants.

Cess’s horticultural experience is vast. He began his apprenticeship in cherry orchards.

“Which cherries grow here?” I wanted to know. 

“Sour cooking cherries grow best in the north,” he said.

And he has a number of varieties in his nursery and at least 80 varieties of plum, 100 varieties of apple, quinces… the list goes on. I mentioned the problems we were having with our omega plum. One side of it had suddenly died. 

“Oh,” he said, “they suddenly lose whole branches and the leaves will suddenly go like this,” and he showed me a sorry looking specimen. 

Sure enough ours has done the same. Box immediately chopped it out. The spot looks so empty that I was tempted to fill it with a red or black doris plum. 

“No,“ said Cess, “wait till autumn. Plant it then.” 

I agree. Planting now would be foolish.

For ten years Cess worked in a revegetation project in the MacKenzie Country sourcing native plants and grasses. He was one of the first to use grasses in landscaping. Rare and endemic species of native plants were collected from areas that had escaped over 100 years of grazing. The raising of the lake and  the testing of the hydroscheme drowned and wiped out  all remaining evidence of these plant communities. For 10 years they planted 100,00 a year, in total over a million plants. 

Sadly, DOC , unable to find any remaining parent plants identified them as Not Local and began to remove them. The land was returned to the farmers, overgrazed, the rabbit population went berserk and 10 years of work was eradicated. Cess managed to save some species but they struggle in the North.

His knowledge of roses is immense. He spent 10–15 years propagating roses for Tasman Bay roses and then went to Australia. 

I have a rose from my Mother’s garden that I would like to have propagated to give to my sisters and my daughter. Yes, Cess can do that. It will take at least a year. It is 5 years since she died and I would love to give  each family member a bush. He showed me what I needed to bring him in the way of bud wood and the best time is now and the next couple of months.

For years he has been propagating citrus all over New Zealand and runs his nursery in between. We are indeed fortunate to have such a knowledgeable plant man in our midst. Not only Cess but Vicky is also always ready to share all she knows. 

This week I cut my rose budwood and gave it to him. He is as confused as I am over which rose it could be but hopes that next year I will have some more.