It is a really miserable day here with a howling cold southerly blowing and showers sweeping over at regular intervals. Winter is showing its hand.
But on a beautiful, warm late autumn afternoon over the weekend I wandered about my garden to photograph examples of the native trees or plants I enjoy. Some of the specimens were planted by the previous owner of the house who was a passionate gardener. Some have been planted by us and even more have been the result of birds dropping seeds into the garden and the natives have taken root and flourished.
I have attempted to find the identifying names for the plants but please let me know if I have named one incorrectly.
I hope you enjoy the stroll too.
Taupata
Coprosma Repens
Native hebe
Kowhai “Dragon’s gold”
Sophora microphylla
Whiteywood. Mahoe
Melicytus ramiflorus
Cabbage tree. Te Kouka.
Cordyline Australis
5 fingers. Pseudopanax laetus
5 fingers
Lancewood. Pseudopanax crassifolius
Griselinia littoralis “variegata”
Puka Puka. Meryta sincalairii
puka puka seeds
ordinarygoodness 
What a beautiful selection of native plants. Is your kowhai flowering now? It’s a miserable day here too. I am sure if the clouds would lift I would see snow on Banks Peninsula.
Thank you. Yes the Kowhai is flowering – it is a feature of the dwarf variety “Dragon’s Gold” It is a nice bonus at this time of the year. I haven’t seen any Tuis feeding off it though. Brrr snow, but it is certainly cold enough.
I tried to grow a kowhai in my garden but it wasn’t happy and died one very cold winter.
Maybe that is why there are not as many Tuis seen in Christchurch?
Indeed.
Lovely! The Dragon’s Gold has strange looking flowers. A couple of these seem familiar – maybe introduced over here. I’m glad to see you had some late autumn sunshine!
Thanks Jo. I heard a gardener speaking during the week about establishing a special garden in England and being able to access New Zealand natives with ease once he is over there. The Dragon’s Gold flowers are quite tightly clustered but are very similar to the larger Kowhai trees which flower in spring…..check those out here:
Wonderful selection Lynley.
Thanks Juliet. It is a lovely garden and we enjoy so many birds with all these trees providing food and shelter.
Nice! I enjoyed my stroll around your garden, thank you 🙂 And you’ve helped to identify a couple of mystery plants for me as well, so that was very helpful! Good to be able to enjoy a sunny day and get out with the camera, isn’t it – our forecast is fine for this weekend, so I’m looking forward to that, although I will be inside all day on Sunday, playing in a bridge tournament … 🙂
Thanks. I did have to look up the names of some of the natives in the garden. The light was particularly good for photography last weekend. Not looking very promising this weekend. Better to be playing bridge here….go well with that:-)
I’m really impressed by how well you know your plants… Neat photos
I did have to refer to this useful website: http://www.nzplantpics.com/ because I did not know them all and I wanted to learn them. It was a great day to take the photos. Bleak here today.
Lovely weather up here today – just a bit cold
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