Free Entry - open daily from 9am to 5pm
487 Mangorei Road, New Plymouth (see map)

• Home
• The Gardens
• The House
• The Stories
• Events

Finding fine ferns

By Mitch Graham
As visitors to Tupare stroll through the gardens, many are impressed when they chance upon a view down to a boisterous rocky river. This river, the Waiwhakaiho, originates on the northern flanks of Mt Taranaki and cuts its path along the property's eastern boundary, completing its journey at the northern end of New Plymouth city.

The sloping topography of Tupare's garden accentuates the many varied vistas of rural Taranaki and its mountain.

Tupare translates as either garland or cliff. Not only do the cliffs provide wonderful vantage points, but they are the habitat of choice for a multitude of native ferns enjoying a shady damp perch to call home.

Two of the paths at Tupare that lead down to the riverflat are ideal places to quietly observe the ground ferns living among native orchids and grasses, sheltered from the sun by the mature native and exotic trees.

They may be fragile in appearance, but many of the native ground ferns clinging to our banks and cliffs are a lot hardier than we may imagine - as long as we leave them undisturbed.

Blechnum chambersii, is one such fern, elegantly textured though robust by nature, it displays neat symmetrically arranged leaflets (pinnae) on either side of each fronds stem (stipe).

Native maidenhair fern, Adiantum cunninghamii, adds a delicate tracery to the edges of our pathways. Green leaves change tone as the frond ages, but it is the fine black stipe on each frond which emphasises the appeal.

Shining spleenwort, Asplenium oblongifolium, is hard to overlook. Pointed leaflets exhibit a glossy texture to the undergrowth, and at home among the leaf litter, this fern has an open uncluttered habit.

Another with a glossy sheen is kowaowao, or Microsorum pustulatum. Broad and randomly shaped translucent fronds emerge haphazardly from a green-blue rhizomes that snake themselves over logs decaying on the forest floor, as well as up the face of a nearby bank.

So, if it happens to be raining and the Waiwhakaiho River is receiving a top-up, take time to amble along the shady trails at Tupare. Many different ferns will be lapping up the moisture and doing what ferns do best, perched in the damp shady cliffs at Tupare's corner of the river valley.

Mitch Graham (left) is Garden Manager - Tupare for the Taranaki Regional Council This column was published in the Taranaki Daily News on 12 November 2010