ARTICLE : PERCY SCENIC RESERVE - News

 May 2002 – Percy Scenic Reserve News

Kia ora tatou

We all know the summer was a bit of a non-event, however it has been a terrific growing season and we have spent a lot less time dragging hoses and sprinklers around the reserve.   During November / December 2001 we had several deluges, one of which caused the reserve to be closed for a day.   The spillway on the dam was overtopped for the first time since the 1970s, and water flowed through the woodland garden to the duck pond, over the path and over all the lawns below the pond and out onto SH2.   The flow was impassable up by the woodland garden and a large amount of silt and debris was deposited on the lawns.   Most of the gravel from the paths ended up in the duck pond.   Amazingly there was little damage to plant life.   By going up a path on the side of the hill, we could see the height of the water in the dam and it was truly mind-boggling; the flood gauge read 21 feet higher than normal. I wished I had a camera at work.

Scrapes containing plants of Spiranthes novae-zelandiae from the only known site in Wellington Conservancy were delivered to the reserve by Richard Gill, DOC Kapiti, over two years ago.   The scrapes were settled into deep polystyrene containers and put in the small shadehouse near the nursery, only because this is a good place to house all the small plants in the collections which could easily be lost if planted out.   The plants have been easy to keep in cultivation, and because they have an association with mycorrhizal fungi, I mulch them with pine sawdust and feed them with leaf litter.   They have obliged me by flowering each year and have produced lots of extremely fine seed which is difficult to pick without it becoming airborne.   All attempts to germinate the seed by me and Margaret Auger at Waikato University have proved unsuccessful.   That is until recently, as I was sitting on a bucket weeding the plants in this shadehouse (tweezer job) I came upon a Spiranthes baby in amongst a pot of Hypericum “Volcanic Plateau”.   A close inspection of all the pots in the shadehouse has revealed five new plants all in different pots and hiding amongst everything from Leptinella to Ourisia.   Richard was delighted with the news and came over to see the new offspring.   We now need to figure out how to replicate these obviously ideal conditions.   I have since placed a tray of mix in the shadehouse and left the last seed-head on the plants and will also sow some seed onto the tray.   We’ll see what happens.

Several large trees have fallen over in the reserve over the past few months.   The first bunch were two huge old poplars near the woodland garden which started to lean following heavy rain at the end of last year.   They had to be felled by arborists and in their felling several other trees were destroyed.   The clearance of this large space has created an opportunity to plant some well grown trees which were donated to the reserve by DOC staff in Takaka during BotSoc’s New Year’s trip three years ago.   Pittosporum patulum, Pseudopanax macintyreiand Pittosporum dallii are now on view in the reserve and will fill the gap and are more appropriate than poplar.   Another mess was recently made by a huge branch falling off a very old pine tree.   It has smashed a mature Fuchsia excorticata and several other trees near the stream. I will be able to replant this area as soon as the ground is wet enough.

Last week I received two plants of Craspedia “Otakeho” from Colin Ogle and DOC, Whanganui.   This Craspedia grows on seepages on cliffs on the south Taranaki coast and is limited to around fifty plants, however there may be more if someone would do a survey from the end of a rope.   The only weed threat to it is Chilean rhubarb, Gunnera tinctoria, which is abundant in this area. Colin says that Ilse Breitwieser of Landcare Research thinks it may be a new species and if this is so, then it is an endangered species.

There is a possibility of it being the same as a Craspedia found in Northwest Nelson.   There are many plants in common to these areas as they were once joined.   I will first see if I can grow it in cultivation and if so see if it can set viable seed.

The Sebaea ovata has now completed a full life cycle with the result that there are now many hundreds of seeds for revegetation work in the Whanganui area.   I hope to keep a self-sustaining population at the reserve as a seed source for the future.

I am now also responsible for the gardens along Petone Foreshore and have been allocated another staff member to join our team.   Some of you will have seen this area featured recently in “Maggie’s Garden Show” starring John Sawyer, Plant Ecologist, DOC, and my manager, Athol Sanson.   Tony Silbery was the instigator of using plants from the reserve in city gardens and traffic islands and I hope to carry on the tradition of using some of the more recent additions to the collections in new plantings down there and will keep you informed via the Newsletter.

Re-potting of the alpine collection will start soon, so if you have a couple of hours free and you think you would enjoy helping, I would be very pleased to have you join me.

Ka kite ano

Robyn Smith, Supervisor Percy Scenic Reserve, Ph 04 570 6505

 August 2002 – Percy Scenic Reserve News

Kia ora tatou

Winter at the reserve means re-potting all plants in the collections that cannot be planted out.   This means the alpine collection, the fern collection and all those tiny, fascinating herbs in the shade house.   In reality most gets done, except for all of the alpine collection, of which roughly half is done over winter and some of the rest is done during summer after flowering.

Some of the plants which have been re-propagated from the house garden due to the SH2 extensions have been planted in the reserve.   Not all plants have been able to be duplicated, some because they are difficult i.e.   some pittosporum, some because of lack of time.

There has been a lot of activity in the nursery, pricking out seed sown last summer/autumn.   We are bulging at the seams at the moment waiting for these babies to grow so they can be bagged on and then put down in the stand-out to grow on.

Four hundred Sebaea ovata from the Whanganui area have been pricked out and will be grown on until October when they will be translocated to Poutu Point on Kaipara Harbour by Jim Campbell at Whanganui DOC.   The reasoning behind moving them to another region is to maximise their survival.   Poutu Point is a pristine dune system, is dotted with dune lakes and wetlands and is perfect for Sebaea.   Jim says there is a lot of paperwork involved in a translocation as it needs to be justified on all levels and care has to be taken to ensure the Sebaea doesn’t displace other native plants in its new home.

New gardens have been planted near the Settlers Museum on Petone Esplanade.   The gardens next to the museum are Wellington coastal plants, i.e. Aciphylla squarrosa, Craspedia uniflora var. maritima, Coprosma “Red Rocks”, Raoulia “Coast”, Poa cita, Melicytus crassifolius, Melicytus obovatus ssp. “Coast” and Brachyglottis greyii var. compacta are now starting to put on new growth.   The other gardens have had some rocks placed beautifully by Gavin Dench to enhance and protect large Xeronema callistemon which will hopefully flower this summer.

In conjunction with Conservation Week, Hutt City Council had guided tours of the alpine collection at the reserve on Sunday 4 August and Arnold Dench kindly helped with his alpine plant expertise.   The number of people who turned up was very disappointing; however, we will probably hold another open day when the weather is better and during the main flowering time.   Keep an eye out in your local paper.

Robyn Smith, Supervisor, Percy Scenic Reserve

 December 2002 – Percy Scenic Reserve News

Robyn Smith resigned from her position at the reserve and is now working at Wellington Zoo as Horticultural Curator.   We wish her well in her new position.   BotSoc wrote to HCC to express concern that after eight weeks, a suitably-qualified successor had not been appointed, possibly putting the native plant collections at risk.   However we are very pleased to advise that the position has now been revised and a new appointee, Lyn Ayres, began work as the Plant Collection Supervisor at the reserve on 3 December.   She is qualified at Masters level.

President

 October 2001 – Percy Scenic Reserve News

Frost, Percy Scenic Reserve.   Photo: Robyn Smith

Despite the extremes of weather, I am surprised that many more plants didn't succumb.   We lost many rangiora, silver fern and mamaku during the drought, however I was delighted to see mahoe recovering with a flush of new  leaves on its bare branches.   I kept hearing on the radio during May and June that the drought had broken, but this really has only happened in the last month.   The frost killed 40 two-year-old Poor Knights lilies which I had grown from seed, and several whau as well as young kohekohe and macropiper.   The Sebaea ovata that germinated in February have been growing on well.   Approximately eighty have been growing on in a heated glasshouse and are on the verge of flowering.   Another eighty have been growing on in the shadehouse and as expected are a lot smaller than the glasshouse plants.   A further 20 plants have been left under the misting system in the propagation house with no fertiliser.

These plants are very small and are comparable to those in the wild.   Seed will be collected off all the plants and will be grown for DOC Whanganui for restoration projects.   Dave King, DOC Gisborne, rang recently to update me on Carmichaelia williamsii cuttings which were sent several years ago.   These are now planted on Whanga-o-Keno Island, off East Cape, in a joint restoration project with local iwi.   Over the past 2 months 55 Celmisia “Mangaweka” and 45 Olearia gardneri have gone to Viv Nicholls at DOC Palmerston North for restoration planting.   This year only ten Celmisia germinated so it was good to get so many growing last year.   Following the phenomenal germination of O. gardneri from Mataroa this year, 700 are being grown on for various sites in and around Taihape.   If only we could get that many to germinate from the Wairarapa trees.   Sixty Carex litorosa sourced from Waikanae Estuary have been been collected by Richard Gill for planting up the Kapiti coast, and 12 have stayed at the reserve as a seed source for the future.   The Resource Consent hearings on the proposed upgrade of State Highway 2, which affect the Reserve, were held early in October.

Robyn Smith, Percy Scenic Reserve

 April 2001 – Percy Scenic Reserve News

Kia ora tatou.

It’s hard to believe there is a drought in Wellington when you see green all around the hills, but a closer inspection reveals rangiora in dire straits.   Consequently a lot of time has been spent watering plants that have never needed it before.   Apart from a short period of humidity, the summer has been kind to the alpine collection, and with the flowering season virtually over I have been repotting them with occasional help from several wonderful volunteers.   The secret of germinating Sebaea ovata was revealed to me by Margaret Auger at Waikato University and after following her instructions implicitly, a green carpet of tiny Sebaea greeted me one Monday morning recently.   Margaret has also instructed me on how to grow-on this wee plant and I’m trying to lengthen my finger nails so the plants can be pricked out.   I’ve sent Margaret seed of Spiranthes novae-zelandiae to see if she can germinate this plant as two heads are better than one on these difficult species.   Approximately 500 Olearia gardnerii from Mataroa have germinated this year and as usual only a few from the Wairarapa.   It is interesting that the seed set at Mataroa was exactly a month later than the Wairarapa plants which shows the different climatic conditions.   It is disappointing that although the Discaria toumatou was smothered in flowers this Spring, no seed has been set.   If any of you have any suggestions for the reason for this, I’d like to hear from you.

The resource consent application for the motorway extension through Percy Reserve has been lodged and is available from the Approvals Team at Hutt City Council.

Robyn Smith