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February 2020 What’s in this edition: Page President’s Patch 2

Guide connections with Academia 3

Walks and Activities 4

Glenmore Meadow 5

Agapanthus Trail 6

The Sculptors of our Sculptures 7

New History and Heritage publication 9

Bird species study at Wellington Botanic

Garden 10

Bulbs for sale 11

- Order form 12

Contact details 13

Tulip Sunday 1948

Events coming up 5pm, Tuesday 3 March 2020 Friends Committee Meeting

Sunday 31 May 2020 Botanic Gardens Australia & New Zealand (BGANZ) Day -

Looking for Friends volunteers

Help support your garden Join us as a Friend of the

Wellington Botanic Garden

Become a guide or host

Make a donation

Give a gift membership

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President’s Patch

2020 has started with Wellington’s weather being a topic of anguished

conversation – even more so than usual! The wind and incessant mist in January

made the summer holidays less than enjoyable, especially for our young. But our

Garden and indeed, Wellington’s green belt, have seldom looked as healthy as

they do now. The pohutukawas, those imports from the north, painted much of

the city a dazzling red for weeks on end.

For your committee, the New Year was marked by our manager David Sole’s temporary move (for

a year) to the development of the Mt Crawford open space and by the manager of Otari-Wilton’s

Bush, Rewi Elliott filling in for him. We are sorry to lose David for this period but always pleased to

have Rewi based in the Treehouse.

In the context of the 150th anniversary events and projects last year, I mentioned on several

occasions the establishment of a Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden Endowment Fund. This

facility based with Wellington’s regional development trust, the Nikau foundation, will facilitate

the efforts of benefactors wishing to support the Garden with a gift or a bequest. I am pleased to

report that recent donations have allowed the committee to top up the funds deposited with

Nikau, to reach the threshold that will mean that the Fund is permitted to pass its annual earnings

back to the Friends, in support of Garden projects and activities. The committee is discussing with

the Garden management how the Endowment Fund should be publicised, now that it is fully

operational.

Another project that the committee will be progressing this year, is the rebuilding of the Friends’

website. Due to the tireless work of Phil Tomlinson over many years, we have a website that in

detail and size well exceeds what our fellow botanic garden friends have. But the quantity of

information that we offer unfortunately presents us with the challenge of finding a volunteer to

manage the site in the long term. Fortunately, Wellington City Archives has recognised the

historical value of what Phil has created and is prepared to take over much of the existing

website’s content with the view to making it publicly available as part of their new online service.

There is much to be done yet, but the current site will likely be replaced with a new and smaller

one, a site that will still serve as an essential resource for members while at the same time

providing links to the material that the current site is renowned for. There will be more advice and

consultation in due course!

Rob Hole President FOWBG

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Guide connections with Academia

One of our guides, Reg Harris, has been actively involved as a contract lecturer for three years with

Victoria University of Wellington in its continuing education programme. His lecture series for the

general public embrace the ‘wider world’ of botany and its associated fields, and are augmented

by observational trips in Wellington Botanic Garden. Lecture themes are both broad in scope and

sharp in detail. They include:

basic botany from ground level to tree top

fungal associations, unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis

the relation between photosynthesis and environment

the physiological closeness between plants and

animals/humans

nitrification and ammonification

inheritance, plant diseases [viral, bacterial and fungal]

water transport

medicinal applications of plant compounds

paleophytology [fossil botany]

allelopathy [plants harming plants]

the impact of women in botanical endeavour since the

18th century [Barbara McClintock, botanist and Nobel

Laureate 1983, represented in the artwork by RH]

the development of microscopy [optical through to

electron].

This year is the 200th anniversary of the launch of the brig HMS

Beagle, the ship skippered by Robert FitzRoy that in 1831-1835

carried Charles Darwin, biologist and anthropologist, on his round-

the-world expedition, including his stopover in the Bay of Islands.

Reg was asked by VUW to present a short lecture series including

aspects of Darwin’s visit.

The series, in June, will be entitled ‘Milestones in Botany’.

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Walks and Activities

Guided Walks Guided walks traverse all paths [main and other] and areas in the Garden. Walk duration ranges from

one hour to 90 minutes depending on subject matter, length of route, extent of visitor/guide interaction,

and weather. All Friends of the Wellington Botanic Gardens may attend the guided walks free of charge.

FOOD PLANTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Sunday 15 March 2020 11.00am–12.30pm.

Botanic Garden, 101 Glenmore St, Wellington.

On this walk, we look at a range of plants from around the world that are used for food, some of which are

well-known, but others might surprise you. This is a moderate to energetic 90-minute walk, with some

uphill sections. Meet on the uphill side of the Playground. Cost: $5 (cash only).

THE LADY NORWOOD ROSE GARDEN

Monday 23 March 2020 11.00am–12.00pm.

Botanic Garden, 101 Glenmore St, Wellington

Join this walk to learn more about the roses and their care. Meet at the Fountain in the Rose Garden for

this easy one-hour walk. Cost: $5 (cash only).

AUTUMNAL BOTANICS

Sunday 19 April 2020 11.00am–12.30pm

Botanic Garden, 101 Glenmore St, Wellington.

In this 90-minute whirl we will consider trees as factories for foods and beverages, sources of critical

medicinal products, suppliers of ‘frankincense and myrrh’, enemies of free radicals, and ‘sinks’ for all the

atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) we are hearing about. Cost: $5 (cash only).

THE LADY NORWOOD ROSE GARDEN AND ITS AMAZING STORY

Monday 27 April 2020 11.00am–12.00pm

Botanic Garden, 101 Glenmore St, Wellington.

The Rose Garden was not always the beautiful garden that it is today – learn why on this easy 60-minute

walk. Meet in the Begonia House foyer. If it is wet there will be a talk in the Begonia House. Cost: $5 (cash

only).

See the Wellington City Council website for further information on walks and events.

https://wellington.govt.nz/recreation/enjoy-the-outdoors/gardens/botanic-garden/events-calendar

https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/venue/botanic-gardens-wellingtonhttps://www.eventfinda.co.nz/venue/botanic-gardens-wellingtonhttps://www.eventfinda.co.nz/venue/botanic-gardens-wellingtonhttps://www.eventfinda.co.nz/venue/botanic-gardens-wellingtonhttps://wellington.govt.nz/recreation/enjoy-the-outdoors/gardens/botanic-garden/events-calendar

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Glenmore Meadow

Accustomed to more formal plantings in the

Garden, visitors sometimes wonder about

the rangy wild plants on Glenmore Meadow

created as part of the celebration of the

Garden’s 150th anniversary in 2019.

This feature is in fact an artfully unstructured

space that looks both back to the plants with

which new arrivals around the time of the

Garden’s founding would have been familiar

in their former landscapes and livelihoods,

and forward to a modern vision of tranquility

and sustainability

The hornbeam (carpinus) hedges will grow

to contain an open area where seasonal

wildflowers and bulbs may drift across the

slope and under the deciduous trees that

mark the meadow margins. Daffodils and

bluebells in spring will be succeeded by

cornflower and poppy, cosmos, nemophila,

soapwort and virginia stock.

An important role of the meadow is to

nurture insect life. Bees’ enjoyment of the

wild environment is evident, but in addition, the habitat will support other beneficial insects such

as ladybugs, lacewings and hoverflies. The meadow thus contributes to the Garden’s earliest and

ongoing role as a scientific institution helping to foster the best of all worlds.

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Agapanthus Trial

What is going on – the agapanthus opposite the

West Entrance are wearing sun-bonnets!

This is a further contribution of our Garden to botanical

research and development. Despite its well-beloved globes

of tall blue and white flower, and its vice-like and stabilising

grip on unstable slopes around Wellington, agapanthus in

this region is technically an invasive weed species, seeds

prolifically and muscles in on indigenous plant habitats.

Our Garden is one of five participating in a trial attempting

to collect and test agapanthus seed for viability.

It is hoped this will identify and eventually allow propagation

and distribution of a sterile cultivar.

This would allow gardeners access to a species

that captures the benefits agapanthus can

offer, while avoiding its negative space-invader

characteristics.

For more information email

Treehouse@wcc.govt.nz

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The Sculptors of our Sculptures

Denis O'Connor - the Creator of 'Rudderstone' "THE IRISH HARP IS NOT CONSTRUCTED BUT CARVED OUT OF A SINGLE TREE LIKE A CANOE." (An Irish proverb that Denis O'Connor feels is at home in the South Pacific.)

Friends will be familiar with the 'Rudderstone' sculpture, further

up the walkway from Chris Booth's Peacemaker sculpture

featured in a previous Friends' newsletter. Denis O'Connor, its

creator, was born in Auckland in 1947, and grew up in a state

house in Glen Innes. His father had emigrated to NZ from the

village of Brosna ('the back of beyond' says Denis) in County

Kerry in 1939, and forthwith began work in the road-building

gangs prevalent at that time of massive public investment in the

roading system (sorry Grant, you were beaten to the punch!).

Denis was to go on and become one of this country's most well-known ceramicists and sculptors. His work

is well represented in all our major public collections, and he has received many prestigious public

commissions in New Zealand.

Denis studied at the Wellington School of Industrial Design, where he revelled in the

combination of applied and fine arts. Earlier in his career he was best known as a

ceramicist, and held many successful exhibitions, working with the likes of Bronwynne

Cornish, Peter Hawkesby and John Parker. His ceramics career concluded with a major

exhibition in 1984 and 1985, 'Songs of the Gulf', first at the Auckland Art Galley and

later at the Dowse Museum. Shortly after that he took up a Frances Hodgkins

Fellowship at the University of Otago, and from there turned his attention much

more to sculpture.

As a sculptor Denis's work ranges from public monuments to the most private and intimate narratives.

Since 1985 he has re-imagined the potential of stone as a material relevant to contemporary art.

Collaborations with painters, architects and poets have been a crucial component of his practice.

One such is ‘Raupo Rap’ (pictured) in the Viaduct

Basin in Auckland, a sculpture paying tribute to

port workers and migrant ships. The artwork has

personal meaning to the artist, as his father

worked on the wharves and later died on Princes

Wharf, not far from the site of this sculpture. It

consists of one main pillar and three smaller

ones - each with the name of a migrant ship on

the base - and a large, stainless-steel bale-hook;

a tool used by father in the loading and unloading of cargo ships. The smaller columns are decorated with

raupo flower patterns. The sculpture's shape signifies welcome and protection.

The Rudderstone Sculpture is another reference to the migrations to NZ. To walk through Rudderstone

"engages the body in a metaphor for the journey that the New World we live in challenges us to take"; the

transition from old to new. "The void is a rudder formation and symbolically memorialises our migrant

cultures. The rudder is a guiding principle, a device that steers us on our journey." - The sculptor

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O’Connor is primarily known for his emblematic forms

carved in limestone, but also for smaller relief images

engraved and burnished into panels of grey Welsh roof

slate (see picture of 'Luckens Deed'). Legendary for his

fastidious craftsmanship, his work abounds in

references to New Zealand and Irish history.He is a

gifted writer and storyteller who delights in creating

unexpected juxtapositions,

linking past with present.

Many of his slate images

are like pages in a solid, non-paper book of fables, blending his own personal

family narratives into broader, even global, social histories.

Denis explored his Irish heritage during a six month stint as the inaugural New

Zealand Fellow at the Rathcoola Residency in County Cork in 2005 - a timely

opportunity to dig deeper into his Irish/New Zealand preoccupations. He took

up his quarters in a fully restored Georgian mansion 30km from the city of

Cork. Built in 1751, the building had been, as O'Connor approvingly noted at

the time, occupied "by both the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland; by

gentry and orphans". Rathcoola proved a suitably paradoxical site in which the

artist could contemplate his own ambiguous situation as an Irish-New

Zealander intent on exploring the view from both ends of the globe. While there O'Connor felt acutely

aware that he had now become "the eyes and ears" of his father, who never managed a return trip to his

homeland. He has since said: "I trace the roots of my own image-making down a long line of Irish stone-

carvers".

In June/July 2008 O’Connor was invited to be part of Ábhar agus Meon/Materials and Mentalities. This

international contemporary art exhibition was Ireland’s hosting of the Sixth World Archaeological Congress

at University College Dublin. Following that experience Denis gifted a large photographic triptych

"Rathcoola Dreaming", which honours Irish immigration to NZ, to the Arts Department of the University of

Dublin where it is on prominent display.

In 2014 Denis O'Connor was the narrator and subject of a film "Mindspaces: The Artist's Studio", which

referenced the monumental task of uplifting the late Francis Bacon's studio in London and moving it to

Dublin, an endeavour in which his daughter the late Dr Blaze O'Connor had been much involved. He has

also written two books one being "What the Roof Dreamt", which alludes to the time when as a young child

he would climb on to the roof of the family state house in Glen Innes and observe the ships disappearing

over the horizon and wondered what 'overseas' meant. The other, 'Big Aitche:Little Aitche' referenced the

migratory experiences of his father, and his own experience

growing up in NZ as a first generation Kiwi of Irish extraction.

O'Connor has lived on Waiheke Island for 40 years. So it was

especially appropriate that he won first prize in the biennial

Waiheke Island Sculptures on the Gulf project in 2011. His Tangler's

Cave entry (pictured), a made-over retro horse float lined with

panoramic drawings and texts on slate walls, won him $30,000 and

at the ceremony he thrust his arm in the air and shouted 'Bills Will

be Paid'!

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New History and Heritage publication A new history and heritage e-book has been added

to the Friends web site.

In this publication the Nurseries of the Wellington

Botanic Garden, using new sources and the

personal memories of Donal Duthie and Walter

Cook (both of whom worked in the nursery), much

of this history has been revised. While the nurseries

story has been discussed in other publications, this

revises and corrects much of the earlier

information, and also reveals new detail on the

buildings.

Unfortunately much of the early Garden records on

this area no longer exist. Some information has

been available in the Shepherd/Cook history, and in

other council files and early Botanic Garden Board

Annual Reports. The Papers Past Archive has

provided considerable insight and details as well as

not readily seen images from early newspapers.

Donal and Walter have been able to provide

significant insights. One of the reasons for the

production of this publication has been to preserve

the wealth of information before it is lost. Donal has

also been able to provide nursery images, both from

external sources and from his own resources.

Others have provided information that has clarified aspects which were uncertain.

Containing 138 pages it includes many images and maps to enhance the telling of the story. In addition to

the nursery buildings themselves, other structures in the area (stables, bulb stores, potting sheds, batten

houses, etc.), associated with the nurseries, are detailed.

The contributions of Donal and Walter, in particular, have been extremely valuable, and we thank them for

their assistance in the production of this publication.

Other publications were produced for the 150th Anniversary year. They were completed because the

Shepherd/Cook garden history had not been updated. Especially valuable to these more modest guides

was the historical information recorded by Donal Duthie together with his postcard collection.

All publications are available free from the Friends web site. They can be downloaded here

www.friendswbg.org.nz/books/nurserieswbg.pdf or by using the Publications/downloads menu item.

P C Tomlinson

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Summary of the main data from all gardens visited

Bird species study at Wellington Botanic Garden

When I went to university I completed a Bachelor of Fine

Arts, but before that I had considered going into Science.

Recently I completed the work for a Certificate of

Proficiency in Introductory Biology and Chemistry, to see

how I felt about the field. One of my assignments was to

visit gardens; some with native plants and some with

non-native plants, and then compare the number of

native versus non-native birds I counted. Wellington

Botanic Gardens was an ideal location for this research.

Two areas of Wellington Botanic Gardens were chosen;

an area of Native Bush, and the Arboretum with mainly

non-native bush. My sightings in these areas, as well

other gardens led me to hypothesise that native birds

prefer native gardens, and non-native birds prefer non-

native gardens.

The Arboretum was particularly rewarding to visit, as it had the most diversity of species of all the gardens I

visited. I believe this is due to the differing sections within or around it that contain different types of

plants, therefore attracting different types of birds.

During my visit to the Native Bush I had the opportunity to observe Kaka very close-up (with two flying past

my head, alarmingly close). The rise in Kaka numbers in the Wellington region is in part due to the growth

of native plants, such as those seen at Wellington Botanic Gardens.

For those wanting to experience the diverse bird-life I highly recommend spending some time near the

Peacemaker sculpture. Whether observing from the walking path or sitting under the nearby trees, I was

able to see many birds at this sculpture and it was an amazing experience.

Morgan Ryan (Cross-Eyed Morgan)

This table is specific to WBG:

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Bulbs for sale In 2019 the Wellington Botanic Gardens celebrated their 150th anniversary by marking the occasion with a Birthday Cake - three tiers of red tulips crowned with the gold numerals 150. The ‘Birthday Cake’ surrounded by beds of brilliantly coloured tulips in reds, yellows, whites completed the WOW factor. Every year the tulip displays get better and better – what more can be said! For 2020 we are again offering the following:

Tulips $5 for 5 bulbs: RED:

Dow Jones (new) – red with wide yellow edge strong colours Ile de France – intense red classic tulip London – scarlet red Pretty woman – bright red around the golden heart Red Rover – blood red Strong Love – red

ORANGE/YELLOW: Ad Rem - orange/red fine yellow edge Asahi – red bleeds through golden yellow Bolroy Honey – medium yellow Friendship – pale primrose yellow Orange Babies – orange/red darker centre slight golden edge Princess Irene – orange with purple flame Strong Gold – bright buttery yellow Temple’s Favourite – nasturtium with rose flame PURPLE: Heydar Aliyev – rich purple Purple Prince – mid purple Black Diamond – deep mahogany purple Ronaldo – purple maroon with smoky sheen WHITE: Antarctica – snow white elegant shape Tres Chic – lily shape white White Dream – ivory white canary yellow anthers Spring Green – ivory white feathered green Verona – peony cream maturing to lemon PINK: Pink Impression – rich pink large flower Angelique – peony apple blossom pink Pink Diamond – pale pink Piet Veerman (new) – baby pink Pretty Princess (new) – pink flamed with purple Grand Style (new) – bright cerise pink

Crocus species $5 for 10 bulbs: Cream Beauty - rich cream Blue Pearl – iridescent blue Firefly – soft lilac/pale violet

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Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden Bulb order form 2020

From: Address: Telephone No: Email:

Bulb Name Qty Total $

Postage $5 $

Total: $

Please make cheque payments to ‘Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden’ and add $5 to your cheque if you need your order posted. Send cheque and order form to: Angela Hill 25A Woodmancote Road Wellington 6035 Phone: 04 479-5580 Email: fergiehill@xtra.co.nz

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This Newsletter is supported by Botanica Travel

Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden 101 Glenmore Street, Kelburn, Wellington 6012

President: Rob Hole - phone 04 475 7752 robert.n.hole@gmail.com Membership Secretary: Judy Elliott - phone 04 476 2705 judy.elliott@waterfront.org.nz Acting Newsletter Editor: Michelle Mainwaring - phone 021 1865476 mmainwaring@xtra.co.nz Website: www.friendswbg.org.nz

mailto:robert.n.hole@gmail.commailto:judy.elliott@waterfront.org.nzmailto:mmainwaring@xtra.co.nzhttp://www.friendswbg.org.nz/