Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

This time of the year a wonderful Pohutukawa “shrub” is flowering its little heads off: Metrosideros carminia known as the crimson rata; a Native in the North Island all the way down to Taranaki and Hawkes Bay. It comes as a shrub when you get them from cuttings, but they’ll move up like tree climbers when they emerge from seeds. Pollinators love them – and so do I. Favourite food of tui and bellbirds, as well as silvereyes and wood pigeons (kereru). Kowhai come in many different species and heights; there are fabulous, gnarled forms which, in themselves, are beautifully sculptured. Divaricating shrubs!! Muehlenbeckia astonii. A Native plant that could be your new hedge, or your sculpted shrub, or even a suitable nesting site for native birds. It’s all about elegant little leaves, hanging from a zig-zagging system of branches that you will only find in Aotearoa. In winter the whole shrub will change colours to a Dark-Orange that will stand out, no matter what the weather is like. White flowers – a