Vol. 43

Title:
Plant Improvement and Nursery Production Techniques in New Zealand

Author:
James Newell

pp: 183-184

Abstract:
New Zealand has given the British Isles many popular garden plants such as Cordyline, Hebe, Leptospermum, Olearia, and Pittosporum. With assistance from a Mary Helliar Travel Scholarship Award I spent one month in New Zealand looking at plant improvement schemes and production techniques.

The plant improvement schemes I studied concentrated on New Zealand's native flora. At Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens, a Hebe breeding programme started in 1982 by Jack Hobbs, has produced 12 named cultivars. Most names carry the ‘Wiri’ prefix, for example, H. ‘Wiri Joy’ and H. ‘Win Image’ These have a superior appearance and garden performance to other cultivars especially in the hot and humid Auckland climate where septoria leaf spot (Septoria exotica) and downy mildew (Peronospora grisea) are a problem (Hobbs, 1991). I am uncertain about their hardiness in the British Isles. Another notable plant introduction in recent years is Weinmannia ‘Kiwi Red’.

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Ltd., near

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