I have been lucky enough to be gifted some 120 year old heirloom raspberry canes from the beautiful garden and homestead of Gwavas. This historic homestead is located in Central Hawkes Bay, New Zealand and gives a wonderful insight into some of New Zealand's history. Read more about the garden, the owners and the house here
http://www.gwavasgarden.co.nz/.
I shared a wonderful winter Hawkes Bay day, with my boys driving out to the homestead to see Stu and Phyllida, the owners. After a tour around the garden we went to dig out these treasured canes. I have been given custody of two varieties.
Semper Fidelis was planted in the garden in the 1980's. Its Latin name means 'Always faithful'. It is a late fruiter and prized for jam making (though knowing my lot, not many raspberries will make it in to the house!). This variety grows to 10 feet and has large berries and small seeds.
The other variety is called
Lloyd George, so named after the British Prime Minister during the First World War. This variety was planted at Gwavas just after the Great War.
The Gwavas garden boosts a large berry cage to keep out birds and each plant has a tall wooden stake to use for staking up each plant during the fruiting season. Stu is in charge of the garden and you can read his blog here.
http://www.gwavasgarden.blogspot.com/
I have planted the dormant canes in soil mixed with rich compost and have fixed steel warratahs ( posts) next to each plant for support. Now all I need to do is devise a way to keep the birds (and kids) off my summer fruit. Any ideas will be gladly received.
It is wonderful to have some New Zealand history growing in my garden.
Hi Janet, will you have any of the canes for sale as I would love even one plant? Previously I have grown raspberries organically for sale and we added water containers at the top of each post for the birds to drink from. In theory, the birds are primarily after the moisture from the fruit and supplying them with fresh water is supposed to reduce bird damage to the fruit. I always found there were plenty of berries for everyone and froze any damaged fruit to use in smoothies and baking or for jam. Thank you so much for your great newsletter. Regards Anne Wilson-Hunt
ReplyDeleteHi Anne, Thank you for your post. Yes I plan to get some cuttings going once the plants are established. Keep an eye on the Green Community Forum, on the seed and cutting giveaway thread. Thanks for that great idea about the birds. Could I post that on the Community forum for other people to see. Please contact me info@greenurbanliving.co.nz to let me know. Many thanks , Janet
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