Gardens In Taupo

Taupo Times, Volume 11, Issue 79, 22 July 1953, Page 3

Gardens In Taupo

SHRUBS TO DELIGHT BIRDS

(By

Flora)

jjuring tne winter rnonths we have r welcome visitor to our gardens, the foeil-bird. And in the last few years some folk have had the tui as well. Surely it is well woirth growing a few shrubs whose flowers will provide nectar for thiese birds, whose very existence, a few years ago, was in jeopardy. As natives of New Zealand they favour, of couirse, the indigenous plants, but with the coming of the white man, and the rapid clearing of their haunts they had to flee further and furth.er into the fastness of the mountainous regions. Now they find that certain trees and shrubs have been brought to the country that also hear flowers rich in the honey they love. The Eucalyptus. So that you may provide a lur.e for these friendly souls you may grow either some of the native shrubs or the imported varieties that they now favour. The following are a few from whieh you may choose. The Eucalyptus or gum has ibecome a firm favourite with our feathered friends. Unfortunately they grow to rather prohibitive heights, and being evergreen are not favoured by our ncighbours, but there are vairieties not so tall as the majority. E. leucoxylon rosea (20ft. to 30ft.), sometimes known as E. campbelli, is the hairdiest of the pink flowering forms, and will stand quife hard frosts. Grevilleas and Proteas. Except for the variety G. robusta, the silky oak, the Grevilleas are all low growing shrubs, and quite a few are winter flowering. Crevillea rosemarinifoiia aoes exeeptionally well in Taupo, and is much favoured by the bell-bird, and also by tlie smaller white-eye or blight-bird. Its quaint r.ed flowers are borne during a great part of the year. The Proteas also bear honey producing flowers in winter, but unfortunately they are not so hardy, and although I have seen them doing well here it would be as well to plant them in a sheltered spot. The Waratah is an exeeptionally showy shrub, with its scarlet flowers. The Vietorian variety, Telopea oreades, is a very attractive shrub and the best suited to ouir district. It is evergreen and grows from ten to

twenty feet in height. Phormium Tenax. Phormium tenax, our well-known native flax, has no eonnection with the European flax, which is a small herbaceous plant. Our flax, known to the Maori as harakeka, and also as harapere and harareke, belongs to the Lily family. Its coarse dark-green ieaves are often six feet in length, while its flower stem rises beyond this. The floweirs are a dull-red, while the dark stamens hang out far j below the petals. While it is so often I seen in swampy places, it is particu- | larly well suited to our somewhat dry | conditions, for it has been included by j well-known authorities on our native ! plants as among the twelve best specj ies for very dry conditions. The flowjers secrete great quantities of nectar, of which the tui and bell-bird love to partake. The flowers of the Yellow kowhai also secrete a large quantity of honey and when the tree is in flower the ground is soon strewn with petals, so eager are the bellbirds and tuis to reach the honey, for they literally tear the flowers to shreds. Fuchsia and Wine-berry. A strange feature of the fuchsia (Kotukutuku) is the pure blue coiour cf the pollen, contrasting with the yellow of that of most other flowers. When the birds have paid these flowers a visit they leave with heads smeaired with blue. As in the case cf the flax, cross-pollination is carried out by the birds. The wine-berry or Mako-mako is common everywhere, and in bush clearings is one of the first plants to come up. Thirough familiarity we are inclined to overlook its beauty, but the read-brown undersurfaees of its leaves would bring added colour to your gairden, and here again the birds will thank you, the flowers being full of honey. The Rewa-rewa, or native Honeysuckfe, belongs to the Protea family, and its flower is much valued by tui and bell-bird. Its irather shaggy habit of growth does not lend itself to specimen planting, but should you have a "bush" corner plant it there.