Summer Plant Palettes
Konini
Fuchsia procumbens
Konini is a ground hugging, damp loving, fuschia. It covers the ground well with bright green leaves, which brighten up the space. The flowers are overhwelming in their variety of colour, from bright yellow, to orange, to purple, and they make way for large globulous pink berries after pollination. When planted on a slope, you see all of the colour in its glory. While summer is a time for many different types of flowers, I have to say that spending time with a creeping fuschia is one of the most rewarding.
Pōhutukawa
Metrosideros Excelsa
Pōhutukawa is an enormous tree in the rata family, and probably the best known. Aside from the obvious- enormous red flower clusters often changing the colour of the entire tree, then littering the ground for a long time after- it is a beautiful lanscape plant as the leaves under the flowers are often significantly darker than the rest, whereas new leaves are light green to tan. This means that the Pōhutukawa is three different colours over the year- deep green in late Autumn-Winter, red in Summer, or light green before and after flowering. What's more, the rata family is enormous, and includes climbers as well as small shrubs, so it is easily included in landscaping on a sunny site.
Māhoe
Hinahina, Whiteywood, Melicytus Ramiflorus
Māhoe is everywhere in Wellington, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it is a weed. Trees shoot up quickly and everywhere they can grab a hold. The white trunks shoot out of stumps, the leaves are your typical green, your typical shape, your typical size. If you were to ask someone to draw a tree, they would draw a Māhoe. However, walk in a forest, and your eye will rest immediately on one, with the ghostly, patchy boughs underneath and leaves mostly only on the tips of the plant. For this reason alone, it's a great idea to hang onto one in your garden! But if you need a second, take a look at those berries. This tree is in the violet family. Its flowers and berries sit under the leaves, making them hard to spot from the outside. Get under the canopy or trim your tree carefully and the fluorescent violet will delight you. It will also delight all of the birds... which is why you see them everywhere! I am passionate about this tree. It is just beautiful, if you take the time to look. Look at those berries and realise its worth. Something so common is so beautiful.
Turutu
NZ Blueberry, Dianella Nigra
Dianella nigra is initially a huge disappointment. Tiny, thin, black flowers with a splash of yellow emerge on a flower spike in Spring. They take a bit of persuasion to keep! Then summer comes, and the flowers are replaced by beautiful, huge blue berries which can last for months. The leaves are tall, sleek, and vary from dark to light throughout the plant. Because the plant can reach 70cm high, they are an architectural delight, and provide pops of colour in darker spots of the garden.
Sources
All photos CC by NC. Please use as you please, but attribute them to the right person, and they are not to be used for financial gain.
Fuchsia Procumbens: Photo taken by Zoe Barry, Summer 2023
Metrosideros Excelsa: Bjankuloski06en, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Accessed 11 February 2023
Melicytus Ramifolius: Photo taken by Zoe Barry, Summer 2023
Dianella Nigra: Photo taken by Zoe Barry, Summer 2023