As you can see my friend Liz did ‘spot the Head Gardener’ and sent me this lovely photograph of Fiona Eadie with a New Zealand corokia. As Fiona says in the podcast episode, she loves the contrast of these plants, so in this case the twiggy habit of this pure Corokia cotoneaster with the bold leaved fern.

Liz actually took and sent me, over 70 photographs and I posted some of them on the Our Plant Stories Instagram and Facebook accounts this week. The gardens do look stunning. This time last year I was in New Zealand, lucky enough to be walking the Milford Track. Liz’s photographs brought back memories of seeing my first tree ferns growing in the wild. I am not surprised that Mona has fallen in love with New Zealand plants. I hope you enjoy this weeks episode and do take a look at the plants on the episode page. I really admire Mona’s tenacity and the garden she has created is incredible.

If there is one thing you should never say to Mona Abboud, it is: “these plants are only for trade’. Her passion for and knowledge of corokia species and cultivars has taken her to gardens far and wide. Her National Collection features 41 different corokia species and cultivars and is testament to her determination to not only find the plants but to work tirelessly to encourage the rest of us to appreciate and have this plant in our gardens.

Making this podcast I realised that ‘the search’ was part of the story and as Mona herself says: ‘It's like a cross between a hunter and a collector…once you're after something, you've got to find every single means of finding what you want.’ I also realised that when we create a garden we are often seeking to create something from our own childhood and for Mona though her plants may come from New Zealand, a country she has never visited, this is also true. Listen to the episode to hear why.

I visited Mona’s garden on a most gorgeous sunny Autumn. As you walk through her garden you are struck by the amazing architectural shapes of the New Zealand plants.

A little bit of corokia ‘family’ history courtesy of Mona’s book:

Corokia is an evergreen shrub hailing from New Zealand and inhabiting its forests and rocky mountains. It’s name comes from the Maori ‘korokio’. The 2 (of 10 species in the genus) you will hear talked about are:

Corokia buddleoides - It can reach 2-3 metres, it has the largest leaves of all corokias, a Forest Margin in New Zealand

Corokia cotoneaster - also known as the ‘wire-netting bush’ because of the tangled (divaricating) branches. Can reach 2 metres, it has tiny leaves.

Corokia x virgata is the offspring resulting from the natural hybridisation between Corokia buddleoides and Corokia cotoneaster. It has in turn led to a huge range of cultivars.

Mona has written a book entitled Corokia My Adventure. She never set out to hold a national collection, as she tells us in this episode it was born out of a cunning plan which ‘boomeranged on her’. Having put so much of her time and her energy into this wonderful garden she wanted future gardeners to learn from it, as an example of how we can use New Zealand plants in our UK gardens. To that end she has left the garden in her Will to the charity Perennial. There’s an Offshoot coming up about this charity and its fascinating history.

Mona has described being a New Zealand garden enthusiast in the UK as a little lonely at times so I knew I needed to find someone who would really share her passion and I found that person in Fiona Eadie, the author of 100 Best Native Plants for New Zealand Gardens.  They also bonded over a dislike of Camellias! (But there is a very good episode on Camellias to be found in series one of Our Plant Stories, which follows the 200th anniversary of the first Camellia arriving in Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens.)   

I hope that the passion for corokia (and New Zealand plants in general) shared in conversation between Mona and Fiona will inspire a few listeners to go out and buy themselves this plant. Go here to read their expert advice on how to grow it and good news - you can put it in a pot! In fact Penelope Lively has had a Corokia cotoneaster in a pot for 25 years!

Finally a favour to ask - if you do enjoy the podcasts and listen on a podcast app, then if you can write a review it is super helpful in terms of encouraging others to take a listen.