FuturEcology & EmGuard ™ November 2023 update

Newsletters

Nov 16

Welcome to our November Newsletter

By Jan Fryer

I really do think that this is my favourite time of the year, apart from the start of the craziness leading up to that important holiday period in December!

Gardening at this time of year is one of my greatest pleasures. Seeing plants spring back into life after winter dormancy, vegetables growing before our eyes (we had our first new potatoes from the garden this week - they were delicious) and the glorious colours of all the flowering trees, shrubs and summer flowers.

Although our main work at FuturEcology is restoration using native species, it does not mean we don’t all get a huge amount of pleasure from all the gloriousness of nature, exotics included.

We lived on Stephens Island in the Cook Strait for a year back in 1997, a wild and windswept rock that is the home to 40,000 or so tuatara. It was a fantastic experience but the thing I missed the most was colour. I remember flying off for a day in November to Blenheim and seeing all the roses flowering. The colour almost hurt my eyes, it was so amazing. You don’t even realise you have missed all that colour until you see it again.

Our native bush has some beautiful colours with the white of clematis in flower last month and the stunning red of pohutukawa and rata in the next couple of months. Flowering orchids are another favourite. The play of different greens and browns of tussock in vast swathes is stunning.

We have been asked at times about what the aim of restoration is. Does it require getting back to the original landscape? However, what actually is original? Aotearoa’s biodiversity has developed over millennia, but has never been static. Seeds float on ocean currents, birds and insects blow across from Australia on strong westerlies, the day the first canoe arrived in NZ marked a change in the natural order and change has been a constant companion.

There is no definitive answer, although we absolutely encourage eco-sourcing of plants for native restoration. We definitely need to focus on weed species and controlling or eliminating those but using combinations of native and exotic species in your own garden environment is your choice. Nurturing threatened native species is skill, and an even bigger thrill when they begin to thrive.

This month has been the month of celebrating gardening - Taranaki has a fantastic garden festival as does Marlbourough and many other parts of NZ.

We all know that there are big challenges ahead for the planet as a whole, but we all know that the restoration of biodiversity is the key to our survival. So observe, enjoy and grow plants, whether they be for eating, pleasure or restoration, there is a healing power in nature.

Launching Pocket Restoration Aotearoa

By Emma Fryer

Today (16/11/2023) marks 14 days until Pocket Restoration Aotearoa will be available!!

We have a brilliant team working hard behind the scenes to create our wonderful web-based app. Pocket Restoration Aotearoa (PRA) is a one stop shop for learning the ropes and planning for successful native revegetation and restoration.

With quizzes, interactive learning activities and modules, a restoration calendar and a myriad of resources, PRA has something for everyone.

Keep your eyes peeled for release day on the 30th of November. With Christmas just around the corner, PRA is the perfect gift for the person who has everything and is keen to get stuck into learning about and restoring our wonderful and unique native flora and fauna.

Keep an eye on your inbox for more information!

Critical Maintenance

By Rob Fryer

Spring and early summer are the important time for the essential maintenance of the year’s new plantings. We usually recommend three maintenance visits throughout the growing season to release new plantings of competing weeds and pasture grasses.

Of these three visits, the first visit in October/November is the most critical. This visit will remove any new weeds that are establishing and growing at a quick rate, aided by warm temperatures and ample soil moisture. It is at this time that our newly planted plants should be also growing quickly, but shading and competition from aggressive pasture species will slow this growth down.

If budget prevents three maintenance visits, then resources should be put into the early maintenance round to set the planting up for good spring and early summer growth. In our experience, if this early visit is missed, the success of the planting is compromised long term. The planting will become “gappy” and be very slow to establish. What we are trying to achieve is all plants growing together to provide strength and shading to out-compete existing weeds.

All plantings are different; they have different species composition, different previous land use, soil moisture, aspect, etc, but the basic principles apply to all. A good strong maintenance round in spring and early summer will be the most important thing you can do for your new planting.

Things I consider during the first maintenance round:

What am I trying to achieve?
Are all plant guards installed correctly and still standing?
What type of control e.g. spraying, mulching, weedeating?
Are there any perennial weeds that will require follow up with a more specialised chemical, eg Convolvulus?
Is weedeating alone satisfactory for the plant release or required prior to a spray release?
Is the colour of your new plants healthy? Remember, this is like growing a crop, so focussing on plant health is essential. If not, what can I do to remedy that?
Is there any indication of browsing by pests? If so, what do I need to do to protect my plants?
Is it still safe to use chemicals around my monocotyledons or should I just use a weedeater?
When will I need to return for the next follow up?

EmGuard™ Black Friday Sale

What a great season it has been. We have so enjoyed talking with customers from all over Aotearoa and hearing about the great projects and goings happening around the country.

We are excited to offer a very rare Black Friday sale, running till the end of November while stocks last. View our special prices here.

Buy EmGuard™ now

Weed of the Month

Chilean needle grass

By Alvin Bartley

The team has just started Chilean needle grass control in Seddon.

Chilean needle grass is a horrible pastoral weed that was first discovered in Marlborough in the 1930s. From late October to March, the grass is in seed which allows it to be identified due to the unique needle-like seed heads.

Chilean needle grass is problematic as it outcompetes many species and can dominate landscapes. The seed heads form needle-like structures and are easily caught in sheep wool, devaluing the wool, and they can even penetrate into the flesh of sheep.

It can be identified by its its erect structure and vibrant green colour and of course, the distinctive needles which drop down from the seed head horizontally. If you suspect you have identified the grass, get in contact with your local regional council.

Visit the Landcare website for more information.

Garden Marlborough

This was my first Garden Marlborough experience, and it did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting four very different gardens on the East Coast and Awatere Valley.

My personal favourite was Paripuma in Cloudy Bay. This 20-year-old coastal garden is a showcase for planning with natives in a wind-swept environment. Ngaio trees were initially planted to create shelter. This has paved the way for a variety of natives in different colours and textures planted en masse, my favourites being puka and nīkau. Nestled between mature natives, there was also a butterfly garden inspired by the New Perennial movement.

I used to be a purest, preferring to landscape with only NZ natives, although I have become more open to using perennials, particularly around my edible plants over the last few years. What I loved about Paipuma is that it demonstrated the cohesion you can achieve using both natives and exotics. I particularly loved the use of NZ native grasses amongst the perennial garden and felt inspired to give this a go for my next garden project.

This was an incredibly well organised event, and all the owners were very accommodating and happy to answer questions. I highly recommend attending if you are looking for inspiration in your own garden or simply wish to soak up the scenery and admire the vision and hard work of the creators. I look forward to returning next year.

By Anna Bradley.

I also had the pleasure of attending some of the events at Garden Marlborough and really enjoyed them. I went to a couple of the talks, one by Mark Newdick, an award winning landscape architect. He is passionate about the promotion of biodiversity and the use of indigenous flora in both formal and informal settings. His talk was inspirational, demonstrating what could be achieved with good design principles, even on the smallest of urban sections. His love of native plants and his seeking to “design with nature” was certainly inspiring.

The concepts he showcased were then brought to life for me in some of the gardens we visited the next day. My favourite was Welton House, which was an exuberant garden, clearly showing the owners’ passion for all things gardening. Their blending of native and exotic plants was stunning, as were their clipped korokia hedges, shaped in the form of the mountain ranges that the property overlooks.

I also had the pleasure of doing a workshop with Robert Vennell, the author of the book “The Meaning of Trees”. We headed out to a remnant stand of bush on the north bank of the Wairau River, where we were treated to seeing some magnificent kahikatea, the giants of NZ bush. There was a impressive diversity of species to admire and hear stories about. I was impressed to see native jasmine (Parsonsia heterophylla, kaihua) flowering, a plant I was unfamiliar with.

All in all, if you get the chance to go to a garden festival any time, we would thoroughly recommend it.

By Jan Fryer.

Pictures from Jan and Robert’s day at the Motueka Garden Trail, which was held the previous week.

The Impact Awards

By Emma Fryer

I recently had the privilege of attending The Impact Awards, run by the Kiwi charity “Inspiring Stories”.

“Inspiring Stories” are committed to helping young people to realise their potential to change the world. This is done by supporting their initiatives to create a more inclusive and sustainable future with every generation. Inspiring Stories facilitate a number of events, one being the Festival For The Future, Aotearoa’s biggest leadership and innovation summit.

I was lucky enough to have been named as a semi-finalist in the enterprise category and a finalist in the climate category in the 2023 Impact Awards. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have attended the awards and to have met with the other semi-finalists and finalists. There are some truly amazing rangatahi in Aotearoa making significant impact in their chosen fields.

Thank you so much to “Inspiring Stories” for recognizing and empowering young people across Aotearoa to be disruptors and make impactful change for a better tomorrow.

Congratulations to all of the 2023 winners, and all those involved. Keep up your incredible mahi and let's be the best ancestors we can be.

Celebrating our customers

***Kono***
*The wonderful team at Kono doing great mahi in their apple orchard*

***Kylie Soo***
*How great does Kylie’s planting look! We always love seeing where the EmGuards have been used.*

Interesting Snippets

What we have been watching - NYAD

by Emma Fryer

Flat movie night was particularly interesting last week learning about the incredible story of Diana Nyad. A marathon swimmer aged 64, she made history with her 110 mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida, without protection from a shark cage.

From a young age, Nyad had the dream to be the first to make the swim across the challenging waters, taking into account the quixotic currents and dangerous marine life. Nyad first attempted the swim as a 28 year old with the aid of a shark cage, but rough conditions forced her to abandon the swim. She then gave up swimming to focus on her career in broadcast journalism for 30 years before returning to the sport she loved.

What we have been cooking - Globe Artichokes are in abundance!

By Cheril Barber

These are such a delightful treat to enjoy, but a lot of us don’t know how to prepare them.

Here is a step-by-step guide on their preparation.

And while they are cooking, make a dipping sauce - melted butter with lemon, garlic and parsley is a favourite of ours, or homemade anchovy mayonnaise.

Reflection

As I head out the door to do some more weedeating, I am reflecting on the amount of work that we need to achieve before the holiday season. However, the pleasure I get from being outdoors, whether that is in its natural state, or a designed and built state, always inspires me.

It was so enjoyable being around passionate gardeners this month and seeing the enthusiasm for plants. I loved one of the phrases that Mark Newdick used to describe a garden, going from the ordered state near the house and descending into chaos the further we get from the house. That so described our garden.

As we head into the busyness of next month and the rushing round for Christmas, take time out to sit and listen to the birds, smell the scents of summer and enjoy the abundance of nature.