Learning to Love Our Native Plants: Baton Valley Workshop
In the last week of October the Motueka Catchment Collective, Landcare Trust and the Baton Valley Trust joined forces delivering two native plant workshops on the Baton House property at the top of the beautiful Baton Valley.
There was good demand for these field days, which comprised of an interesting morning information session and an afternoon adventure into the hills.
The group discovered why our native plants are so special (about 85% of our plants are endemic i.e. only found in Aotearoa, shaped by 80 million years of isolation) and how they are largely NOT pollinated by birds hence their less showy flowers. We learnt about ‘buzz pollination’ – that’s when a native plant only releases its pollen in response to a specific frequency of the beating wing of the native bee – wow! And heteroblasty – when the leaf size, structure and shape changes from juvenile through to adult forms. Who knew some orchids have an ‘irritable labellum’ which is spring loaded to capture their pollinator which they then release, and that the pollen of the fuchsia tree is blue? We looked at the basics of taxonomy – the growth form of plants as well as etymology – how they are named. Did you know the horoeka, or lancewood, is an indicator tree for possum browsing? Lots of great learning!
After lunch on the Baton House lawn groups headed out to look at the wetland restoration, some spent time in the native revegetation block doing more plant I.D., and some also visited the newly established tōtara plantation and heard about the trials and tribulations of that project. All in all a fascinating day.
The tutor was Wayne O’Keefe who has recently come to Tasman. Originally from Wales, Wayne moved to Aotearoa in 2001 and quickly developed a passion for our unique biodiversity. He has worked in the community conservation space supporting and guiding conservation groups and landowners to achieve their conservation goals and is a self-confessed native plant geek. Wayne has held roles with the QEII National Trust, Trees that Count and is a current trustee of Tane’s Tree Trust. His enthusiasm shone through and we look forward to more workshops with Wayne in the future.
To check out Tane’s Tree Trust go here – https://www.tanestrees.org.nz/
By Ange Palmer