Sunday 10 th May 2015
Two places to visit near Rangiora
10.00 am. A visit to Dudley’s property at Mt Thomas Road, Fernside.
Dudley and Beryl have a 3 acre property at Fernside. This is a transformation that needs to be seen to be believed, from a stony paddock to a highly productive and immaculate garden and orchard.
Dudley worked for Forest Research at Rangiora up to his retirement and is one of a handful of national experts on cypresses. In retirement, he has poured his energy and knowledge into growing food of all sorts and while May will be the end of the season with just feijoa left to harvest, they have a wide range of pip fruit, espaliered cherries, grapes, mulberry, hazels, walnuts, quince and kiwiberries.
Please park and gather on the road verge.
12.00 noon. Bring your lunch and we’ll find a suitable picnic site – to be advised.
1.00 pm. On to Patrick’s Leyland cypress nursery at Raddens Road, Ohoka.
“Southern Cypresses” grow several varieties of Leyland cypress, Oven’s cypress and macrocarpa clones for forestry and shelter planting. Patrick is another (perhaps the other) national cypress expert.
Patrick will give us an overview of the nursery operation, the virtues of the various clones and we will be able to inspect the stumps of the recently harvested Eucalyptus nitens provenance trial. This will be an interesting venue for anyone contemplating planting shelter or an alternative species woodlot.
To get to Southern Cypresses from Dudley’s: from the end of Mt Thomas Rd, turn left into Johns Rd, right into Fernside Rd, right into Flaxton Rd and where Flaxton Rd swings left turn right into Threlkelds Rd. At the end turn right into Ohoka Rd for 20metres and left into Jacksons Rd, next left into Tram Rd and then the next left is Raddens Rd, Southern Cypresses are about half way along. Drive up the long driveway to park near the greenhouses.
