A nursery in British Columbia and Trilliums from seed

[maggiepie]

Grahame, would you like to come to New Brunswick and set up a stand somewhere in Spring?

 

[Grahame Ware]

Helen: New Brunswick? That's a whole lotta overhead for this Pop op.

Did have a lubberly day at the beach with my 5 month puppy dog girl. The prettiest black lab I've ever seen but built like a brick outhouse.
Found some huge cedar posts 8" diameter and 10' long and relatively dry. Also a pressure-treated 6" x 6" post that was 5' long and a lovely 2" x 8" pressure-treated board that was 8' long.

Everybody knows that my 1 ton Dodge van is really a beach taxi for dogs both long since gone and for the new dog. They can get wet and dirty as hell and I've usher them into the back.

It does double however as a pretty good thing for beachcombing- for both me and my new beachcombing buddy.

Yah, really great day today and its coming your way!

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for the link Maggi. It just shows how like a real conversation among friends, the Forum is. We start off on one subject but are soon onto something else then something else agaoin. I don't know how you manage to keep up with us all.

[Lesley Cox]

I don't think I could handle an Oz summer again. Maybe Tassie.
NZ might be ok in parts.

Yep, NZ IS OK is parts. Not Auckland (though Anthony may disagree) because it rains every day and is very humid, no good for alpines, all the east coast is drought prone in these times of global warming but we still have a good climate for alpines, rhodos and the like and Central Otago if you want to grow oncos and junos to perfection - along with cherries, peaches, apricots and all the summer fruits and berries. Apples and pears too. Tell me when you're coming, I'll pick you up at the airport (probably Chch.)

[maggiepie]

Lesley, I would come just for the fruit!!!

[Lesley Cox]

And you'd be very welcome Helen. I'm living on stone fruit pro tem, with predictable results.

[maggiepie]

Lesley, have been looking at houses for sale around Dunedin.
Where are the rural areas?

Stone fruit is the best.
I can eat a kilo of cherries in a day 
Are cherries considered stone fruit?
Peaches, nectarines, plums, oh yummm.
I really miss blood plums.

[fermi de Sousa]

And you'd be very welcome Helen. I'm living on stone fruit pro tem, with predictable results.

Things have gone pear-shaped?
 
Helen,
you don't have to live where summer is seven months long - especially not in NSW this year! But Tassie would be a better option if you could stand not being able to order anything you like out of the seed/bulb catalogues the way you can in Canada! Worse in NZ, remember! (and they haven't heard of Collingwood! ) The West Coast of Canada may be the best bet afterall!
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, cherries are definitely stone fruit. I can eat a kilo a day too, at least while the season lasts. Rural areas are near me, Mosgiel/Sadlle Hill or Allanton a little further south. Depends how far you want to go from the city. Then there's the Otago Peninsula if you fancy penguins/albatrosses/seals and the like. Or north of the city try Waikouaiti, offically still IN Dunedin, an anomaly which occurred when local bodies amalgamated some years ago. Central Otago is about 1 1/2 hours north west.

And no, the plant situation is NOT worse in NZ than in Tasmania. At least we can order whatever we want from anywhere within NZ and most seeds from the lists overseas. When I went from Melbourne to Hobart I wasn't allowed to take a small hepatica from Otto's garden to Marcus in Hobart because of the Tassie quarantine regs.

[ChrisB]

BC is too hot for me.  Even went out to White Rock to get a sea breeze and it was overwhelmingly hot.  Probably a tad cooler on the Island, but when I was there two years ago, in early June, it got up to 90F during the day.

[maggiepie]

And you'd be very welcome Helen. I'm living on stone fruit pro tem, with predictable results.

Things have gone pear-shaped?
 
Helen,
you don't have to live where summer is seven months long - especially not in NSW this year! But Tassie would be a better option if you could stand not being able to order anything you like out of the seed/bulb catalogues the way you can in Canada! Worse in NZ, remember! (and they haven't heard of Collingwood! ) The West Coast of Canada may be the best bet afterall!
cheers
fermi

Fermi, you might be able to order seeds and bulbs here but try looking for special hardy geraniums and clematis and there's very little to choose from.
Not many nurseries that do mail order either. Seeing all the goodies on the other side of the border is no doubt similar to the way you feel without imports.

Lesley, will look at real estate around some of those areas later. Not that I can afford to move anywhere but it's fun looking. I especially love looking at the kitchens.
Btw, with regard to Australian quarantine regs, it's a bit of a joke when they are now going to allow apples from countries that have diseases that are not present in Oz.

Chris, I thought BC was cool, or is that just Vancouver?
Summer here rarely gets above 28C, nobody told me about the humidex!!!!
I say if it feels like 36 it has to be 36!!

[BryanEmery]

Helen

On the island some years it will get to mid 30s but it still cools down at night, but that tends to just be for a week in the summer. Most summer days it is 22-28, but with a nice sea breeze. As for hardy geraniums, have you looked at the list from thimble farms? They have a bunch!

B

[maggiepie]

Yes, Bryan, have looked often at the FTF catalogue.
Unfortunately, they don't have the species geraniums that I am really wanting.

Re the summers on the island, hot days aren't so bad if it cools down at night, sea breeze sounds great.

[Lesley Cox]

Re diseases not in Australia, I don't intend to get into that argument but the one they're bothered about from NZ apples cannot be transported on the fruit (so the growers tell me). We, in our commercial wisdom import out-of-season apples and grapes and others from California. Tarantulas and other creepies have been caught from time to time. If, as will undoubtedly happen, the glassy-winged sharpshooter comes with the grapes, our wine industry will be totally destroyed within 10 years. And they worry about half a dozen seeds of a rare fritillaria!  

I applied for Geranium farreri from the AGS list and would happily have shared it with you Helen (probably there would have been perhaps only 3-5) but it was one of very few first choices I didn't get.

[maggiepie]

Lesley, what is a glassy winged sharpshooter?

Too bad about G. farreri, if I eventually track some down I will definitely send you some.
Seems to be as scarce as hen's teeth.