Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It was first settled by Europeans in about 1815 and was established as a city nearly 150 years ago. It is internationally regarded as one of the great garden cities of the world, in fact it was voted ‘Garden City of the World’ in 1997. Said to be the most ‘English’ city in New Zealand, Christchurch has a genteel, old world charm and a relaxed feel and pace, although its population is quickly climbing towards the 400,000 mark.
Jewel in the crown
In Don’s opinion, Hagley Park is by far the best city park anywhere in the world. Smack dab in the middle of Christchurch, the park covers an area of approximately 160 hectares and includes a golf course, sports grounds, tree-lined walking and cycling tracks, artificial lakes and the Botanic Gardens. Founded in 1863, the Botanic Gardens covers an area of 30 hectares mostly surrounded by the Avon River. Here visitors can see a wonderful collection of over 10,000 exotic and indigenous plants, with many of the trees over 100 years old. Don was amazed at the huge size of some of these plants, and speculated that there must be something in the air, soil or water that creates giants!
Megaflora
Don spotted several large plant specimens, including a radiata pine (Pinus radiata) much bigger than radiata pines usually grow either in Australia or in their native California. Australian gum trees also seem to do wonderfully well in New Zealand. Most notable is a massive alpine ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) thought to have been planted around 1885. It is 30m high, 30m wide and has a trunk diameter of 3.22m. Formerly known as E. gigantea, the alpine ash grows naturally in the Australian Alps and mountain regions of Tasmania. A beautiful weeping elm (Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii’) with its twisted and gnarled branches also caught Don’s eye, as did a huge photinia (Photinia sp.)
Further information
The Christchurch Botanic Gardens is part of Hagley Park. For further details visit the website: www.ccc.govt.nz/parks/Botanic Gardens