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Kaka beaks
We don’t have that many showy native flowering plants in N.Z. most are muted in colour but the few showy ones we have are really flamboyant and gorgeous. One such shrub is the Kaka beak. Aptly named the kaka Beak produces pendulous clusters of large bright red flowers shaped some what like the beak of our native parrot, the Kaka. Clianthus puniceus is a sprawling shrub that can be trained as a standard weeping plant or even clipped as an espalier. Left to its own devices Clianthus will soon grow straggly and open and requires heavy pruning after flowering.
In our district Kaka Beaks are just coming to the end of their flowering. They seemed to flower most prolifically this year.I have never seen so many beautiful Kaka beaks as I have this year. Perhaps there are more planted in gardens than there used to be. It is a great choice as reveals in our light soils .It is rare to find kaka Beaks growing in the wild now. Once they flourished on our northern coasts but over the years have been predated. So it is important they are grown in our gardens.
Kaka Beaks are fairly short lived. A ten year old specimen would be considered elderly ,with most getting to the ugly stage by their fifth birthday.I would recommend planting a new one every three years to give you continuity. That means by the time the older plant needs to be removed then the youngster would be in its prime.
Unfortunately Kaka Beaks have yummy tasting leaves. Snails just adore it and can climb to great lengths to get that last leaf. Then there is the pesky leaf miner that forms minute trails in the leaves causing them to turn white. If they don’t succumb to these then the Borer beetle will do her thing inside the stems and ultimately lead to death. This all paints a nasty picture but is why Kaka Beaks are so short lived. They are still well worth growing .Just don’t plant them in a focal part of your garden. Use them as under planting where they can blend in with other shrubs.
I like to see Kaka Beaks planted on an elevated site where the flowers can be viewed at eye level or from below. Once I grew the white flowered form in this way and it looked like a river of greenish white cascading over a dry stone wall of lichen covered boulders.
Varieties .Clianthus puniceus is the common red flowered Kaka beak. Flamingo is a rose pink flowered form .White Heron is the greenish white flowered variety. A stronger growing variety with sturdy branches and larger deep red flowers is Clianthus maximus Kaka King. This variety was discovered as a struggling plant clinging to a bank in Poverty Bay and was recognized as being different. Luckily cuttings were taken at the time because the plant was lost shortly afterwards in the devastating Bola storm. Now this Clianthus is the top selling Kaka Beak in N. Z. and deservedly so as it is so much more vigorous
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