Testing the boundaries
I’ve always liked a bit of calculated risk taking in my life.
Just last year, I was nursing some broken ribs from canyoning down a waterfall on my road and one of my earliest memories of my husband was rolling down a hill inside a tractor tyre with him, just to name two examples.
Yes, that is actually us in a tractor tyre.
And it’s no different in CROP. We take some chances here, investing in flower varieties that aren’t commonly grown in the field and testing the boundaries of what’s achievable with a bit of risk and a good dose of humour.
We started growing Lisianthus in the field back in 2018. Field grown Lisianthus may seem quite common now, but back then, there was zero info available in New Zealand about this and I had to read a US blog to get the lowdown on how to make it happen here. My plug grower Nga Rakau actually called me ‘nuts’ when I spoke to their lead grower on tips for non-polytunnel growing. Turns out, growing Lisianthus outside in the elements is hard. I’ve done 5 years of it and I’m maybe deciding to move on from them (there is that word ‘maybe’!). They are exquisitely beautiful but such prima donnas, they take forever to grow and take up such vital bed space. Twice I’ve lost my second successions of entire beds to fungal issues which make their viability less desirable here. So the jury is out!
In another experiment, last year, we pushed out the boat on “Gerberas that don’t look like Gerberas”, in a thinly veiled disguise to bring back the Gerbera! It’s the ultimate long-lasting bloom so it always felt weird not to give that a go in the field. I remember them distinctly from South Africa, and our hot microclimate in the hills surrounding Raglan has been great for them. They have been such amazing bloomers when everything else has practically given up. Crucially, we’ve demonstrated that all that plastic packaging is just not needed for perfect Gerbs either. We don’t use a smidgen of it and have very long straight stems.
Yip. And that too. I know.
Yes, that is actually a gerbera.
This year, I’ve narrowed down my varieties and I’m experimenting with different ways of growing some of my old faithfuls. Our Madame Butterfly snapdragons for example are being trialled both inside and outside landscape fabric this year. I’m trying new green manures too, and experimenting with different bokashi uses.
It’s always a bit of an experiment, and always aimed at trying to bring the very best of what we can achieve – whilst having fun – to you.