Tales from the Wiggy Wig Bush!

The Wiggy-Wig Bush (Muehlenbeckia astonii) (20/9/2013)

Following a much-appreciated week of relaxed acclimatisation and gentle meandering, I began my work with the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. During my first week I was lucky enough to be involved in a wide range of activities including label making, pricking out bedding plants, flax pruning and seed collecting. 

Labels under construction in the workshop (20/9/2013)

As is customary for those undertaking student placements such as mine, I am to spend my initial weeks working in the New Zealand Native Plants’ section of the garden. I will be doing so under the guidance of Shirley Stuart, the curator of this particular collection and a wonderfully knowledgeable and helpful supervisor.

The Native section actually comprises a number of areas spread throughout the gardens. These include an alpine scree garden, native forest or ‘bush’ and a butterfly-friendly embankment. Overall, 3 hectares of land is given over to cultivated borders with a further 10 hectares being used for native bush. Within this area, a diverse array of New Zealand’s flora is exhibited, from mature trees to near invisible alpine mosses. A large portion of the work that I undertook during this first week was general maintenance i.e weeding, pruning and tidying of the various areas of the Native section. However, there were a couple of new tasks and a whole load of plants that I had not encountered back home.

Native Alpine Garden (20/9/2013)

Save the Butterflies!

After having just managed to come to grips with some of the more common native plant species of the UK, I had once again been thrown back into the deep end. The isolated nature of the islands comprising New Zealand has lead to the development of a unique variety of flora with a large number of endemic species. Thankfully, though I was able to pick a few familiar faces amongst the unfamiliar masses.  But first, to work! Along with one of the garden’s senior apprentices, Joe, and a student from the local college, Oliver, I was assigned to the butterfly bank. Set on an embankment in the lower gardens, the butterfly bank is an area populated by plants that are particularly hospitable to butterflies. However, in recent years large portions of the embankment have started to erode quite severel, leaving large areas of exposed rock face. In response to this my team and I planted out specimens of Hebe pubescens subsp. pubescens and the ground shrub Muehlenbeckia commplexa to act as ground cover as well as fortifying the ground through the future development of the plants’ roots. The flowers too of the H. pubescens subsp. pubescens provide a luxurious hangout for a weary butterflies.

Butterfly Embankment covered in Hebes - (16/9/2013)

Flax Pruning

Another task that I was asked to undertake was to prune a large stand of flax (Phormium tenax) situated on the edge of the gardens. Never having pruned Flax before, I was given a demonstration by Shirley as well as an insight into the significant status that flax holds within New Zealand’s horticultural history.

Stand of flax (Phormium tenax). (18/9/2013)

The name Flax refers to two species of large, herbaceous monocot Phormium tenax and P. cookianum and the range of cultivated varieties that exist of each. A common ornamental plant seen in many present-day gardens, flax and the use of its large leaf fibres for weaving has been a mainstay of the New Zealand’s Maori culture for centuries. Though not a Maori myself, the cultural traditions surrounding the pruning of flax make sense from a horticultural stand point and if adhered to will ensure a healthy plant that produces strong growth over multiple seasons.

A stand of flax is comprised of numerous ‘fans’ of leaves with between two and fourteen leaves growing around a central leaf in each. Pruning of flax should take place during the day and not whilst it is raining or snowing. Leaves are usually harvested in late spring. When pruning, the central leaf along with the leaf on either side of it is left untouched. This will allow the fan to regrow in subsequent growing seasons. The remaining leaves are cut at a downward angle away from the central three leaves with the cut staying as close to the base as possible. This will minimise the potential for water collecting in the base of the fan and leading to rot of the remaining leaves. When cut, the flax leaves at the base of the fan expel a thick sap that has excellent antiseptic properties. The cut leaves should then be gathered into piles and tied into tight bundles for storage. It is worth noting that, out of respect for the flax, Maoris would not step over these bundles at any point during the harvesting process.

A pruned fan of flax (18/9/2013)

There you have it! A somewhat abridged account of the more in depth tasks that I was asked to carry out during my first week in Dunedin. Keep checking back for more updates as they arrive.