Preservation of Rivers and their Margins in the Taranaki Region - Don Shearman
report by Jo Burson

On Saturday 28 April 2007, we were treated to a presentation from Don Shearman from the Taranaki Regional Council concerning the Riparian Management Program being implemented in Taranaki. The plan, in short, is to preserve the natural character of rivers and their margins.

Taranaki has 145 main streams and 481,000 dairy cows. That is 2.8 cows/ha. It is thought 90% of dairy cow waste is discharged onto pasture. A high percentage of this will end up in streams and rivers. At the moment water quality in Taranaki is good to excellent, best around the National Park and decreasing in quality as it flows through farmland.

The approach to implement this plan is to educate farmers one to one and offer technical advice. At present 50% of dairy farms have a plan in place and so far 40% of streams have existing vegetation. The plants used should all be eco-sourced. For the 2007 season 200,000 plants are required and it is estimated that by 2015 2.8 million will be needed. Tenders are in place out to growers for the 35 species grown, price is growers is $1.90-$2.70. Once the tender is accepted a deposit is paid on plants to be grown with balance once order is filled.

The Taranaki Regional Council has put in place an excellent plan to ensure 90% of streams are fenced and planted by 2015. The main issue of preserving water quality will be achieved.

Nursery use of Geothermal Energy – Philip Smith (Taupo Native Plant Nursery)
report by Morgan Rogers

Philip Smith of Taupo’s native plant nursery presented the second paper on Saturday the 28 th June, on his nursery’s use of the naturally occurring geothermal steam as heat found in the Taupo area.

The use of unsustainable power sources (ie coal, electricity) for heating in commercial nursery or general horticultural applications are not only expensive to maintain and run but in the case of coal and electricity detrimental to the further environment, with carbon dioxide and monoxide emissions (coal) and lowering lake water levels and erosion (hydropower).

Piggy backing this issue of adverse environmental impacts of unsustainable energy sources is the increasing cost of use (power) and tightening restrictions of coal use, we can all safely agree these are swiftly becoming a huge factor in business expenses.

During Philip's talk he displayed brilliant positive and practical aspects in regards to this issue. His nursery heating is based on the sustainable and naturally occurring gaseous emissions of the Taupo area, channelling this hot steam via regulated and well controlled piping throughout the nursery at very little cost. This system does not emit environmentally harmful toxins at any level substantial compared to the use of diesel of coal burners and certainly doesn’t cost as much as electricity powered systems.

Philip drew on the establishment cost and the cost incurred of training safety procedures needed to be in place to run this type of system. But rightly balanced this investment can be outweighed with running costs and elimination of the cost on the environmental effects.

This is a fine example of forward thinking and ingenuity. As a young industry joint horticulturalist I have a sense of pride to know that there are others in this industry with this state of mind.

Lateral Thinking - Ken Davey
report by Donna Robertson

This paper was based on Propagation Research that Ken was involved in at the Horticulture Research Station at Levin 30 years ago. The Research Station is no longer there. Ken talked about several projects he was involved in. One of these was developing single stem plants from cuttings which would make Mechanical harvesting of various berry fruits possible. Ken also had success with grafting hazelnuts imported from Europe . Ken made a very interesting comment "when people say they can't propagate a plant I say there is no such thing as a plant being impossible to propagate it's that we haven't worked out how to do it yet

• Granite rock base, the soil is poor podsol, pakihi type, with up to 300mm re-spread after mining and in some places may be absent.
• Moist temperate climate, with extreme wet events bringing up to 6.5 m annual rainfall. The high rainfall brings associated cloud cover, which means reduced light for photosynthesis for plants.
• Poor access, difficult or no road access to get plants to planting sites.

• Hydroseeding and helicopter seeding Apply very high seed numbers on sites with poor access. These species are able to stabilise the site.
• Local transplants from vegetation, these may be wildings or divisions and vegetation may be moved. Alpine Hebes often suffer damage and the broken plant part self-root.
• Planting nursery-produced revegetation plants a range of 20 species, planted at a rate of 5000 plants per hectare.

Sustainability Energy Options - Michael Lawley
report by Morgan Rogers

Michael Lawley the third speaker of the 28 th July 2007 quantified the cost in power savings that could be had with “smart” purchasing of better energy efficient products. This was really well driven with a cost example of general lighting; “ Energy efficient light bulbs use 20% of the energy of normal light bulbs, give out the same light and last much, much longer. A compact fluorescent light bulb will cost approximately $5 per bulb, but it will save you $13.80 over a year. If you replace 5 light bulbs in your house, your savings could be up to $79 a year” these products often have much longer life expectancy than the standard types as well. Other energy savers such as better or increased insulation, sky lights and motion detectors to replace switch lights.

No matter how efficient your appliances are if left on in situations where they are not needed will be the biggest identified $$$ waster. The message to take home smart powering, identification of energy hungry appliances, a little homework and better practice will potentially save your business hundreds of dollars annually.

Read more about Michael's work here www.ecoinnovation.co.nz

Regenerating the rarities – Terry Hatch’s conference presentation
Report by Brett Harris

The opening talk of the conference technical sessions was presented by Terry Hatch. Terry's paper was titled 'Regenerating the rarities'. Terry passionately talked about the number of rare, beautiful and unusual natives that are disappearing from native New Zealand. Terry bought along some of these rare specimens to illustrate his talk. These included the Pittosporums; turnerii, umbellata and pimeloides. Others featured were the Coprosmas; virescens, crassifolium and rotundifolia. Many of these specimens are few and far between around New Zealand due to stock grazing, council spray contractors as well as pests like hares and possums. Terry's Pittosporum turnerii was later planted by Jim Rumbal on a field trip to Hollard’s gardens. The rest of Terry's specimens were hot property on Saturday night’s auction

A Landscaper Perspective - Mike Mansvelt
report by Carol Burke

Mike Mansvelt gave a brief run down on the training and experience that led to running his own Landscape Design business and showcased some of the gardens he has created.

Working as an apprentice at Tupare under Alistair Duncan, Mike was involved in growing deciduous trees and Rhododendrons. Part of his training was to learn one new plant each day. From this he set up his own garden design business with no experience other than to do his own and two friends gardens.

Mike went over to Australia and worked as a Horticultural Consultant. He said he went from New Zealand with the focus on springtime / cottage gardens as was the fashion at the time, to working with wealthy Australians and was completely ‘blown away by how far people could take a garden.’ 2001 he retuned to New Zealand riding a bit of a wave – went from 1 staff (himself) to 13 and was involved as a designer for the TV show ‘Mucking In’.

From his Australian experience he observed that Landscape Architects would come in and choose the plants for properties – often small areas – with clients having high expectations of what they required. They wanted plants that didn’t drop leaves, did not die down and required low maintenance gardens. They wanted colour, fragrance and evergreen features. Based on this, his designs use plants that excite and stimulate people’s senses. Using hedges to layer, green on green.

The images, which accompanied the power point presentation showed his designs create really attractive gardens, quite complex but thereby interesting with a good mix of form (both in plants and structures) greenery, texture and subtle use of colour.

One garden was 2 acres – client brief was to fill up the area with no work! From this brief Mike created what he calls a ‘contemporary prairie garden.’ Maintenance of these 2 acres is 1 day a month.

Design features displayed in these gardens included paving, many with pebble mosaic inlays, structures; bold coloured fences and feature walls, fireplaces, architectural feature plants, large bowls, water, sculpture and he has extended the design process to include the architecture of a house.

Favoured plants were; Chionochloa flavescens, Dietes bicolour, Miscanthus sp., Libertia sp., Prunus sp., providing shade, autumn colour, flowers. Michelia figo, as a fragrant hedge, Pratia sp., as ground cover, Yucca sp., cycads in pots providing year round good looks, Kentia sp., Liburnum sp., Buxus microphylla, Corokia sermpervirens, Corokia ‘Frosted Chocolate’, Arum sp. Citrus for fragrance, fruit, form – ‘the 3 fs!’ Standard Kumquat, Taxodium ‘Cascade Falls’ a small tree with good autumn colour, Protea cynaroides ‘Arctic Ice’ which flowers year round, Corokia ‘Geenty’s Green’, Strelitzia sp., Liriope sp., Maples, Scleranthus sp.

The seed of spinifex - Robert Southward (Massey University)

Robert Southward discussed findings on seed collection and extraction for Spinifex from a collection of observations and records taken over 9 years.

Spinifex sericeus otherwise known as silvery sand grass or Kowhangatara is a coastal plant native of Australia, New Caledonia, north island and upper south island of New Zealand and is important in the binding of sand dune areas. It is a stoloniferous perennial, is dioecious in habit and wind pollinated.

COLLECTION

His records provided recommendations to improve seed yields, noting an east versus west coast variation in yields. Low yields were the result of inadequate pollination and thus indicated the need to have male and female colonies adjacent to each other synchronised flowering of male and female plants and to collect seed from good size colonies with presence of male plants. Seed yields were lowered due to rodents and presence of fungus smut, therefore have good rodent control and avoid collecting from smutty seed heads

EXTRACTION

Spinifex has a soft seed that is easily damaged. Mechanical seed extraction causes 3 – 7% damage to seed. The following is a list of the machinery that was used for extraction and what form of the seed it produced.

Extraction cost 1.9c to $1.00 per seed average about 5.5c per seed. Other machinery mentioned for extraction were an Almalio small bundle thresher, Westrup dehuller / scarifier combined with an aspirator and a South Dakota air blower. There is a need to ascertain machines available in New Zealand and consider possible modifications to available machinery.

Propagating for Revegetation: Esme Dean's conference presentation
Report by Robynne Hayman

Esme Dean, while outlining the principles of “Propagating for Revegetation”, also shared the delightful story of how Naturally Native has developed from the family affair it was in the 1980’s to the competitive, professional supplier of bulk natives it is today.

Esme summarised that the market requirement is for bulk numbers of a consistent grade of NZ natives which have been sourced from the province it is to be used, which are low cost and which are easy to transport and handle.

Tumonz mapping is a tool used to locate landowners who have native seed sources and it is important to maintain a good relationship with them. The seed collection kit, which resembles an espionage package, contains things like a GPS unit, a camera, and an EPERB for use in emergency along with the usual seed collection tools. Paperwork includes the permit and a seed collection form. This form is the start of the long and thorough recording which is the standard expected for propagating for revegetation.

Cleaning and processing is always evolving to improve cost effectiveness. No part of our industry requires kiwi-innovation like seed processing does, and the things us propagators can be caught doing with seed would put any of us in an asylum! Naturally Native is no exception. They have spent 2000 hours cleaning spinifex seed which is a good example of the challenges revegetation suppliers face.

Seed storage, Esme says, is now in resealable coffee bags which can include colour-coding and always includes labelling with things like which contract it is for. Records are entered on computer data base to improve ease of tracking.

Potting into PBs is labour intensive so mechanisation will always reduce the cost of producing a plant. Consequently this year has seen Naturally Native invest in a potting machine.

To achieve consistent grades procedures and graph profiles of plants are adhered to. A hedge trimmer is used to even up the blocks, followed by a blower-sucker to remove debris.

Transporting bulk natives has evolved from the ladies from Playgroup loading onto a truck to use of trolleys and now trailers with multiple pots in trays to be freighted right to the planting site.

Esme pointed out future developments expected for each of the processes of producing plants for revegetation. Things like data-capture in the field, mechanisation of seed cleaning stage is crucial, seed viability testing needs inhancing, robotics within large production units is likely, reducing pesticides and the development of a biodegradable pot will all impact on the cost and supply of natives.

Despite the massive changes seen at Naturally Native since 1980, it is still a family affair with three generations of Deans still working there!

Plant hunting in China

In his Thursday night conference presentation Lyn Bublitz spoke about plant hunting in China and has given us some shots of little-seen plants with commercial potential.

Crinun augustum	Phaemeria magnifica
Rhododendron hancockii	dark pink Luculia
Nemocharis pardanthina	Stellaria chamaejasma
Cypripedium flavum	Fritillaria delavayi

Hollard’s Gardens Kaponga - Visited on Friday's Field Trip
by Paul Mahony

This is my first IPPS Conference, and also my first visit to the beautiful New Plymouth. I was asked to write few a words about the field trip to Hollard’s Gardens.

What can you say about the legacy that Bernard and Rose Hollard have left the people of Taranaki and New Zealand?

Bernard (1903–1996) and Rose Hollard farmed this property while developing the 4.5 hectare gardens which were bequeathed to the Queen Elizabeth National Trust in 1982 and was then given to the Taranaki Regional Council in 2002. The garden is in three main areas, the Old garden developed in 1927, the new garden developed in 1982 and the New Zealand garden developed in 1992.

The old garden contains many of the original plants developed by some very notable plant breeders from the era. While the New Zealand garden contains many rare endangered Natives.

It is great to see that it is still free to the public to enjoy day after day. 45 acres of beautiful and well designed Gardens. You could spend hours just walking and wondering what was around the next corner. I spoke to a couple of the staff, and you could see that they are very proud to be working there, which says a lot.

It is one of the best gardens that I have visited.

Oaonui - Visited on Friday's Field Trip
by Brian Frost

As part of our “Energy behind Plants” Conference, it was fitting that our field trip should include a visit to Shell Todd Oil Services Oanui Shore Station.

For those who haven’t visited this area, we are just up the road from Opunake and south west of Mt Taranaki. The first sign of the oil was at Ngamotu Beach 1865. Maui Exploration started in 1969. Over the next 10 years the presence of gas and condensate were found in commercial quantities. Production commenced in May 1979. The Oaonui Shore Station essentially conducts a splitting operation separating L.P.G from condensate. We were told this is a two way function which
(a) Takes gas out of liquid
(b) Takes liquid out of gas. This is achieved by heating and boiling off the gas.

In the early days product was coming on shore at 220 cubic metres per second this is now down to 12, so output is clearly running out. The offshore rig is just visible 33 km out to sea.

It is mostly a mans world but interestingly has a woman Team Leader. There used to be up to 50 people on board and a weekly roster. Things were quite social and popular. However, in the interests of safety and with more automation crew has now been reduced to 10-12 working a 2 week shift. There is a very impressive life craft on board – a Tempsc = Totally Enclosed Motor Propelled Survival Craft. In the event of an evacuation this craft will launch from a height of 25 metres at 45 deg angle (just for a bit of final excitement).

If anyone is keen on an oil rig, and Mt Taranaki holiday view, a subdivision has just opened adjacent to the shore station. Section prices range from $125,000 to $145,000. The first house is up and also a few more sold signs, so be quick. This is not a promising place to set up a nursery though. Our bus dropped us off to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. The day was superb. Hardly a breathe of wind. However, the wind blows 364 days of a year as evident by the Boxthorn hedges which are shaped and cut by the souwesters. The main vegetation on the coastal cliff tops was Coprosma repens and Pimelia prostrato both literally wrapped on to the rough ground. We heard during conference that there may be some benefit in pest reduction in a salt laden environment, but not here at Oaonui. The Coprosma were heavily infested with both leafroller caterpillar and Mealy Bug. So if you are moving in, forget work and pack a fishing rod – the birds were working and fish jumping with in easy casting reach.

Saturday's Field Trip
Report by Hayden Foulds

The Saturday field trip took us north of New Plymouth to the Waitara area where we visited three nurseries and a garden. Despite some rain in the morning, the skies cleared in time so the yellow and back umbrellas provided by the organisers weren’t needed.

Our first stop was at Michielsen’s Tree Nursery where we were welcomed by owner/managers John and Sandra Michelsen along with Production Manager Vance Hooper. Michelsens specialise in producing open ground deciduous trees which are sold New Zealand wide with a few exported on contract. Most trees are propagated by budding or grafting with some also done by cuttings and root cuttings. Our tour of the nursery revealed many fine trees grown in soil which could only be described as good enough to eat! Of particular interest was the colouring of the Cercis Forest Pansy which was the best many had seen and also some of the specialised machinery used to wrench and lift plants. All very interesting.

Next stop was the nursery of Ian Cassie who welcomed us to one of his three growing sites in Taranaki. Ian specilises in field production and mainly sells in chain stores, mostly camellias and rhododendrons but we also saw buxus, evergreen magnolias and pieris under production. Propagation is done under contract by Lowlands and the plants are field grown in soil very similar to the first visit. The camellias were certainly doing well - a great grade.

There was much interest in Ian’s new green machine, an Avant 220 Mini Pivot Steer which comes with a variety of attachments. A couple of keen members even had a go and I’m sure we’ll see some appearing in nurseries in the near future.

We then moved onto Lowlands Nursery where we were welcomed by Ian & Robin Fankhauser. Lowlands focuses solely on contract propagation to order both for the domestic and export market. Around 650,000 plants are produced each year mostly by cuttings with a few ex tissue culture and by seed; main lines produced include camellia, rhododendrons, daphne, pittosporums and pseudopanex.

Ian & Robin then showed us around what is a very tidy and efficient nursery both inside and out. One of Lowlands main export crops is camellias to the UK and Ian explained to us how they are sent there, one week they are in NZ then are bare rooted and air freighted to the UK where they are potted up and ready for sale three months later. The English apparently like their camellias short and bushy, whereas we like ours tall and upright.

Lowlands stock beds were also very interesting with stock plants being cut back to induce plenty of good cutting material with some phenomenal growth occurring. Our tour concluded with afternoon tea and in true IPPS style, there was plenty of it.

Our final stop was that of ‘Tikorangi’, the garden of Mark and Abbie Jury which was one of the founding gardens in the Taranaki Rhododendron Festival and a Garden of National Significance. The Jury name is well known in horticultural circles, not only for the many fine magnolias bred by Mark and his late father Felix, but also for other plants including rhododendrons, camellias, vireyas, hostas and Cordyline Red Fountain.

Mark and Abbie are very passionate about their garden and this is reflected in the plantings with many rare and unusual plants along with plenty of Jury bred plants as well.
Our tour of the garden started under the 130 year old rimu trees which have been underplanted with a wide variety of plants including vireyas, ferns, natives (dracophyllum was doing very well) and bromeliads. It was then down a step bank to an open area with a stream running through it. This area is planted with a variety of trees and shrubs - it would be magnificent in the spring with the magnolias, prunus and rhododendrons in flower.

It was then back up the hill to the rockery and the sunken garden around the homestead. The rockery contained many interesting and unusual species of bulbs, ornamental oxalis, succulents, some rather large cacti(!) and dwarf conifers. The sunken garden was also very interesting with many interesting perennials and shrubs. Heading back to the buses we passed the vegetable garden in which the original Magnolia Iolanthe has completely taken over and then the new brick wall which has separated the garden from the car park.

Thanks to all those who opened their garden and nurseries for us to have a look around.