Auckland Botanic Gardens Field Trip - 12 February 2011

By Hayden Foulds

Following the IPPS executive meeting on a balmy Auckland summer's day, those present, plus some other members were guided around the gardens by Billie Elliott and Lindsey Hatch. Having not been to the gardens for 10 years, it was amazing to see what progress had been made in that time and in particular, the maturation of many of the plantings in the gardens. Despite the gardens being less than 30 years old, you get the feeling that it is much older with the native bush providing a great backdrop.

Our tour set off from the Potter Children’s garden, a recent addition opened in 2005 by Prince Charles. Judging by how many families were making use of it, it must be one of the most popular features of the gardens and teaches children (and their parents) about plants and sustainability, which can only be a good thing.

We then moved onto the perennial borders, a blaze of colour as one would expect at this time of the year and the native plant ideas area, which showcases New Zealand natives and how they can be used in an array of garden situations including hedges, standards and topiary. A must see if your interest is in NZ natives.

One of the important aspects of the gardens is to showcase plants that do well in the Auckland region and all its challenges.

The Botanic Gardens runs a number of trials of a range of plant varieties, some have been ongoing for a number of years, others are fairly recent in origin. We saw a trial of coprosma varieties and interestingly, some newer cultivars were not performing as well as some older ones growing in the same garden. This trend also extended to the marguerite daisy trial so some food for thought for anyone trialling and introducing new plants.

The tour then wandered through the palm collection, the largest such public collection in New Zealand and the associated sub tropical plantings, all set among native bush. It is one of the newer parts of the gardens and despite some setbacks with early plantings being stolen, it is starting to mature very well.

We then went past the former site of the Ellerslie Flower Show, now an area where dogs can be exercised off a leash and onto the rose garden, where considerable changes have been made since my last visit.

Gone are the traditional beds of roses, now replaced with mixed plantings incorporating roses and other garden plants. Also gone is an intensive care regime, now the roses are left to their own devices and those that don’t look good are removed.

From there, we toured the Gondwana arboretum, another newish part of the gardens developed in the last 10 years. Plantings of members of the Araucariaceae family feature here which once more mature will be a fantastic asset to the gardens.

It was then onto the Magnolia collection, the largest in New Zealand and growing with the addition of recent cultivars from the likes of Vance Hooper and Mark Jury. This would be a fantastic sight in full flower come spring time. We then toured through Rhododendron Gully and Spring Blossom Valley, both full of plants that would be in full flower come spring including prunus and rhododendrons – the latter of which generally don’t do well in the Auckland region but varieties are being selected that will grow well in such conditions.

The African garden was a real eyeopener with many interesting species of plants with interesting forms and flowers. Come spring, flowering bulbs add much colour and interest to this part of the gardens which I would have liked more time to see – maybe next time and in spring!

The final part of the tour saw us view the nursery at the Botanic Gardens, which grows a wide range of plants for use in the gardens and other parks across Auckland from the tried and true, through to the rare and unusual.

The facilities, including a near new glasshouse were excellent.

With the tour over, we all headed back to the children’s garden for a BBQ and time to socialise with fellow IPPS members, which is what these field days are all about. A big thanks must go to Lindsey Hatch for organising the day.

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Auckland Botanic Gardens Field Trip - 12 February 2011

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