Natives Thrive in California
New Zealand native plants and trees are thriving in San Francisco with both the San Francisco and University of California botanical gardens boasting impressive specimens of rimu, kauri and others. “One has even become…
Tag Archives: native plants
Rats Not Such Pests After All
Invasive rats are compensating for the loss of native pollinators in New Zealand, scientists report in a paper published in a Royal Society journal. “New Zealand offers a really interesting and rare opportunity to…
Ecosystem Fragility
University of Canterbury researchers say they have linked the modern-day decline of a common forest shrub with the local extinction of two pollinating birds — the bellbird and stitchbird — over a century ago….
Southern Surprises
Southern surprises “The Chatham Islands off the coast of New Zealand offer a unique ecology rich with opportunities to discover plants and birds that live nowhere else,” American horticulturist Daniel Hinkley writes for the Seattle…
Green Invasion
Though New Zealand has 2,065 plant species which grow nowhere else on the planet, 22,000 non-native plants have also made the isles their home. Of those, 2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out…
Jeweller Finds Wonderland in NZ
British jeweller Alice Hughes has created a range of bespoke pieces inspired by NZ plants and sea life. She established Alice in Wonderland Jewellery in 2004 after undertaking an apprenticeship in NZ, where she…
Flax Attack
After a brief 1960s hey-day, NZ flax (phormium) has returned as “the drama queen of trendy garden designs” in LA. According to TV horticulturist Maureen Gilmer, “Phormiums are the most exciting new plants to enter the American…
Seeds of Learning
New Zealand plant expert Doctor Warwick Harris lectures in Seattle on the Christchurch Botanical gardens.
Elegant Astelia
A New Zealand silver astelia adds elegance to Irish garden designer Dominick Murphy’s small garden.
Top of the Pots
New Zealand plants have a distinctive look to them, and the tree-fern is perhaps one of the most unusual. Ponga trees are a hot item in the UK. Home Front TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin highlights them on…
Moa Simulation: The Strange World of Canterbury Ecology
New Zealand has more small-leaved, tangled shrubs than anywhere else in the world. Some experts think the plants evolved like this to deter the now-extinct moa from making them dinner, but Canterbury University ecologist Dave Kelly doesn’t…
Flax: A Protective Edge
The Sunday Times garden columnist, Dan Pearson, gets all excited about Phorium tenax: New Zealand flax, or Harakeke. He’s found its adaptation to New Zealand’s harsh coasts makes it the perfect windbreak for a seaside garden…
