Senior Landscape Designer LLoyd Atherfold discusses the brilliance of birds in your backyard. The idea of bird watching conjures up images of big binoculours, small notebooks, and wide brimmed hats. However you don’t have to be David Attenborough to appreciate the truly spectular native birds New Zealand has been blessed with, especially when they’re right […]
The role of the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU) in New Zealand is to lead the rebuild of Christchurch central. CCDU is part of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA). CCDU is delivering the vision in the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan for a distinctive, vibrant and green 21st century city. Introducing the Christchurch Central Recovery […]
Landscape Architect Jenny Wood from Natural Habitats shares her ideas about planting public places. If you have the benefit (or the curse) of living in a city, you will have noticed that on average our backyards are getting smaller, while our waistlines are getting bigger. You don’t have to know a lot about physics to […]
he Rhopalostylis sapida ‘Pitt Island’ is the world’s southernmost palm. They are able to tolerate full sun, are fast growing and are able to withstand coastal conditions better than the NZ mainland Nikau. This is most evident in the fronds where the browning off happens to a much lesser extent. It is for this reason that the Pitt Island Nikau is considered one of the best Nikau for use in garden situations.
The good old Ponga log is as kiwi as fish and chips, boy racers and the word “prang”. Traditionally Ponga was used by Maori for medicinal and structural purposes. The leaf stalk is used as a treatment for skin problems, as a poultice for boils and abbesses and has antiseptic properties. Ponga gum can be […]
By Philip Smith –O2 Landscapes ‘Form grammar’ is a term that may be used to refer to the organisation of, and relationship between, forms. The predominant type of ‘form grammar’ applied by designers in New Zealand is based on the formal geometric tradition laid down by the European forebears of our modern society (and further […]
Wayne Butson of Design+Garden Landscapes tells us about a recent project. We had a challenging Dunedin site to work on over Autumn, this was a small patio space behind tall block boundary walls, some up to 4 metres high. Challenging in the fact we had to crane over all materials and machinery into the site, […]
