Seeding plants - for the lazy gardener.

Summer is nearing the end now and plants are rapidly going to seed. I love to have self seeded plants popping up in the gardens everywhere. Saves a lot of planning and the self seeded plants seem to grow very healthy and strong.

These are some pics of our swan plant, the main source of food for the Monarch butterfly caterpillars. The trees have lots and lots of 'swans' which are swelling, bursting and throwing seeds around. The bonus is that the seeds are attached to a lovely shiny thistledown which floats dreamily in the wind.

History of the Passionfruit

I did some research on the origin of passionfruit and came up with this interesting extract from the website of the NZ passionfruit growers Association.
The image of this passion flower is similar to our variety. It is a beautiful flower.

'The purple passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) is a native of the rainforest margins in the Amazon region of Brazil and perhaps also of Paraguay and northern Argentina. It has adapted to the cooler sub-tropics and the high altitude tropics.

There are many other passiflora species spread widely around the globe and about 50 species are native to New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific and South East Asia.

Passionfruit acquired its name from Spanish missionaries who thought parts of the plant's flower resembled different religious symbols. The Jesuit missionaries who accompanied the Conquistadors to South America saw in its striking flower a means of illustrating the Crucifixion; the 10 petals and sepals represented the apostles, the crown of thorns was seen in the filaments, the five anthers represent the five wounds, the three stigmas were allied with the nails used to pierce the hands and feet of Jesus and the vine's tendrils were equated with the whips.'


Members Lounge for the exclusive use of financial members of the NZ Passionfruit Growers Association Inc.

More fruit stories - Passionfruit

More of the summer harvest. Now our passionfruit are ripening. Passionfruit have such an interesting name - and I have no idea why they are linked to 'passion'!

Perhaps its the lovely fruity tropical smell when you cut them open that reminds one of tropical beaches, sunsets, and - well - passion. And they are a beautiful deep shade of purple.

No likelihood of these little fruit going to waste - I scoop out the contents and freeze any spare ones we have. They make an excellent topping for desserts, and to add to cooked fruit and fruit salads. I also occasionally make 'passionfruit honey' which is a spread for toast.

Rotting Fruit

I hate to see fruit wasted. This is our neighbours pear tree, note all the fruit on the ground, rotting where it has dropped.

Another neighbour and I have picked up several bags and cooked and frozen them, but there are many more there for the taking.

Oh Darn

I have to admit - 'oh darn' are not actually the words I used when this damage occurred.

I was backing out the drive and negotiating my way around the assortment of beach toys and paraphernalia on the lawn at our beach house, and failed to remember that we have a sizable pohutukawa tree sitting on the lawn also.

The pohutukawa is a native tree, sometimes called the NZ Christmas tree as it has beautiful red flowers which appear over the summer. My header has a close up of the flowers, which are actually the stamens.

Luckily the damage, apart from $300 excess, is covered by our insurance - I am off to get a quote tomorrow. The tail light looks okay but the glass is broken and it has been pushed askew. The side panel also has a crease in it.

The tree has considerable damage to the bark, but will survive.

A Curtain of Apples

Our Golden Delicious apple tree is groaning with fruit this year, so much so that on one side the laden branches reach to the ground.

I can see that I will be busy baking apple based goodies all year. Apple shortcake anyone? An open invitation to all!

Waitangi Day - 6th Feb

'Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs signed what is New Zealand’s founding document. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.

For some people, Waitangi Day is a holiday; for many, and especially for Maori, it is the occasion for reflecting on the Treaty. Since the 1970s the style and mood of the commemorations on Waitangi Day have been influenced by the increasingly heated debate surrounding the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand.

Waitangi Day is recognised as New Zealand's national day, and the date is an important marker in the country's history. Recognition of the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi as the nation's founding document will continue to encourage leaders, communities and individuals to mark the day in new ways.'

Taken from NZ History Online

The treaty of Waitangi is significant to our family as my Great Great Grandfather was one of the signatories of the treaty, and another great great Grandfather and a Great grandfather were present on the day and witnessed this historical event.

Pataka - a Maori storehouse

This posting is in response to a photo posted by teepe of a larder on a pole used as a form of food storage by the Sami people of Sweden. There is a similarity to a building used by the Maori people here in days gone by.

In pre European times the Maori people used a building up on poles to store their food. The idea of course was to keep it clear of rodents, dogs etc. Sometimes there was just one pole, sometimes several.

Often the storehouses were elaborately carved.

A google search revealed this article written in 1933 about similarities of the pataka and Alaskan buildings.

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This description and observation is taken from 'The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 4 (August 1, 1933)'


The Pataka, Maori and Alaskan.

'There are some curious resemblances between two far-severed races, the Maori and the Indians of the coast of Alaska, in respect of certain branches of material culture. The dug-out canoe, carved from a single log, is common to both peoples; there is a close likeness between the two.

The Alaskan totem pole, with its carved figures, is much the same as the tall tiki post seen in olden Maori villages, though the style of carving is different. Most of these carved posts in both countries have been gathered into museums.

Another close likeness between the structures of these races separated by the whole breadth of the Pacific Ocean is seen in the pataka or food storehouse of the Maori and the high-legged food cache seen on the Alaskan coast and along the great Yukon River. Both are built on exactly the same principle, a stilt platform-house, high above the ground, for protection from marauding animals. There is just now before me an American geographical magazine with an article on the Yukon containing a photograph of a log food cache which but for the niched-log manner of construction might stand for the Maori pataka or whata. The illustration shows a structure raised above the ground about seven feet on round posts, on the upper parts of which tin is nailed to prevent wild animals from climbing up and gnawing through the floor to get at the dried fish and other supplies stored in the small house. Exactly the same precaution is taken by the Maori and the Pakeha bushman and surveyor against rats.

The backblocks settler in New Zealand found the pataka of the Maori an excellent means of keeping his food supplies dry and safe from the rats; and so do the white traders and settlers along the Yukon.

The Maori often expended a great deal of artistic decoration on his pataka.'