Parks and Reserves Highlights by Athol Sanson
November, 2018
What a contrast we have had weather-wise during November, in the last four weeks we have gone from not being able to mow many areas to now wanting some rain.
November has been a busy one in the Parks with our summer flowering plants being planted throughout the region to making sure our parks/towns are in great condition for the numerous events that happen over spring and summer.
We are also in the middle of hand/spray releasing our plants planted in winter, this is an important part of the plants survival and needs to be done at least four times per year. With nearly 14,000 planted during 2018 this takes time to complete.
This month I thought I would focus on our tree care in our parks and street trees. The Rangitikei District is blessed with significant tree populations in our parks, that with care, will be part of our community for future generations.
We have many items to consider when looking at a tree for maintenance such as location, condition, shape, species, overhead power, flowering period deadwood etc. Maintenance requirements for each tree is different, each tree has to be assessed individually and remedial work undertaken as appropriate for that species.
Red horse chestnut on Marton main street Nov 2018 in flower
Broadway Trees Marton
If you have been in Marton recently the trees along the CBD have been looking fantastic.
The tree is called Aesculus x carnea “Briotii” (commonly known as Red Horse Chestnut) and is named after a French nurseryman Pierre Louis Broit in 1858.
The trees along Broadway are still small and if left to grow naturally they would soon reach a height of 20m when mature. This would then make them too large for their current location and removal would need to be considered. As they are such a feature this is not an option.
We decided that directly following flowering the trees should be pruned back by 0.5m-1m and all going well the new summer growth would give us flowers the following spring. To date this is working well and I suspect apart from the early Marton risers nobody would be aware of this process happening.
This work was done over two mornings starting at 5am, our thanks must go to our contractors for their early start.
Marton Park
This month has seen the completion of tree assessment and pruning at Marton Park. It has been a large project taking nearly three years to complete and involving 10-12 days of hard work by trained professionals.
All the trees in the park were visually accessed during 2015 and remedial work undertaken on any trees that were likely to cause injury to park users. This included felling of a large pine to the western end of the park, this pine had developed an inclusion and could have failed at any time. An inclusion is where two branches had grown apart resulting in internal rot.
The trees are protected in the park under the District Plan and cannot be removed without a resource consent. Urgent removal of trees is permitted if they are a hazard to the park users.
The trees in Marton Park are looking great and will be around for future generations.
The video below is Fraser from Robinsons Tree Surgeons talking to Year 1 & 2 children from Marton Junction School. Watch Jack climb up into the tree using ropes.
Street Trees
Street trees are managed in a different way again, we have to consider items such as overhead / underground services, trees protruding onto the road etc.
A number of London plane trees in Taihape and Marton are pollarded or high coppiced, this is a method of pruning that keeps trees smaller than they would naturally grow.
Pollarding is undertaken during July and helps develop a new branch framework for the tree the following summer. Once a tree has been pollarded it will need to be maintained like this for the life of the tree.
Council trees are maintained by approved contractors. It is a requirement that the contactors hold the relevant Health and Safety requirements and qualifications for work on the trees.
Make the most of this great weather and enjoy your trips to our parks.