Ōtari-Wilton's Bush is a native botanic garden and forest reserve located in Wilton in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand. It is New Zealand's only public botanic garden dedicated solely to the native plants of New Zealand.

Overview

Ōtari-Wilton's Bush is a public botanic garden dedicated solely to New Zealand native plants. It is the only garden of this type in New Zealand. The reserve includes of native forest, and of plant collections. The forest in the reserve contains some of the oldest trees in Wellington, including an 800-year-old

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

. Ōtari–Wilton's Bush is classified as a 6Star rated garden by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. It is also one of the Founding Gardens of the Trust. Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush has also received an international

Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

that recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces and around the world. Ōtari-Wilton's Bush is owned and managed by

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Wellington, the country's capital city and List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, third-largest city by popul ...

Location and access

The gardens are located at 160 Wilton Road, approximately 5 km from the city centre. Public transport to the gardens is available via the No 14 Wilton bus route from the city centre. There are also car parks at the Wilton Road and Churchill Drive entrances. There is a path suitable for wheelchairs from Wilton Road to the Visitor Centre, and from there to the Cockayne Lookout via the Canopy Walkway. There is also an accessible path along the

Kaiwharawhara Stream The Kaiwharawhara Stream is a stream in the North Island of New Zealand – it flows through the northwestern part of New Zealand's capital, Wellington. Its headwaters lie within the suburb of Karori, and it passes through other suburbs and Ō ...

from the carpark off Churchill Drive to the Troup Picnic Lawn. The gardens are open daily between sunrise and sunset, and entry is free.

History

The original forest in the area surrounding Ōtari-Wilton's Bush was a podocarp broadleaf forest. The area was known as a good place to catch birds, and this gives rise to the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

name: “Place of snares”. Large trees in the wider area were felled for timber when European settlers arrived in the region, and farms were established. In 1860, a far-sighted local farmer named Job Wilton fenced off of original forest to protect it from stock. This became known as Wilton’s Bush, and was a popular area for picnickers and day trippers. Interest grew in preserving the forest, so in 1906 the government bought an adjacent of land in the Ōtari Native Reserve from its Māori owners and designated it as a scenic reserve. In 1918, the land was transferred to Wellington City Council for “recreation purposes and for the preservation of native flora”. By 1926, the site was known as the Otari Open-Air Native Plant Museum. The first director of the reserve was

Leonard Cockayne Leonard Cockayne (7 April 1855 – 8 July 1934) is regarded as New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of Western science in New Zealand. Biography He was born in Sheffield, England where he attended Wesley College. He travelled to Aus ...

. In the 1920s he worked together with J.G. MacKenzie, the director of Wellington Parks and Reserves, on plans for the open-air plant museum. The name was changed to Ōtari–Wilton’s Bush in 2000, recognising the influences of both Māori and Europeans.

Native botanic gardens

The native plant collections at Ōtari-Wilton's Bush contain about 1,200 species, including hybrids and cultivars representing plants from mainland New Zealand and off-shore islands. The plants on display have generally been raised from seeds or cuttings collected from their original environments. The four main objectives of the collection are: * Conservation: raise seedlings of threatened species, either to be kept in the gardens for conservation purposes, or for use in plant recovery programmes in the wild. * Research: enable scientific study of the plant collections for plant ecology, classification and economic potential. * Education: help visitors learn about plant names and characteristics, including providing labelling. * Recreation: enable visitors to observe New Zealand's unique flora and enjoy the Ōtari-Wilton's Bush environment and facilities.

Collections

The plants are arranged in distinct collections, including an alpine garden, a fernery, hebe and flax cultivars, a large rock garden, grass and sedge species, and a coastal garden. A detailed and interactive online map of the gardens published by the Wellington City Council provides the location of each collection, and a list of the plants that can be found in that section of the gardens.

Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

(''Agathis australis'') were first planted at Ōtari in 1926, with additional plantings in the 1930s and 1950s. As of 2010, 160 kauri trees were still present but are not thought to be regenerating.

Plant conservation

In April 2019, a report by Statistics New Zealand on the conservation status of indigenous land species identified species classified as threatened with or at risk of extinction. For vascular plants, a total of 1,253 species were identified (representing 46 percent of known species). Human settlement has caused many plants to disappear from New Zealand's forests, wetlands and coasts. Major losses are blamed on industries such as agriculture and forestry, and the introduction of animal pests and invasive weeds. The Native Botanic Gardens at Ōtari-Wilton's Bush include many New Zealand plants that are threatened in the wild. Some of these plants are raised and either kept at Ōtari-Wilton's Bush as a conservation measure, or returned to original habitats as part of plant conservation recovery programmes. One example of plant conservation work at Ōtari-Wilton's bush is the planting of seeds of New Zealand’s only fully parasitic flowering plant, '' Dactylanthus taylori (Te Pua o te Rēinga)'' that were translocated from Pureora forest in 2020. A wide range of organisations work in partnership with Ōtari-Wilton's Bush on plant conservation, including The Museum of New Zealand

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

Tongarewa,

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, the

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

and

Plant & Food Research Plant & Food Research (Māori: Rangahau Ahumāra Kai) is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute (CRI). Its purpose is to enhance the value and productivity of New Zealand's horticultural, arable, seafood and food & beverage industries. The in ...

Forest reserve

The forest at Ōtari-Wilton's Bush covers around of the catchment area of the northeast flowing

, which has several gullies and side streams (some with small waterfalls) and is surrounded by hills up to 280 m above sea level.

Greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

is the rock underlying the forest, which includes original

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly southern hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pres ...

broadleaf forest, regenerating forest and scrub. Larger trees in the forest include podocarps such as

mataī ''Prumnopitys taxifolia'', the mataī () or black pine, is an endemic New Zealand coniferous tree that grows on the North Island and South Island. It also occurs on Stewart Island / Rakiura (47 °S) but is uncommon there. It grows up to high ...

, miro,

tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, ...

and

. Examples of these large trees can be seen from the canopy walkway. The larger trees will often have perching plants (

epiphytes An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

) in higher branches. Climbing plants are also common throughout, including supplejack, New Zealand passionfruit, and several species of rata (''metrosideros''). On the upper slopes, the predominant trees are

māhoe Mahoe is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *'' Alectryon macrococcus'', or ʻalaʻalahua, a species of tree in the soapberry family endemic to Hawaii *''Hibiscus elatus'', synonym ''Talipariti elatum'', or blue mahoe, a species of t ...

rewarewa ''Knightia excelsa'', commonly known as rewarewa (from Māori), is an evergreen tree endemic to the low elevation and valley forests of New Zealand. It is found in the North Island and at the tip of the South Island in the Marlborough Sounds (4 ...

, tawa and

kohekohe Kohekohe (''Didymocheton spectabilis'') is a medium-sized tree in the Meliaceae family, native to New Zealand. It is found in lowland and coastal forests throughout most of the North Island and also occurs in the Marlborough Sounds in the no ...

, with some forest remnants of matai and rimu. In damp areas, there are pukatea that typically have large plank

buttress roots Buttress roots, also known as plank roots or stilt roots, are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They may prevent the tree from fa ...

to support their growth. The high south-facing slopes in the reserve are covered in regenerating scrub that is dominated by introduced plants such as

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

and Darwin's barberry, although native plants such as

rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury Region, Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the ...

and māhoe can also be found. In 2007, a

BioBlitz A BioBlitz, also written without capitals as bioblitz, is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists, and volunteers conduct an intensive ...

was held to "increase public awareness and to generate scientific knowledge" of the

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

within Ōtari-Wilton's Bush. Nearly 500 species of vascular plants, liverworts, mosses and lichens were recorded during the 24 hours of the BioBlitz including a number of new records, such as the flowering plant '' Veronica javanica'' and the liverwort ''

Marchantia polymorpha ''Marchantia polymorpha'' is a species of large thalloid liverwort in the class Marchantiopsida. ''M. polymorpha'' is highly variable in appearance and contains several subspecies. This species is dioicous, having separate male and female plants. ...

'' subsp. ''ruderalis''.

Visitor attractions

The Visitor Centre provides information about New Zealand's flora (and fauna), and Ōtari – Wilton's Bush. It is open 8am–4pm daily. In December 2021, the Visitor Centre was reopened after a two month closure for renovations, and was renamed: 'Tāne Whakapiripiri'. There are displays and information for visiting groups, and a small lecture room that is available for educational purposes. The Leonard Cockayne Centre is a seminar and function room located in a stand-alone building adjacent to the Leonard Cockayne memorial lawn.

Canopy walkway

A 75-metre-long canopy walkway, beginning at the Information Centre, links the two main garden areas. It is 18 metres above the ground and stream below.

Forest trails and walking tracks

There are walks and trails within the forest and gardens to suit a range of ages and abilities. Good walking footwear and appropriate clothing for the weather conditions is recommended. * Circular Walk – a walk through gardens and forest. Some steps, and steep in places. 30 minutes return from the Information Centre. * Nature Trail – a self-guided walk through gardens and forest, with notes contained in a pamphlet that is available at the Information Centre. Some steps and steep in places. 30–40 minutes return from the Information Centre. * Blue Trail – forest trail through dense kohekohe forest. Features an 800-year-old rimu. The track is steep in places with some steps. One hour and thirty minutes return from the Information Centre. * Red Trail – forest trail through tawa-dominated forest. Challenging with some steps and steep in places. 1 hour return from the Information Centre. * Yellow Trail – a forest trail through the steep-sided Bledisloe Gorge. Challenging with some steps and steep in places. 1 hour return from the Information Centre. * Kaiwharawhara Trail – a gentle walk through regenerating forest along the Kaiwharawhara Stream from the Troup Picnic area to Ian Galloway Park. 30 minutes return from the Troup Picnic area. * Skyline Loop Track – access to the western hills Skyline Walkway; from the Flax Clearing via the Red or Yellow Trails, or via the Blue Trail. Challenging with some steps and steep in places. Two and a half hours return, from the Information Centre.

Fauna

Birds seen (and/or heard) at Ōtari-Wilton's Bush include

kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae''), also known as kūkupa (Māori language#Northern dialects, northern Māori dialects), New Zealand pigeon or wood pigeon, is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin describ ...

tūī The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

(),

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

(),

grey warbler The grey warbler (''Gerygone igata''), also known by its Māori name or outside New Zealand as the grey gerygone, is an insectivorous bird in the family Acanthizidae endemic to New Zealand. It is sometimes known as the teetotum or rainbird. I ...

(),

silvereye The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis''), also known by its Māori name tauhou, is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is ...

() and

morepork The morepork (''Ninox novaeseelandiae''), better known as the morepork owl, and also known by numerous other onomatopoeic names (such as boobook, mopoke or ruru), is a smallish, brown owl species found in New Zealand, and to the northwest, on No ...

(). The reserve holds interesting species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

es and

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

Wētā Wētā (also spelled weta in English) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemism, endemic to New Zealand. They are giant wingless insect, flightless cricket (insect ...

are also present.

Research

A number of scientific research studies have been conducted within Ōtari-Wilton's Bush regarding biodiversity. These include multi-year ecological studies on epiphyte diversity and distribution, masting in the kohekohe tree, and changes in tree abundance over time. In 2018, the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

Ōtari Plant Conservation Laboratory was opened and with it a major research focus on seed germination, long-term storage of seeds, and cryopreservation of seeds of native New Zealand plants, especially in the myrtle family and

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

Ōtari-Wilton's Bush Trust

The Ōtari-Wilton's Bush Trust was formed as a Registered Charitable Trust in 2001. The trust deed registered with the application describes the principal purpose of the trust as: "To educate the local and wider community in New Zealand flora, thereby fostering public awareness and appreciation of native plants and of the environmental importance of their protection, conservation and rehabilitation and promoting the unique botanic diversity of Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush". The trust is a member of the

New Zealand Plant Conservation Network The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network (NZPCN) is a non-governmental organisation devoted to the protection and restoration of New Zealand's indigenous plant life, including vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts and lichens. Descr ...

. One of the founding trustees was the renowned New Zealand botanist John Dawson. Although Ōtari-Wilton's Bush is owned and managed by the Wellington City Council, the Ōtari-Wilton's Bush Trust has a significant role in supporting the objectives of the gardens, via education programmes, marketing initiatives and hands on volunteering.

References

External links

Otari-Wilton's Bush
Official Wellington City Council website

Portal to Ōtari-Wilton's Bush interactive GIS maps and stories
Ōtari-Wilton's Bush Trust
website of the trust
Trail maps
for Wilton's Bush and surrounds
Wellington Walks: Otari-Wilton’s Bush and Skyline Walkway
{{Authority control Botanical gardens in New Zealand Tourist attractions in Wellington City Protected areas of the Wellington Region Parks in Wellington City