Re: hello

Paul wrote:
> 
> Moira-
> Your climate seems identical to the northern CA, southern
> Oregon coast. Even the winds.  There they grow such things
> as Tibouchina and many pittosporums which are now
> naturalizing.  That's the Redwood belt.  Common plants there
> besides Sequoia sempervirens are many broadleaf evergreen
> plants, Lithocarpus, Arbutus, Quercus, Artctostophylos and
> Ceanothus.    We get the kind of winds you are talking about
> in the winter as well, with steady heavy rains, but they are
> primarily dissapated by the coast range.
> A flow like that is called a 'Pineapple Express' as it originates
> from the S.W. near Hawaii, we have weeks on end with
> Temps 6C-11C and never see the sun.
> The mountains near us (1500 to 3000M) receive an
> insane amount of snow, up to 30M a year!
> Thank you for your very excellent and detailed description
> of your climate it is very helpful.
> What kind of escaped exotics occur around you?
> Cytisus? Ribes? Cotoneaster?

Hi Paul
You have to thank Tony for the rundown on the climate, but I am the
botany guru. Your reply was most interesting in showing how similar our
respective climates are.

All three of your suggestions for escaped exotics do occur in our area,
not many Ribes however, but in some patches a lot of Berberis
(esp.darwinii) also blackberries, common holly, sycamores, Himalayan
honeysuckle and pampas grass.

However all these pale in comparison to Gorse (Ulex) which was brought
into the country for hedging and is still used for this in a few parts
of the South Island.

Elsewhere it has become a most aggressive escape and in many districts
occupies any area of land cleared from forest which is not regularly
grazed. As a good deal of hill land was unwisely denuded of forest in
the early days of European settlement, gorse cover is the commonest
vegetation on any unfarmed non-forest land in many parts of the country,
especially round where we live. 

I must say it can look very pretty in full flower when entire hillsides
are golden several times a year, but it is hell to walk through and a
very serious fire risk, as it burns like mad and then rapidly
regenerates all ready to burn again.

Fortunately, being a legume, it makes a good nurse crop for regenerating
natural vegetation or useful exotics and it has been found the best way
to get rid of it is not to cut it out but either plant, or encourage
natural regrowth, among the bushes, because as soon as the new
vegetation begins to overtop it it begins to become unhealthy, and once
trees get right over its head it gives up and dies. The key to success
in this however is certainly preventing fires and this is not always
easy, especially as we do get our fair share of crazy arsonists, alas
(It burns with satisfying and spectacular fury).

The hill immediately behind our street was virtually covered in gorse
when we came here a little over 40 years ago, but has been kept
fire-free since and is now about 90% natural scrub and regenerating
forest, with only a fringe of gorse bushes right up at the skyline. We
are very happy to see this, not only because we love the bush, but
because of a vastly diminished fire-risk. NZ bush is  almost all
evergreen and is really quite difficult to burn unless severely
droughted..(and unlike some areas of the world, periodic burning does
not seem to be necessary to ensure continuing good health)

A serious introduced pest of native bush around us is also Clematis
vitalba. There are several beautiful and well-behaved native species but
vitalba goes mad and simply smothers everything in its path. An active
eradication policy round Wellington has had a good deal of success, but
other districts in the North Island aren't doing so well,

We also have several hebaceous escapes which are serious pests,
especially the ex pot plant Wandering Willy (Tradescantia fluminensis)
which ramps through shrubberies and bush areas alike suppressing natural
ground vegetation and preventing seedling growth, even climbing into
shrubs and smothering them. This is very difficult to deal with as it
resists most poisons and even flaming.

There are a number of other ornamentals such as ginger lilies and
Mexican daisy which are becoming serious pests, especially in warmer
parts of the country and many public-spirited nurserymen are now
following a voluntary code not to stock these and others on the list of
"criminals " supplied by the Department of Conservation, which should at
least slow down their spread..

Sorry, not time for more now. Talk to you another time if there is
anything else you would like to know.

Best wishes

Moira

Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, 
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
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