THE Tamahere entrance way is beautiful lined with all native plants.
ARK = Acts of Restorative Kindness – creating corridors of safe nooks for our fauna within our gardens, schools, public spaces and beyond.
If you are lucky enough to be a caretaker/owner of some land, planting native corridors along streams and gullies where our native bush has been cleared in the past provides habitats for birds and insects, and helps with erosion as their roots stabilise the soil.
Their roots also serve to filter out contaminants, sediment particles and even bacteria before they enter our waterways, which helps keep our waterways healthy and alive, providing habitats for different water species.
When designing a garden, I like to get a Google map of the surrounding area so I can see where there are pockets of bush as tui, for instance, only fly about 10 kilometres for food.
This is why it is so important to work together to provide resting/feeding spots for our birds throughout the country.
I like to try and use at least a few natives in every garden that I design as it’s not just the trees that invite our fauna into our backyards.
Silvereye Tauhou are omnivorous and eat a range of small insects like aphids, caterpillars, flies and also spiders, as well as nectar from kōwhai and fuchsia.
They also like a range of small and large ripening fruit. They have a great time in my plum tree, which I don’t mind.
As I don’t spray for insects in my garden so these guys as well as fantail/piwakawaka help keep them at bay.
Another way to provide a pantry for these guys is to keep your garden heavily mulched to provide a habitat for the insects.
As well as keeping your soil healthy and helping it retain moisture, you are providing a one-stop find-and-eat for the birds.
Attracting copper butterflies into your garden could be as simple as planting some muehlenbeckia ssp as these little butterflies love the nectar in the tiny flowers.
When you suggest natives to people, they think they are big and not attractive, but this Tamahere entrance I think is beautiful and it’s all native.
It has a mix of muehlenbeckia, astelia, euphorbia glauca, pratia angulate, clianthus kakabeak, acaena inermis purpurea; these beautiful natives not only provide a habitat for insects, but their contrasting textures make this a stunning entrance garden.
So, whether you have a big or small patch of paradise, consider planting a few natives to help ART our whenua.
Planting today is believing in the future.
