Planting trees of love

Public memorials were once strictly for the rich and famous. John Landrigan reports on a growing scheme to leave lasting, living legacies of lost loved ones.
Sushma Bhat lost her beloved and well-respected father in India earlier this year.
To commemorate his wide, varied life, the Auckland University lecturer and Lynfield resident is planting a native kahikatea tree to mark a place where she and his grandchildren can remember him.
Her father, Pran Seth, was a journalist, publisher, prolific writer of children's books and tourism and social studies texts. He was former deputy director-general with India's department of tourism and was instrumental in promoting India to the world in the 1960s. He loved travel, loved visiting family in New Zealand and loved our clean, green image and wild, beautiful nature.
Having a native tree planted for him here is right in so many ways says the mother-of-two.
"He and I were very close. He loved Auckland and would love the symbolism of having a tree planted because he loved being in nature.
"Memorials are a great idea. I come from a culture that does not have a gravestone, a place to go specifically to communicate with someone loved by you."
She's found the perfect spot overlooking Kaipara Harbour.
Cue Haven is a future nature reserve, named to intimate a beginning, the idea of Thomas and Mahrukh Stazyk. The Pt Chevalier couple bought 24ha overlooking Kaipara Harbour in Araparera, an hour north of Auckland on the Kaipara Coast Highway.
The haven has undulating hills and running streams with roughly 5.7ha of it in established native forest and wetlands, says Mrs Stazyk.
"In 2003, we conceived the idea of a retreat where people from different walks of life could come together to relax and rejuvenate their minds.
"When we bought the property, it was being used to graze beef cattle. We want to create a wetland/forest reserve that the community could enjoy for generations."
They plan to plant more than 18,000 native trees through various agencies and funding sources.
"The idea for a memorial tree planting came about in April 2009 when our dear friend Chris Foss passed away. Chris was very fond of gardening and we decided planting a tree in his memory would be a nice memorial for him."
The trees the Stazyks are planting as memorials are kahikatea which are known to live for a thousand years. "In the future, as the forest canopy is established, we will include other native trees, kauri, rimu, etc, for the memorial plantings."
The memorial trees are scattered among other native trees the couple have already planted. "We have found that the tree planting experience is quite cathartic for the family and friends of the loved one as it seems to provide some sort of closure."
Dr Bhat and her family plan to plant her father's kahikatea on her birthday in July - it is close to what could be his birthday but no one kept dates from his era. They will also take a picnic and film the ceremony for friends and family in India.
"It will be a place to focus and think of father. He was a very gentle and humane man with wide-reaching interests and huge abilities. He was a loving, wise and good human being. I want to be able to take his great grandchildren there in the future."
For more information on Cue Haven see http://cuehaven.com/