Maramataka
Ohua
A favourable day for planting and being in your māra; come together as whānau, assess what you have been doing and plan for what needs to be done. A time to reflect and connect, take your time before the high energy marama returns.
Me matua mōhio! - Be knowing.
Selecting Plants
The first step for good plant selection is know the area you will be working with, when a plant likes where it is then there is less work involved in keeping it happy. A good foundation is where a good māra should always start; not just get plants because they look good... This will be a challenge for me moving forward, whenever I go to Mitre 10, Bunnings or even the warehouse i will scour the plant sections and choose willy nilly on what is there and what looks appealing to my eye and I guess my mood for the day....
My new plant tip I will have to start living by is "look at the garden or site first and match the plant to the conditions you find". Living by this concept should mean any māra I plant should be easy to manage and relatively self sustaining.
My dream that has become more apparent lately is to have a māra of our native plants, I was envisioning pōhutukawa, kōwhai, kawakawa, ferns, harakeke, tī kouka; a beautiful māra that I could literally work with, learn and create raranga (weaving) and rōngoa (medicinal) and obviously kai. Kawakawa is the big one that I want in my backyard, this is such a wonder plant you can drink it, soak in it, chew it and make healing balms from; the thing is it is not as abundant down here as it was when we lived in Pōneke, I don't want to come to terms with the fact that it won't grow here... Our days are hot and the location I am currently at is a sun trap and sheltered from the wind - and we have missed the snow all winter including the recent cold front that has just stormed the south. So surely I can have kawakawa grow here, its grows in one spot in Ōtepoti and if it can grow there it can grow here surely...
Exposure to sunlight and shade and the direction your site faces (aspect) are all crucial in plant selection.
- South facing sites rarely receive direct sunlight and are ideal for shade-loving plants
- North facing sites receive sun all day long and are the most ideal exposure for flowering plants
- East facing sites experience morning sun while temperatures are still cool and damp
- West facing sites receive the hot afternoon sun – a spot ideal for full sun, and heat resistant plants.
Update on W's plants
We planted, well W planted another three New World Little Gardens over the weekend, adding spinach, kale and borage to W's growing collection. We repotted her basil and red cabbages too.
I am so happy that this promotion is taking place alongside my horticulture studies, these little kits are definitely sparking a green thumb in this little one.
We have also added some more sunflowers and bought to our deck pots, bought some established swan plants and are attempting some tricky seeds in W's propagation kit we found at The Warehouse.
Homework...
A task for this module today is to research the mighty nīkau, another beautiful rākau I would pass on the daily while wandering around our neighbourhood in Pōneke... Would it/does it grow here in Te Wai Pounamu..?
Where does the nīkau grow?
From North Cape to about the latitude of Akaroa
What does the nīkau need to thrive?
• Nikau need a frost-free position that is preferably damp and do best in a subtropical climate.
• They are slow-growing, taking about 100 years to reach a maximum height of 10-15m.
• In the first year after planting, water, water and water again.
• They are the perfect trees for small gardens.
Could the nīkau successfully grow here?
I believe with our days getting warmer and winters being milder nīkau could be successful in my area, we have plenty of palms which should prove that we could be planting nīkau alongside them.
Another task was determining the USDA zone of my area and if a chosen plant I am interested in would grow here.
The Winter minimum temperature for my area is -1.1°C to 1.7°C which puts us in USDA zone 10a.
As mentioned, the plant I am really interested in growing is kawakawa (Piper excelsum).
I know that Kawakawa grows in a couple of areas in Ōtepoti, have now learned there is a patch in Stewart Island and it is common from Ōtautahi and further north from there.
I haven't been able to find a specific zone for ideal Kawakawa conditions however, I have found these specifications:
- Temperature: Frost tender
- Light: Low Medium
- Moisture: Medium
- Soil: Medium
- Wind tolerance: Average
- Coastal tolerance: High
Seeing that kawakawa grows in Banks Peninsula (USDA 9a), Stewart Island (USDA 9b), Dunedin (USDA 10b) and Okarito (USDA 10a) I should be able to successfully grow or at least attempt to grow kawakawa here in a sheltered, warm, moist and well draining area. The success of the plant doesn't seem to be affected by latitude and seems to be tolerant of the zone I am currently in.
The next task was being conscious of creating a space for our native birds.
I am definitely keen to encourage more native birds to our space, in Pōneke we were constantly visited by tui and I miss hearing their song throughout the day. I would love to have more visit me here.
In Pōneke, the tui were obsessed with our large and blooming bottlebrush with at least 3 snacking away everyday during the warmer months. Obviously I would want to encourage our native birds to our māra through native plants, I would be looking at a garden with kōwhai, pōhutukawa, practically every species I mentioned earlier and more. Before my plants become established, there is always a nectar feeder I could pick up from the local Mitre 10...
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