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Photo of clivia to come

Clivia 

Clivia originate from South Africa, and the South African National Biodiversity Institute website informs us that "The name Clivia is after the Duchess of Northumberland, Lady Charlotte Clive (1787-1866) who first cultivated and flowered the type specimen in England... miniata means the colour of red lead, referring to the flowers." 

Our Clivia were grown from seed sourced from the collection of Sir George Grey who was Governor of Cape Colony, South Africa from 1854-1861 and gardened on Kawau Island, New Zealand from 1862-1888. 

Clivia gardinii

Clivia gardenii is an evergreen perennial with low strappy leaves, excellent for growing in dry dappled shade. The flower hangs down and is bright orange with green tips. Frost tender.

Gifter: Dr Keith Hammett.
Planted: 2023. Fern garden.

Clivia miniata

Clivia miniata is popular in old Victorian gardens in New Zealand and in public parks. In its natrual habitat in South Africa, the Clivia miniata and Clivia gardenii are often found growing near eachother. Its flower faces upward and is bright orange.  Frost tender.

Gifter: Dr Keith Hammett.
Planted: 2023. Fern garden.

Photo of lily of the valley to come

Convallaria majalis - Lily of the Valley.

Dainty little bell like flowers of white. Scented. Woodland flower.

Queen Victoria commissioned a painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873) to commemorate the 1st of May 1851. Titled 1 May, it commemorates the first birthday of her son Prince Arthur, the eighty-second birthday of the prince's godfather, the Duke of Wellington, and the opening day of the Great Exhibition. In his hand, the baby Prince Arthur holds Lily-of-the-valley, a traditional 1st of May gift said to bring good luck. 

Catalogue: Thomas Allan, 1871.
Gifter: Pat Lakeman.
Planted: 2019. Fern garden.
Additional gift: Winifred Clarke.
Planted: 2022. Fern garden.

 Bulb Crinum

Crinum. Cape Lily

The Crinum originates from southern Africa. We believe our variety is Crinum moorei, a hardy bulb, growing best in semi shade. As it ages, the trunk of the bulb grows up out of the ground creating an extraordinary and unusual sight. The bulbs grow large and heavy. The flowers, on tall fleshy stalks, are pink and scented.

Our Crinum’s were gifted by Hugh Bibby, from the garden of his mother Ina Bibby nee Coulter (1909-2010) at Paekakariki, where she had lived since 1976. They originally came from the garden of her father’s sister, Mary Coulter (1877-1953) at Sunshine Bay, Eastbourne.

Newspaper references:

In 1868 William Colenso wrote about receiving a Crinum (type unknown) from New South Wales which flowered in 1867. Hawke’s Bay Herald. 8 August 1868, p3.

In 1878 P Cooper of Wellington offered Crinums for sale. Evening Post, 15 July 1878, p1.

In 1880 F W C Sturm of West Clive, Hawkes Bay, offered Crinums for sale. Hawke’s Bay Herald, 18 February 1880, p3.

In 1897 a range of varieties of Crinum were listed in a gardening article and described as popular. Lyttleton Times, 1 March 1895, p2.

Gifter: Hugh Bibby of Khandallah.
Planted: 2021. Rose Arbour, then relocated to horse paddock fenceline. 

Dahlia

Dahlia [original name unknown] 

Gifter: Tina McKevett
Planted: 2021. Flower bank.

Orange decorative dahlia

Dahlia lemon yellow

Dahlia.

A mix from old gardens. Great for attracting butterflies and bees into the garden.

Supplier: Koanga Institute, Wairoa.
Gifter: Celia Wade-Brown Mayoral Fund.
Planted: 2017. Flower bank.

Butterfly and bee friendly

Dahlia apricot

Dahlia [original name unknown]

The tubers of this apricot coloured dahlia originally came from the 1930's Kelburn garden of the G & G Nelson, parents of Heritage Gardener Claire McDonald. On her marriage, Claire took some tubers to her own home and when she moved house again, in 2020, and joined the Heritage Gardeners, she brought her favourite dahlia with her. 

Gifter: Claire McDonald.
Planted: 2020. Flower bank.

Maida Baddiley's dahlia

Dahlia 'Mrs Baddiley' [original name unknown] 

Maida Baddiley lived to the grand age of 106 years. Her dahlia, which is affectionately known as ‘Mrs Baddiley’s dahlia’ is an old pale pink single bloomed variety. It was originally grown in her garden at 14 Newtown Avenue, Newtown, Wellington. She took it from there to her garden in Paparangi in 1973. She gave bulbs to her next-door neighbour's, who are our Heritage Gardener’s!

Gifter: Maida Alexandra Baddiley (1911-2017).
Planted: 2018. Rose Arbour.

Butterfly and bee friendly

Dahlia's of Jennifer Timmings

Dahlia yellow

dahlia pink

Dahlia - Timmings selection [original names unknown] 

These dahlia are a selection from the garden of Jennifer Timmings of Khandallah. They were a gift on her marriage in 1956, from the garden of her mother-in-law in Auckland.

Gifter: Jennifer Timmings.
Planted: 2018. Rose Arbour.

 Freesia

Freesia Alba Burtonii

Clara Burton, of Halifax Street in Nelson - possibly Clara Louisa Burton (1862-1940) - produced this magnificent cream scented freesia which is unique to New Zealand.

Throughout 1909-1910 Clara Burton was winning prizes for her freesias at the Nelson Horticultural Show and Presbyterian Church flower shows. In January 1911, she advertised her freesia bulbs with “extra-large cream flowers” for sale in the Nelson Evening Mail.

By 1913, the freesias were such a success, they made News of the Day in the Colonist - “We have to thank Miss Burton, of Halifax street, for some beautiful specimens of freesia blooms. These blooms are of great size and delightfully fragrant.”

The Burtonii freesia can only multiply by bulb, not by seed, so it is somewhat ironic that the Nelson Seed Company began selling them in 1924. The Timaru Herald of 2 April 1932, p8, provides an excellent description of the freesia (below). The Burtonii freesia continues to be available from bulb suppliers today.

Freesia Burtonii article 

Gifter: Gabrielle McCardle of Waikanae.
Planted: 2020. 

Iris

Iris 

This 'as yet unidentified' iris came from the former homestead garden of the Broderick family, of Woodlands, Glenside. The Broderick's lived in Glenside from 1845-1968.

Gifter: Margaret Ellis.
Planted: Flower bank, 2019. 

Bee friendly.

NZ Snowdrop - in England called the Lodden Lily or snowflake

Leucojum - Snowdrop. 

In New Zealand we call this bulb the snowdrop. In Great Britain it’s known as the Lodden Lily or Summer Snowflake. You will find this bulb growing at most pre 1900 farm gardens in New Zealand and in paddocks where original houses no longer exist. Ours came from Nott House, aka Ivy Bank Farm.

Gifter: Donna Sherlock.
Planted: 2017. Horse paddock fence line. White scented garden.

Lilium tigrinum - Tiger Lily. Double.

Lilium tigrinum - Tiger Lily.

Double tiger lily. Summer flowering. Good in dappled shade or sun. 

Gifter: Jennifer Timmings.
Planted: 2019. Rose Arbour.

N. x medioluteus, Twin sisters

Narcissus x medioluteus 'Twin Sisters'. 1597.

“Generally knowne everywhere,” wrote the great herbalist John Gerard in 1597 about this fragrant wildflower he called Primrose Peerless. The bulbs were found growing along the banks of the Halfway House and were relocated to the garden. They also grow on the possible 1841 site of an earlier Halfway House occupied by the Wall family. The bulb has two blooms per stem, hence the name Twin Sisters, or Loving Couple. This is an original flower from old settler gardens in Glenside.

Planted: 2017, 2018. Horse paddock fenceline. Sloping lawn.

In 2018, a collection of these bulbs were donated by Peter and Pauline Russell from their garden. They had harvested the bulbs from the possible Halfway House site opposite their home. In 2019, when this section vacant section was bulldozed, more bulbs were rescued from the site. 

Planted: 2018. White scented garden.

Narcissus Italicus - Tazetta

Multi-headed stems of creamy flowers with lemon centre. Scented. 

"Narcissus Italicus again resembles Narcissus papyraceus in the shape of its satellite flowers, but the perianth segments are white or creamy yellow with a lemon scented cup. This plant is said by Loudon (Encyl. Plts., pp 241-2) to grow abundantly in the vicinity of Naples, whence it is imported for forcing." Source: The Narcissus, Its History And Its Culture (1875, p.48) by F W Burbidge. L. Reeve & Co. London.

Forcing refers to forcing it to bloom early for sale. Our bulbs came from Braid Cottage, where they grow in the garden of the old farm.

Gifter: Claire Bibby.
Planted: 2024. Moon Garden.

Narcissus paperwhite

Narcissus papyraceus - Tazetta - Paper White

Multi-headed stems of delicate white flowers. Scented.

"It is abundant, apparently as a naturalised plant, in cultivated ground from Basses Pyrenees, Portugal and Spain, throughout the French Riviera into Italy, frequently interspersed with some of the small and local forms..." Source: The Narcissus (1985. 1st Ed. 1934, p. 166) by  E.A.Bowles. Waterstone & Co. London.

"Narcissus. Being now the height of fashion, and at all times most elegant and fragrant subjects,  these should be extensively grown. The paper-white and stella narcissus force well and may be planted thickly in boxes for cutting."  Source: Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11598, 6 June 1898, Page 3

Gifter: maddy schafer.
Planted: 2022. Orchard.

Van Sion Daffidol

Narcissus 'Van Sion'. 1629.

On the 14th and 15th May 2020, to celebrate the return to gardening after 49 days absence due to New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown, the Heritage Gardeners planted approximately 100 Van Sion daffidol bulbs on the lawn bank. A further 100 bulbs were planted in 2021. Van Sion is an heirloom bulb found at early settler garden sites in Glenside. 

In his article Daffodils from the past in the New Zealand Garden Journal, 2014, Vol. 17(2) Derrick Rooney says that Van Sion’s double daffodil was first described in 1629 in his book Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris by prominent apothecary and botanist of the day, John Parkinson (1567–1650).

Rooney writes “The story of Narcissus ‘Van Sion’, as told by Parkinson, is that a Flemish born London gardener, Vincent Van Sion, had a small daffodil that he nursed along for many years before it bloomed. When, at last, a fat bud appeared and opened, it proved, to his delight, to be a double flower. Like a modern gardener, when his treasure increased Van Sion shared it with his friends. He did not name it but to Parkinson, who received some bulbs, it was “Van Sion’s daffodil”. However, some of the bulbs had gone to a florist named Wilmer and, after Van Sion’s death, this man introduced the clone under his own name, apparently much to the annoyance of Parkinson.” 

Gifter: Heritage Gardeners.
Planted: 2020, 2021. Lawn bank.

Nerine Geurnsey lily 

Nerine sarniensis - Guernsey Lily.

Originating from South Africa, this plant has been growing in the Guernsey Isles for more than 300 years. Legend has it that the bulbs washed ashore in a Dutch shipwreck in 1659. The South African National Biodiversity Institute website informs that sarniensis refers to the Island of Sarnia, the Roman name for Guernsey. 

In 1878, Sir John Everett Millais, painted “The Jersey Lily”, a portrait of Lillie Langtry, then mistress to the Prince of Wales. In her hand she held a Guernsey Lily.

“Nerine Sarniensis - Guernsey Lily - is well known, yet not as plentiful as it should be. The flowers are a rich scarlet, with a sheen of gold, a chaste and lovely flower.” Gardening Notes. (1899, April 15) Evening Post.

Our bulbs originally came from the Kelburn garden of G & G Nelson, parents of our Heritage Gardener Claire McDonald.

Newspaper: North Otago Times, 2 March 1876.
Gifter: Claire McDonald.
Planted: 2020. Flower bank.

Gifter: Tina McKevett.
Planted: 2021. Flower bank..

Solomon's Seal

Solomon's Seal

Polygonatum multiflorum - Solomon’s Seal (x3).

Good for ground cover in a shady place. Has arching fernlike fronds hung with white flowers, followed by inedible berries. Dies down completely in winter. Perennial.

Parts of the plant have been used in healing and medicinal purposes for centuries across Europe and North America and the Far East. Named for King Solomon’s Seal in the Bible, which had power for one thing: to provide protection from malevolent forces. (Refer Cortesia Herbal Products – Solomons Seal).

Supplier: Twigland Gardener’s World, Glenside.
Gifter: Celia Wade-Brown Mayoral Fund.
Planted: 2018. White scented garden.