New plantings commemorative nod to past
Arbor Day, officially celebrated in New Zealand yesterday, to align with World Environment Day, is an invitation to plant trees with care, purpose, and connection. This day honours our living landscapes and the role of trees in environmental stewardship, community wellbeing, and cultural identity.
Arbor Day is also a chance to reflect on how trees fit into our own distinctive environment. While much of the Otago region is known for its open landscapes of tussock grasslands and farmland, there are patches — and even larger areas — of native forest that remain. In the south, the Catlins Forest has rich podocarp and broadleaf species, while to the west, beech forests flourish along the river valleys of Mount Aspiring National Park. Closer to Dunedin, remnants of coastal and lowland forest persist in the Leith Valley and Silverpeaks.
Pseudopanax ferox is also found in Lovelock bush.
At the Dunedin Botanic Garden, we have around 16ha of regenerating kānuka, mixed broadleaf with spatterings of fierce lancewood (Pseudopanax ferox) along with podocarps such as kahikatea and tōtara.
Although most of the native bush around the garden does not receive new plantings, we have the odd spot where we have welcomed in some new trees. Tucked away in the eastern edge of Lovelock Bush, you can come across a commemorative planting of trees such as southern beech, rātā, pōkākā and more that were donated by the public.
This planting ties in respectfully with the natural surrounds while encouraging visitors to pause and think about what other native tree species could have been in this landscape decades past.
Wander the tracks of Lovelock Bush and head to the water tanks to see if you can see this commemorative nod to the past.
Garden Life is produced by Dunedin Botanic Garden. For more details, contact botanical services officer Tom Myers.
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