Exotics increasingly getting axe as natives dominate city plantings

Liquidambar trees the line upper end of Queen street, come into blossom. Photo / Nick Reed

The Super City is turning xenophobic when it comes to trees.

The latest victims of a preference for native trees include a stand of large phoenix palms and an Indian bead tree in the way of a $4 million upgrade of Freyberg Square.

Replacing the exotic trees with nikau and pohutukawa is still a proposal, but typical of what is happening with the city's public spaces: native plantings and paved granite surfaces.

This model is being challenged by the Tree Council, which believes a mix of native and exotic trees is best.

The Herald sought feedback from Dame Lesley Max, the children's advocate who became known as the Save the Trees Lady during the 2006 battle to save exotic trees along Queen St in the central city.

"I appreciate native plantings in a number of locations but I think the city needs to maintain the seasonal change, the joys of autumn colours, the delight of spring, the full flourishing of summer, the starkness of winter."

Dame Lesley said a compromise in Queen St for exotic liquidambars co-existing with native nikau was a happy marriage, with the liquidambars providing shade in the heat of summer.

Mark Bowater, council acting general manager for parks, sport and recreation, said that in the past 15 years there had been a move away from exotic to native trees.

Reasons included concerns raised by iwi at the low number of native trees in the city centre, reflecting New Zealand's identity in streets, encouraging native birds and bees back into the city and reducing maintenance costs from dropped leaves.

"In general there is an approximately 65 per cent, 35 per cent split in terms of the number of native versus exotic tree species that we plant," Mr Bowater said.

At Wynyard Quarter nearly all the plantings to date are native.

Rod Marler, place shaping director for Development Auckland, said natives were much better suited to the marine environment, such as the boardwalk around West-haven Marina.

He said as work continued along Daldy St, exotic trees would be planted at the Victoria Park end to reflect its century-old plane trees.

Tree Council chairman Sean Freeman said Auckland should follow Melbourne's 50-year urban forest strategy focused on diversity.