From trendy to tremendous
By Mitch Graham
Spring has well and truly arrived at Tupare. Our visitors ooh and ah at the cheerful blossoms smothering the shrubs. Ducklings hop, skip and waddle toward the ponds, ushered along by fretful mother duck. The rays of warm sunlight tempt picnickers to doze off on the sheltered lawns.
At this time of year, the gardeners always look forward to our deciduous trees waking from their winter’s rest then bursting out the fresh new leaves from what appear to be dead twigs.
Near the front door of the house at Tupare you will find a most glorious deciduous conifer, the dawn redwood, or Metasequoia glyptostroboides, towering so tall and conical. When visitors enter the gatehouse at the top of the drive, and turn towards the lookout to look down on to the roof of the house, the top of the dawn redwood is still higher than eye level.
The craggy old trunk, with dark cavities, and carpeted with ferns, is about four arm-lengths in circumference, if you could encourage a group of friends to hug this tree!
Horizontal branches spread out from this strong trunk and at the ends of these branches dozens of twigs display soft lime green feathers that catch the beams of sunlight, creating the effect of filtering dappled light onto the lawn beneath.
The dawn redwood was one of the first trees to be planted by the Matthews when they began landscaping the estate in the 1940s once the house was built. Sir Russell was very proud to have acquired such a highly prized tree. Dawn redwoods were thought to be extinct until a wild grove was discovered in the Sichuan region in China. This created real fervour among plant lovers throughout the world, for whom it was like a discovery of living dinosaurs.
Sir Russell acquired propagating material, possibly from Douglas Cook. It was the first to be planted in Taranaki, and possibly one of the first in New Zealand.
While Sir Russell was overseas one autumn, Lady Matthews tethered the goat on the lawn near to the dawn redwood and to her surprise noticed the leaves turning brown. “I knew the Redwood was a conifer but I didn’t know it lost its leaves, I thought the goat must have got to it. I think I rang Doug Elliot and he said it was all right.”
This glorious tree, full of character, is a sight to behold in Tupare’s spring fresh garden.
Photo: Tupare's magnificent dawn redwood.
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Mitch Graham (left) is Garden Manager - Tupare for the Taranaki Regional Council This column was published in the Taranaki Daily News on 28 October 2011 |
