This project arose because the new Waikato Expressway cut off a large piece of land which had been used for grazing. The Waipa District Council incorporated it into the adjoining Brian Mayo Reserve, and one of our members, Jane Moodie, came up with the idea of a maple arboretum similar to the older oak arboretum nearby. The Council's Parks Dept. approved, so areas were marked out, sprayed to clear, and mulched. Jane, with Jan Todd, then set about selecting plants for stage 1.
In the winter of 2015, we planted the first section. We put rabbit protection around the saplings and staked them. They're growing well.
There is a long stretch of parkland between the road and the houses which we have developed along the same lines. We will have to be careful here, as the trees are much closer to the houses. In stage 1, we have graded the trees, with the smaller ones closest to the houses, and we have left large spaces between plantings for ease of mowing with a tractor-mounted mower.
We have to acknowledge gifts of posts from Mitre 10 and stainless steel plates for labels from Cambridge Sheet Metals. Engraving was done by a company in Te Rapa at a very favourable price.
Here are some photos of the early plantings.
11 January, 2022. Blitzkieg!
Tuesday April 19th 2022.
We found some more weeds. We thought we'd done this job earlier, but the weeds thought not, so we had to come back. A dozen of us pulled out 3 truckloads in 2 hours. We surprised even ourselves. We are going to show some of these photos to Council staff, who are doubtful of our ability.
While we were doing this weeding, we noticed 3 areas where the trees had not thrived and nor had the rengarenga planted under them. We knew that the soil in those places was of poor quality, but hoped it was good enough. It wasnt. We have some thinking to do. The site is beside the Waikato Expressway, and anything could have been put there during the roadbuilding.
