This walk was started by the Waipa District Council in early 2014.
The Oak Arboretum was established in 2003 in a joint effort by the Council and us. It contains several species of oak.
It was grazed by cattle for a long time. The Tree Trust had been asking for years for a path from Watkins Rd through to the High School to make life easier for the pupils as well as providing a walk for the public. It took added pressure from Sarah Ulmer and others to convince the Council to go ahead. Funding came from Sarah's efforts, not from ratepayers.
It is hoped that the oval in the middle will be large enough for cricket matches, but the ground is uneven and a lot of work will be needed.
In 2016 grazing stopped. The protective tree surrounds were taken down in a remarkably big effort involving Corrections Department teams as well as Tree Trust members. The area around each tree was sprayed and mulched, and the result is a very popular walk. The Council still takes a couple of crops of hay off it each year, so only the grass near the tracks and the trees is mown.
We took the idea of naming the species that we had come up with in the maple arboretum next door, and put in a post for each species. There are stainless steel nameplates on each post, detailing the botanical name, the common name, the countries where they are native, and the date of planting (2003). The links below take you to a site with very detailed information on each species. It includes many more species than are found in this arboretum. There are several hundred species of oak world-wide.
Acutissima Affinis Alba Canariensis Cerris Coccinea Ellipsoidalis Faginea Falcata Ilex Imbricaria Macranthera Macrocarpa Palustris Petraea Pyrenaica Robur Rubra Schochiana Variabilis
Oaks in Autumn
Autumn is proving to be very colourful this year 2021. These pictures were taken in the late afternoon of May 4th, in the Oak Arboretum in Cambridge, NZ. There are several different varieties of oak shown here, and there are more in the arboretum, including some evergreen species.
