This page provides examples of notable trees from several localities in New Zealand. Follow this link for a General Introduction to the Notable Trees New Zealand.

HOROWHENUA
A recent registration has been accepted. The tree is an Ilex aquifolium and is situated in the Talisman Gardens Nursery near Otaki Horowhenua. It is a good specimen and when inspected for registration was in good health with a magnificent display of berries. The dimensions of the tree are — height 19.70m, spread of canopy 8.50m with a girth at 1.40m of 2.50m. The tree is approximately 80 years old.

Alistair Turnbull, the owner of Talisman Nurseries, has an outstanding collection of over 1000 native plants, many of them on the endangered list of New Zealand flora. This has been noted on the registration form as an important New Zealand Native Plant Collection which is known to many of our RNZIH plant specialist members.

LOWER HUTT
We are in the process of following up by letter on a very special tree which is situated in the grounds of the Geological and Nuclear Sciences Institute in Lower Hutt. This tree was described by the Dominion Newspaper, Wellington 14 May 1998.

APPLE TREE HAS ANCIENT PEDIGREE
An old, scrawny-looking apple tree in the Geological and Nuclear Sciences Institute's Gracefield grounds at Lower Hutt looks like any other backyard fruit tree. Scientists who pass it daily don't eat the apples on the ground because they taste "bloody awful".

The tree boasts a proud history — it can trace its antecedents directly to grafts taken from an apple tree at Woolsthorpe, England under which Sir Isaac Newton sat in 1666. A friend of Newton's, Dr William Stukeley, later wrote in 'Memoirs of Newton's Life' that it was while sitting under the apple tree that the notion of gravitation came into [Newton's] mind. It was occasion'd by the fall of an apple as he sat in a contemplative mood".

In 1976 a director of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research's Physical and Engineering Laboratory, Mervyn Probine, researched the Lower Hutt tree's background.

In a letter recently rediscovered in a drawer at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Dr. Probine wrote that Newton's original apple tree was a "Flower of Kent" variety, and was said to have died in 1814.

But before it died, grafts were taken and the resulting progeny planted in Lord Brownlow's kitchen garden at Belton. Trees at East Melling Research Station were propagated in 1940 from grafts of the Belton tree.

According to Dr. Probine, another strain also exists. In 1943 graft wood was taken to Kew Gardens directly from a tree at Woolsthorpe Manor, a also a descendant from the tree under which Newton sat, and trees were propogated there. Kew Gardens director Sir Edward Salisbury sent a tree to the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington. Dr. Probine was unable to determine whether the apple tree at Lower Hutt's Gracefield was descended from the "Kew" or the "East Malling" strain, "All that is known is that the tree we have here was obtained by the good offices of Sir Ernest Marsden and that it is a direct descendant of the tree which was growing in Sir Isaac Newton's garden at Woolsthorpe. He said the Lower Hutt tree was planted by a Mr. J.B.C. Taylor on Arbor Day 1957. Communications manager John Callan said: "It does justify a plaque or something similar."

NELSON
A record tree moving project was recently accomplished in Nelson. A Maitai of 18m high, which on moving weighed 90 tonnes. The reason for the move was that a new alignment of State Highway 60 near Nelson was being built by Transit NZ. Several options prior to the move of the tree were considered, including building a retaining wall surround. These options were discounted due to costs. It was decided to move the tree the 40m required to protect it from roadworks. Brad Cadwallader of Nelmac Tree Services, who is a qualified arborist, undertook to supervise the work. The method used was to prepare the ground several weeks before and contain the tree's massive root ball, which on excavation measured 6.5m by 4.5m and 2m deep.

The root ball was enclosed in timber and jacked upon to a specially built railway line. It was then skidded on the tracks using bulldozers and a winch to its new position 40m away. Precautions for the tree were taken in case of adverse weather and held until soil conditions were suitable for the move. Brad Cadwaller believes that with automated irrigation and regular after care, the 80 year old tree has a good chance of survival. He also believes that such a massive move is the biggest exercise undertaken in New Zealand or even the equal of any tree move in the Southern Hemisphere. Preparation costs were approximately NZ$25,000 to NZ$40,000. With moving and after care it brought the total cost to NZ$70,000. RNZIH Notable Trees NZ is appreciative of Transit NZ efforts to save the tree.

The first Arbor day plantings recorded in New Zealand were in Greytown in July 1980. Only 12 of the 150 trees planted have survived and these are registered as Notable Trees NZ Registration No. 150. When Greytown celebrated its Sesquicentennial in 1990 the trees were given a grooming by David Palmer, a Wellington arborist, in preparation for the celebrations.

STANDARDS NEW ZEALAND
The RNZIH and the NZ Arboricultural Association have both adopted STEM (A Standard Tree Evaluation Method). The document is currently being investigated as a basis for a National Standard by the Energy Resources Division of the Ministry for Commerce and Standards NZ.