2008’s conference didn't disappoint - indeed many said it was one of the best, enriched with papers and raconteur from the many overseas speakers following the International Board tour and meeting which preceded conference.

For the early birds, Wednesdays and Thursday trips to Tiritiri Matangi Island Wildlife Refuge and Rangitoto Island Volcano were a highlight. Our offshore islands are a treasure trove of flora and fauna, and many are just a stone's throw from our cities.

Friday saw presentations on The Poor Knights Islands, new challenges at UK's Kingfisher Nursery, inspiration from northern European naturalist planting design and the intriguing Disa orchids. Following the AGM, it was onto the buses for an afternoon at Landsendt Subtropical Plants, NZ Liners and Franko Roses. Friday was completed with great dinner, music and social times at Markovina Vineyard Estate.

Charles Heuser kicked off on Saturday showing us the wealth of information that's behind the international website - www.ipps.org. Bromeliads for NZ conditions followed, and Ian Duncalf spoke about his new direction with Plant Struck, and Kings Seeds' battle with ERMA provided insight into the HSNO Act. Following papers covered photography, lavender propagation and production, in-vitro breeding techniques and hybrid pines.

Lunch at Muriwai Beach was refreshing and visits to Nga Rakau Nurseries and Oratia Natives were somewhat frustrated by Auckland's traffic woes. Sunday's paper sessions covered plant collecting in Mexico, Mediterranean Firs, Graeme Platt on the evolution of plant reproductive strategy, hot crops from around the world and a workshop on selecting and commercializing new cultivars.

Yes, it was a ripper. Thanks to all who helped organise conference, host overseas visitors and to the sponsors for their generosity - it helped keep the registration fee down and helped with covering costs of food, entertainment, buses, etc.

Some paper reviews in this newsletter, others next time. Plus Pat Heuser’s perspective of the Board’s NZ tour. So read, enjoy and start planning for 2009 - a joint conference with Australia in Hobart.

Congratulations to this year’s Conference 4 Pack members

• Beau Phillips - New Plymouth District Council fernery and display houses.
• Karl Munn - Oderings Nursery, Havelock North.
• Emma Hinkley - Waimea Nurseries, Nelson.
• Amber Twin - Appletons Nursery, Nelson.

Disa Orchids - Conference paper from Ken Davy

Report by Amber Twin

Mr Davey now spends his spare time working on the beautiful Disa Orchids.

Mr Davey now retired, worked for the New Plymouth City/District Council, running their Council’s Parks Nursery, then as a Technical Officer in the Fernery at Pukekura Park.

Disa are originally from South Africa and there are over 100 species. Disa Orchids are cool growing orchids, and are hard to kill with over-watering. Flower stems can have one flower and some have been found with ten flower heads. The main Disa flower colours are red, orange and yellow. Growers in New Zealand cannot keep up with the demand around the world. Breeders like Mr Davey are working hard to create new colours and different flower stem shapes and sizes. A new hybrid with a long stem with lots of small flower heads has been formed.

Mr Davey grows his orchids from seed in margarine pots. He sows the seeds in a composted pine bark mix around March. Margarine pots are placed in trays with another tray placed on top - this practice eliminates liverworts and mosses. Seeds germinate in 3 weeks, and in 6-9 months seedlings are pricked out and potted up, and in 2-3 years plants will flower. Mr Davey’s orchids are kept in an unheated fibreglass shade-house and a seaweed liquid fertiliser applied.

A small colony of yellow Disa Orchids has been discovered in South Africa. These have been crossed to produce a pale yellow specked flower.

Thank you, Mr Davey for your very informative speech and thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to attend the Auckland IPPS conference.

Evaluating Mediterranean Firs - Paper from Ricky Bates

Report by Hayden Foulds

Ricky Bates from Pennsylvania State University spoke on the evaluation work being done on fir trees (Abies) which are used as either a landscape plant or Christmas Tree in the United States. However, problems with native species of fir including root rot and sensitivity to hot dry conditions led to trials being done with firs native to the Mediterranean region which perform well under adverse conditions.

While the trialling at Penn State is still underway, observations and results from other trials have shown that several species show potential but need to be matched to suitable markets. Greek fir, Spanish fir and Moroccan fir are suitable for landscaping; Silver fir and Cilician fir as a
replacement for the shade tolerant native Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) which is susceptible to insect damage; and Nordmann fir and Turkish fir for the Christmas tree market.

Ricky concluded his presentation by saying that it is possible European firs have been overlooked because of their poor performing neighbours from across the Atlantic, although he stressed further trialling work needs to be done to fully evaluate the performance of these trees.

Conference 2008 Field Trips

Franko Roses
Field Trip Report by Jonathan Bussell

Roses New Zealand Ltd is a specialist rose breeding company based in New Zealand. It’s family owned, started by Frank and Ko Schuurman, now run by Daniel Schuurman.

We visited the 5 year old home base breeding and testing facilities in Auckland but the company also has facilities in Ecuador and Columbia. New Zealand contributes 5% of the business’s total production. Worldwide production is now focused on developing countries where overheads are much lower.

It takes 8 to 10 years from pollination to a saleable rose.

None of the roses were scented: scent is associated with a short vase life.

3 types of rose are trialled - Hybrid T of which, out of a thousand trialled, about three make it through to the market; spray roses with multiple heads which account for 30% of market in Japan (5% elsewhere in the world) and mutations.

Oratia Native Plants
Field Trip Report by Liza Whalley, photos by Reference Publishing

Saturday afternoon (bordering on evening) took us to the fascinating world of Oratia Native Plant Nursery. Nestled in the Waitakere Ranges of West Auckland, the nursery was an extremely enjoyable end to a rather thorough bus journey that had our group 'tiki-tour' areas of Auckland and enjoy the sights of local rugby on a Saturday afternoon! Getting to the nursery was the real bonus as we were greeted by real kiwi hospitality: home-made muesli slice and orchard apples.

Oratia Native Plant Nursery is a nursery that is keen set on conservation, and this has started with the property itself being revegetated with plants that have been eco-sourced from the area. Having a real family feel about the property, staff and business aspects of the nursery emphasised the full effect of the nursery as a project to help in the area of NZ Natives. Having the vast collection of endangered and special plant species they are involved in onsite was a real privilege to see, especially as the people behind them are obviously involved in the propagation for research and preservation.

Although slightly biased as a Native admire-ee myself, I found the nursery visit to be one of the most enjoyable of the conference. The people behind the plants really embrace the 'seek and share' theme within the industry they are involved in, and it’s awesome to have the opportunity to be a part of sharing the same vision.

Personally, the highlight of the visit was the genuine passion and wealth of knowledge that Jeff McCauley (Young Jeff) has for conservation, and especially in his keenness to share it with other people.

As we walked through the native collection planting, it was a real humble pride in achievement that struck the group, and the work that had been put into developing the area off pure enthusiasm and dedication was well received - and not just to native enthusiasts like myself!

NZ Liners
Field Trip Report by Paul Michael

Good visit was had by all @ NZ Liners. This older style nursery has its main focus on exporting plants to overseas markets. The main line being phormium but moving into other lines as well. Things like: Cordyline, Astelia, Ferns and Wisterias were some of the other lines they do.

Looking across the vast area of outdoor production someone mentioned “ where have all the green plants gone”, this being a comment on the many coloured varities & forms of plants being grown. Multi-coloured phormiums & coloured psuedopanax seemed to be the flavour of the day.

The staff were on hand & gave informative information about the running of the nursery, Due to the strict conditions applied, the owner Paul explained a bit about the processes that needed to be adhered to for export - a big manual was waved about that encompassed the regulations that they followed.

Packing out shed & boxing up was a well rehearsed operation. Interesting tube system was used in conjunction with the way they packed the boxes, giving a well-packed container where very little space was wasted.

A very good quality catalogue was on hand & one could see the important part it played as a marketing tool in this well organized & run operation.

Snippets from meetings held during the Conference in Auckland

• New members accepted: Nigel Odering, Marjo Gisberts, Graeme Humphries, Graham Saltiel, Kenneth Telford, John Thirkettle, Chris Lu, Greg Tod, Jackie Williams, Chris Hannan.
• With Chris Barnaby resigning, after many years of very much appreciated work getting papers ready to be published and sending them on to the USA, we welcomed Jill Reader onto the Committee to fill his shoes.
• The pre-Conference tour with Grant Hayman wearing the “Leaders” hat was a fantastic success. All the overseas participants had heaps of NZ scenery and experiences, beginning with an earthquake in Queenstown, Doubtful Sound, Trans Alpine Train, whale watching, Picton ferry crossing, Mt Ruapehu at sunset with not a cloud in the sky and mulled wine drink as they took in the majestic view. How lucky were they all to have the best run of weather you could hope for as well? Read a full report of the tour by IPPS International Secretary/Treasurer Pat Heuser next newsletter.
• Our nomination for Eddie Welsh to be the first NZ person to receive the International Award of Honour for his services to IPPS was accepted.
• The “At Large” region is now up and running with 2 members. This is for people who wish to join, but their country is not part of any existing region.
• With the use of “Blog” sites on the internet becoming popular, NZ is on the lookout for a volunteer to get one running on our site.
• All in all the On-Line Registrations worked well, the teething problems were fixed by Shirley and after evaluating the work Shirley did, it is felt we may be able to handle this operation ourselves without involving outside people.
• Next year’s Conference is in Hobart combined with Australia. Details will be circulated as soon as they are to hand. Dates are 14th – 17th May 2009.
• Future conferences have been set down for:
  • 2010 – Blenheim 27th – 29th May
  • 2011 – Napier 5th – 8th May
  • 2012 – Westport
  • 2013 – Taupo
  • 2014 – Wellington (Combined conference with Australia)
• Field days are being organised for the coming year to Manakau (South Auckland 22 Nov ‘08), D Úrville Island (6/7 Mar ‘09), Rakaia, and Tongariro Crossing
• Moving ahead with the formation of a “Fellowship” category.
• New members elected onto committee were Hayden Foulds, Jeff Elliott, Lana Hope.

IPPS Conference Survey results

At this year’s conference in Auckland, attendees were asked to complete a survey to gather their thoughts on various aspects of IPPS. A total of 131 out of 220 attendees took part in the survey which was made up of 92 members, 35 non members, 1 prospective member and 3 who did not indicate. The following is a summary of the results.

• What conference topics would you like to hear?
  A range of answers here, mostly around plants and propagation techniques. Much mention was made of practical topics and native plants, with interest also in new plants and IPM among other topics.
• Speaker suggestions
  A number of names or someone representing a particular group e.g. young horticulturists or DOC were suggested.
• What do IPPS do well at conference?
  A range of answers were given mostly around the themes of networking/social events, food, organisation, speakers and field trips.
• What can we improve?
  Only a few comments here in a range of areas, nothing too serious but some food for thought.
• Registration problems
  67 said no, 9 said yes, 4 did not use it. Some problems with credit cards, ease of use and sorting out problems, otherwise ok.
• Are you happy with the number of field trips?
  85 same number, 10 more, 6 less.
• Where to go for Field trips
  A wide range of suggestions were given here so plenty of ideas for the executive to follow up on.
• Places least likely to go for field trips
  Again, a wide variety of answers here but no general pattern which goes to show that what might appeal to one will not appeal to another.
• Are you willing to organise field trips?
  67 yes, 35 no
• Would you like to see practical propagation demonstrations?
  106 yes, 4 no.
• Are you happy with newsletters?
  99 yes, 4 no.
• Are you happy with the website?
  102 yes, 1 no
• Are you willing to speak at conference?
  34 yes, 71 no, 2 not sure
• Are you able to demonstrate some of your practical propagation skills?
  36 yes, 62 no, 2 not sure
• Any other suggestions?
  Range of comments made on various topics ranging from field trips, encouraging members, meetings and conferences.

In summary, those surveyed were very positive about IPPS and their experiences with our organisation; however there is always room for improvement. It was great to see so many people putting their names forward to organise field trips, speak at conference or demonstrate some of your practical propagation skills.