historical-information
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The Local Arboretum: An introduction
By definition an arboretum is a specific place where trees of the world or of a specific country are collected for public viewing. Adding local seems to complicate that understanding. There is good reason for it though: the premise here is that even a single tree, looked at in-situ, can open up the same interests…
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Under the Macrocarpa, Part 2
Part 2 of this blog starts with a departure from the previous style by using a colour photo. This is useful as it shows the contrast between the dark macrocarpa canopy and the sea beyond. This tree is found in Worser Bay, Seatoun. Straight out to sea – in the photo about the mid-left of…
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Under the macrocarpa, Part 1
As windbreaks, macrocarpa trees are part of our landscape, the gnarled border to many paddocks. Their outstretched limbs offer shelter to sheep. … Like most New Zealanders, I have always pronounced macrocarpa with an extra ‘a’ in place of the ‘o’. Elsewhere, it’s known as Monterey cypress. For whatever reason we’ve decided here to call…
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Plant Identification: hold fire on the app
Recently I travelled to the small rural town of Cheviot in North Canterbury because I’d learnt there were many significant trees there. Some were planted in the 1870s when it was a large rural estate owned by ‘Ready Money’ Robinson. The old estate was broken up before the 1900s, and the land is now called…
The Local Arboretum: Noticeable trees and their stories 