Week 14

Monday 2011-12-19

After a weekend full of rain, it looked dry and we went out early to the ridge to do some more pruning. After an hour we were back, too much rain. At 11 oclock we tried it again but that didn’t last a quarter of an hour. So no work this day. Only in the evening we did a short run for labeling.

Tuesday 2011-12-20

It is almost the same as yesterday, but at 10 o’clock Damo came. He went on with the compostbin, although there was still a very little bit of rain. But that rain got less, and we went on working in the ridgepaddock. Coming Thursday we’ll have the chipper around and we want a lot of heaps for that machine. And there is a lot to prune on several trees.

Wednesday 2011-12-21

A very noisy machine!

The whole day we worked on collecting branches and making big heaps for the chipper. We did a lot of pruning, not only with the long pole saw, but with the chainsaw as well. Damo climbed a Totara to cut some very heavy branches out.

Thursday 2011-12-22

Today is the day of the chipper. We picked it up (wednesdayevening) at Kiteroa where the man of the Hirepool lives. So at 7 o’clock in the morning we were ready to go. Damo came with the big mule and drove that chipper around. We had some problems getting is going, but at nine o’clock we knew how it has to go and it went on fine. It was really a day of hard work for all of us (Diane came to help as well and James to catch some chips), and at the end we almost did all the heaps we had in mind. We brought back the chipper to Kiteroa and at 8.15 pm we were back home….time for dinner. That was easy, we had fresh fish from Damo. Blue nose.

Friday 2011-12-23

Damo did the feeding of the machine

Our last day in Hackfalls arboretum this year. We had the load of labels from Cross Hills and we attached them on the trees. Dick told Damo some jobs that can be done while we are out.
We have been very busy last weeks, we’ve had no time for more updates of this blog. Hoop to find some time after our holiday, I made enough interesting pictures to publish.
Holiday no!

Week 13

Monday 2011-12-12

We went on pruning and mowing in the ridgepaddock. Damo took the big scrubcutter and mowed the track on the ridge. Thats a big difference now.

Tuesday 2011-12-13

We went on with the same as Monday. In the afternoon Damo took away the elders from the other side of lake Kaikiore. Dick and I went on with the labeling work. Now we have sent a list of 69 items to CrossHills. And we started a new list as well. We have to control all the labels in the cat and make a good list for the labelmakers. Hopefully with no mistakes.

Those little elders have to be removed to have a better look on the other trees.

Wednesday 2011-12-14

Damo didn’t come, so we went straight on with the labeling again. We put a waratah on the point in the paddock where 4 squares of the map do come together. With a yellow flag on it. Made a list of 28 new labels again, but we still have to check them.

Thursday 2011-12-15

We planned to go out, but there was too much rain. We stayed at home and worked a bit at the administration of the labels.

Friday 2011-12-16

We went to Gisborne and Tarndale. Demo started working on the compostbin.

Puya

In the homestead garden is a very strange plant flowering. It looks almost a bit plastic, but it is real. It is family of Bromelia. This one here is Puya berteroniana.
The whole Puya family is native to Central and South America. There are more than 200 species in the Puya family.

Flower of Puya berteroniana

Puya berteroniana

Which pinus is this?

Driving around in the arboretum, you’ll each time see something different. On the ridge, almost on the track this pine tree grows. On a bit steep part of the paddock, so we never did much on that tree.
Giving it a detailed look, there we saw a lot of old cones on the tree and a few new ones. All the cones do have a strongly outcurved prickle. On the new cone you can see the prickle very clear. It must be a protection for not be eaten.
The needles are in bundles of two and about 8 till 10 cm long. The bark is a bit reddish, like from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The tree is not growing straight on, all branches are bending and curling and makes the pine look a bit of a mash.
The cones will stay for many years on the tree and than fall down, but leaving the lowest part on the branche.
A lot of this description makes me think of a Ponderosa pine, but not the lenght of the needles, the color and the way the tree grows.

Can anybody help us finding a name for this beautiful tree?

Light green new cone with prickles

Needles in bundles of two

Bark

Old cones

The way it grows in Hackfalls

Cone with the clear sharp prickles

Week 12

Monday 2011-12-05

Damo ringed to tell he had an ankle injury and perhaps would not come this week. Perhaps only drive the mule? So we went out together and started pruning on the ridgepaddock. We started where we stopped, near the Tuliptree. There is a heap of branches growing.

Tuesday 2011-12-06

Again pruning on the ridgepaddock and some labelchecking in the oakpaddock. We are waiting for the sign to order the new labels. Hope that will be soon, so that we can place the right labels on the right trees. In the afternoon I replaced several protections in the ridgepaddock. These trees are waiting for a load of chips.

Wednesday 2011-12-07

Dick took away the dead trees in the oak- and the ridgepaddock. Did some other work with the chainsaw on the ridge. Near the Leptospermum and the Metrosideros on the ridge we pruned a lot of branches. So those trees have a little more light and space and it is easy for mustering.

Bob Berry watching the Castanopsis delavayi, full in flower.

Thursday 2011-12-08

Dick had a lot of things to do in town and went out early. I took the mule and went on the ridge. Did pruning on Leptospermum squarrosum and on a Photinia close to the Zanthoxylum. There was an awful lot of dead wood in it. In the afternoon I repared some protections and pruned some trees on the northside of the ridge. One of them, a Castanopsis was flowering and did have its special smell, not the perfume I like. At the gate of the ridgepaddock the three Walnuts were smelling much better and are looking much better now.

Friday 2011-12-09

Again pruning on the ridge. Now Dick did a lot with the chainsaw. He made a little track along the Embothryum. And he did a lot of mowing.

Saturday 2011-12-10

Bob and Anne are around, Bob wanted to see some of his oaks and other trees down at lake Karangata. So we went there with him. We did have a lot of questions about names of trees, so we had to stop several times. We learned many names and can put labels on several trees now.
Damo was around and did a lot of mulching on the ridge. In the afternoon Dick helped him.

Bob, Diane and Dick watching a tree, probably an oak

Sunday 2011-12-11

Sunday was a Sunday, We didn’t do anything, we had a day off. In the afternoon we visited Damo. He lives on the Noble Camble road. From his verandah we had a beautiful view on native forest. In between we could see a little piece of the Tiniroto Road.

Pinus oocarpa

Two years ago we made some pictures of the Pinus oocarpa that was here in the arboretum. It was almost 20 years old, but not very thriving. Although the needles look fresh and healthy, the tree is not growing very keen.

The fresh light green needles

The bark is imposing, looks very thick. The needles are in bundles of 5, fresh green and about 15 to 20 cm long.
This year we found the tree broken, what a pity. It is a rare tree in NZ and not easy to get a new one, I think.

A slice of the stem

Its native to Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and other parts of Central America. They use it there for forrestry, so you’d think it can grow faster then our little one did. The conditions here were not the right ones.

Date plum

Last week we worked in the oakpaddock on the labels. We found a Diospyros lotus with nr 1969 014. It was an old label so we looked in the catalogus to find out if it was there. There must be four of those trees, all of the same age and the same number.

I found one of the others and was astonished to see all the flowers in the tree. Lots of flowers.

Flowers and leaves

Very small flowers, pink and white

The fruit that will come on this tree must be very sweet. Hope we will see them before the birds found them.

Bark

The tree is about 7 metres high

Week 11

Monday 2011-11-28

We went out with chips and mulched the trees close to James house. Later we went to the oakpaddock to go on with mulching and reparing protections.

Tuesday 2011-11-29

On Tuesday there was rain! So we did almost nothing. In the afternoon I had to go out and checked some names of the rhododendrons. Further I cut away the Wisteria that was overgrowing a beautiful rose along the driweway.

A

B

Wednesday 2011-11-30

The work we did on Monday was not finished, so there we went again with a load of mulch, waratahs and protections. At 11 o’clock Demo came to help us. He went out to get a real large trailerload of chips. After lunch we went on. Still two other large load were picked up. All little trees that needed protection do have a proper one now. And they all have a big load of chips around. We found a label with the text Carrierea calycina between two unlabeled trees. Which of them belongs that label?
The one on photo B is a Rhododendron, it starts flowering red now.
On photo A we’ll see Hibiscus syriacus ‘Admiral Dewey’.

Thursday till Sunday 2011-12-01/04

We went out to EWH and the East Coast. Damo did the work. He did a lot of protection reparing just outside the oakpaddock. And a lot of mulching too. It looks very tidy.

Twinberry Honeysuckle

Lonicera involucrata
On this honeysuckle you can see flowers and seeds at the same moment.

Yellow-orange flowers, always two together

Beside that, you can find the beginning of the seed, what looks like a flowers as well.

In the middle there are two little seeds coming

Two almost black berries

The Lonicera involucrata is a small tree, or perhaps you prefer a large shrub.
It is native in Northern America

Week 10

Monday 2011-11-21

We filled up a trailer with chips and went to the Azalea area again. We hoped Demo should come, but he didn’t. We made photo’s of some flowering rhodo’s and for the rest we only brought trailerloads of chips (seven I think). I went back to Kevin’s bush to dig out some more Embothryums. I made seven pots with new plant. See what they will do.
In the afternoon we put the temporary labels in the parking area and went to the oak paddock to check for missing and old labels. And we found a lot. So we’ll worked out the list in the evening.

Dick with the wheelbarrow between the rhododendrons. Trailer parked against the fence

Tuesday 2011-11-22

Again to the azalea area with old chips. Later another load filled up with new chips. We did some 5 loads I think. Eight wheelbarrows from each load. The little ones can do with three or four. Some large azalea’s can have a full trailerload.
I went to the ridge to have a look and made several photo’s.

Wednesday 201-11-23

We went to Ruakituri for a trip. Beautiful day!

Thursday 2011-11-24

We started on the Berryroad with the chainsaw. A poplar had come down and was half on the road.
When driving back it started raining, so we went home. At 11 o’clock it was dry and we went again to the azalea area. Did four loads of chips. When we were home for lunch, there was a lot of rain again. But dry after three o’clock. We did some pruning on the end of the ridge to clear the track.

Friday 2011-11-25

We went to the Sharp corner to plant some new trees and putting the protections around. Demo was also here today, he brought two and a half big loads of chips. We pampered all the new trees in this area with woodchips. Dick did some mowing.
After that we went to finish the azalea area. More then 60 wheelbarrows.
In the afternoon we filled up the trailer with old grass that should be used as winterfood for the cattle. But this was to old to eat, so we loaded it up and brought it in the entrance area. (two big trailers)

The rootsuckers of the Chilean Firebush

Saturday 2011-11-26

Demo started scrubcutting below the poplars. We cleared the pumparea, there are also some rhodo’s almost lost in weed. We took out all the rests of fences, mowed it and after that we put 7 loads of that old grassy stuff on it. Looks like its carpeted now. We worked only till lunchtime.

Sunday 2011-11-27

In the oakpaddock we found some more old labels or missing labels. We updated the list.
In the afternoon we had a talk about different arboretum things with Diane.