After a few weeks closed the Nursery will be open again for volunteers on Friday 24th April - hope to see you there.
Prior to closure for Easter, we had a 2 day NMIT Native Plant ID Course at the Nursery, run by tutor Jenny Ladley. A mix of plant exercises, outside work and lecture presentations were held for the 9 people attending and the Nature Centre proved again to be a good venue for these courses where a mix of inside and outside learning was readily accessible.
If you are interested in any of the courses NMIT hold then book in and when they get a number of people for one region they will organise a course at our venue. So far we have had “5 minute bird counts”, “animal pest trapping” and “Native plant ID” courses held here (generally in summer!). Here is a link to their website information for the Plant ID Course - https://www.nmit.ac.nz/study/short-courses/cfs423-plant-identification
Following Easter we attended a book launch in Akaroa for the book “Hinewai Reflections - Artwork of Hugh Wilson”. It was a good chance to catch up with Hugh and see all the progress on Banks Peninsula that Hugh at Hinewai has inspired. We visited Edith’s large QEII covenant at Hickory Bay and the adjoining Ellengowan Reserve as well as a full day at Hinewai itself. It is astonishing how the entire Banks Peninsula had previously been cleared of native vegetation down to 1 % but is now up to 26% thanks to people like Edith and many others buying and protecting land for conservation.
Also on the agenda was a visit to Tai Tapu Sculpture garden – if you haven’t been its highly recommended for lovers of native plantings (including many rarities) and amazing sculptures, all in an outdoor setting.
For the Nursery Fridays over coming weeks we will be trying to complete our seed collecting, cleaning, and eventually sowing for next seasons bounty and of course planting out before the frosts take hold.
Hope to see you at the Nursery on a Friday or other days, if you want plants, by arrangement (email or phone or txt Chris on 021660361).
We will also be doing an apple pressing one Friday afternoon soon, so collect your apples, put them in the freezer in preparation. We wont have a chipper so only previously frozen apples can be pressed for juice. Watch this space for a date.
Nga mihi
Chris and Brian
Posted: 22 April 2026
Kia ora
As mentioned last post we have a course running in the Education Centre Thursday and Friday 26/27 March so will be closed for volunteers. Also, with Easter and Holidays we will remain closed on Fridays, opening again on Friday 24th April.
In the meantime we have been busy in the Nursery on Fridays with major seed collecting, potting, weeding, watering and getting plants ready for planting out. A new shelf has been added to the Shadehouse for new seedlings which are now out of the reach of rabbits! A few birthdays have gone by and Nursery Fridays have been well attended with lots of jobs getting done. Next major jobs will involve seed cleaning and sorting ready for sowing in May/June. Sherry Elton has 60 cabbage trees in PB3’s to give away – phone Sherry 027-213-1156 if you want to take them off her hands.
On 12 March, Jordon brought a full group of first year SIT students to do part of the Plant ID and plant propagation workshop. Its great to see a large number of students taking Environmental Management this year. They also collected plants for Kew Bush where Jordon is leading the restoration of that important remnant of kahikatea forest.
On Sunday 15 March a “Damson Night” was held! Lots of damson plum produce was eaten and a great film “Breaking Bread” was shown on the big screen. A Damson jam competition was held with newbie jam maker Chris Rowe taking the Damson Queen crown!
We have also been planting out our new pond, with much more to go! Watch this space and see you on the 24th April if not before. We will still be around intermittently for plant sales or advice – phone Chris 021660361 if you need anything.
Chris and Brian
Posted: 25 March 2026
A two day native plant ID course will be held at the Southland Community Nursery on Thursday 26 and Friday 27th March 2026. These courses are part of the nationally run series of courses which includes – pest control, Five Minute bird counts, monitoring etc and as we are the venue, but not organising it, you must register with NMIT – see poster and link below
https://www.nmit.ac.nz/study/short-courses/cfs423-plant-identification
Consequently, the Nursery wont be open for volunteers that Friday. However, on other Fridays we are concentrating on seed collecting – working through our list of species to collect. Some, like red tussock, toe toe and Carex have been collected already and we are busy looking for fruity seeds like Coprosma, Corokia, Melicytus, Fuchsia, Astelia before the birds get them. Following collection we will be busy cleaning and treating seeds ready for sowing in June. If you are interested in this aspect of propagation come on a Friday morning and join the fun.
On the subject of seeds, well fruit, we have been busy with 50 kg of damson plums (kindly donated), and those attending on Fridays have also taken their fair share! We intend to have a damson themed night on Sunday 15 March, so bring your makings along to the Nature Centre! For the record, Ive done damson paste, schmootsch, jam, sauce, and damson vodka, tho that wont be ready for the Sunday night!
Chris
Posted: 8 March 2026
The Community Nursery will be open for volunteers on Friday 16 January 26. Come any time from 9am to noon. Shared morning teas are a highlight!
Jobs will include potting, weeding, moving plants in the nursery, trackwork and the start of seed collecting for the new season. Seeds from plants such as red tussock, toe toe, salt-marsh ribbonwood, Carex will all be ready to collect from our property.
Over the holidays there has been exceptional flowering of native plants. Some of the most spectacular have been the mistletoes and native brooms. The beech mistletoes in Southland are some of the best populations in the country – pictured below are pirita or scarlet mistletoe (Peraxilla colensoi) flowering near Riverton and piriraki, yellow mistletoe (Alepis flavida) flowering at Manapouri. We also have a range of native brooms flowering on our property at the moment with their purple or pink flowers. Those flowers are favoured by the tiny black native bees.
As well as having a relaxing time over the holidays we have been busy creating a new planting area with predominantly threatened plants. Thanks to nursery volunteer Peter we managed to shift 2 metres of mulch in double quick time after planting 80 or so plants the day before. Brian has also been very busy preparing the new pond area for planting, amongst other things! It is very encouraging that while we work around the created ponds we are now often accompanied by fernbirds. A few of this years fernbird pics below as well as a juvenile tui in the garden.
We hope you’ve had a restful break, ready to enjoy what 2026 has in store.
Chris and Brian
Posted: 13 January 2026
Our breakup celebration was a great success yesterday with a good crowd of volunteers on another rainy day!
We had a few treats – Pauline had made a fabulous Harakeke Christmas Tree, Clarissa had brought her lovely pottery, Chris gave out Honolea’s natural soaps as thanks for volunteers and Geoff, Pauline and Eleanor brought their ukuleles for Christmas Carols! And the food……..scrumptious!
Then the drum roll……………………… and the winner of the Jo Ogier Karearea print was Els – one of our most regular volunteer helpers, who was here to collect it.
Thanks to Jo for donating the print and to everyone who took a raffle ticket, proceeds support what we do here at the Community Nursery.
Happy Christmas everyone, see you in the New Year and have your native planting plans ready!
Chris and Brian
Posted: 20 December 2025
