From Hedgerows to Hills, July 13th

Pauline shows us her newest native garden

Pauline and Malcom's Native Hedge

We met with Pauline and Malcom,  a retired farming couple from Methven, this morning to talk with them about what inspired them to plant a native wind-break hedge around their property on their own initiative.  Malcom and Pauline stated the main reason is that it is a lot easier to maintain (less trimming in the long run) plus they like the look of the native plants and that they attract birds, bees and lizards.  The growth that you see in the photos is about five years of growth and both Pauline and Malcom stated it does take maintenance of the hedge as gorse continues to come up and they have to spray or pull the gorse sprouts. 


We also learned that they bought many of the plants, but also propagated many of the native plantings from cuttings.  They are one of the first farmers in the area to make such a prominent hedge from natives in the Lincoln area and they hope it will set a good example for other farmers to try.  We also enjoyed Pauline's home baked muffins.

DOC Nursery

We left the farm and went to the Department of Conservation's (DOC) native plant nursery that also serves as demonstration gardens. Nikki with DOC, who manages the nursery, talked about how they eco source their plants.  This means that they gather seeds from natural remnants throughout the Canterbury Plains and then grow them into small plants and return them to the areas from where the seeds were collected.

A view of the hills from Sign of the Packhorse hike

After lunch at the DOC nursery, we headed back to the Port Hills for a hike at the Sign of the Packhorse.  It was a relatively warm day (58 degrees F) and we hiked along several paddocks with an up close look with sheep and cattle.  We also went through an exotic pine forest being logged for lumber.  We even had an opportunity to relax in the warm sun at the top of a hill overlooking Lyttelton Harbor.  We ended the day at the Blue Duck Cafe (open to "4ish") with our obligatory tea break.  Note: at 9:37pm some of us felt a small aftershock that rumbled through Lincoln.  Cheers, Mark