Waipahihi Botanical Reserve

11/09/2024

WOW! A spring fling? We'll be with you. We're just getting ready ....

26/08/2024

OK! OK !OK! We're here! More coming!

23/08/2024

Well, it's been a while since we were in touch. It was great to have a few splashes last week - we needed them. This is just to say - we have arrived and more of our mates are arriving each day. Spring is not far away .... PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!

29/07/2024

A fascinating seldom-seen visitor to the reserve, the usually nocturnal Ruru or Morepork

16/07/2024

Seen about recently .....
The irrigators at work
Young tree shining in the afternoon sun
The flax patch - gleaming - so beautifully pruned and managed
Men chatting
The planting they had done
Yet more fungi
Graeme and the aerial roots of a pohutakawa

20/06/2024

Just so you know - a weasel is weasily recognised while a stoat is stoatally different!

20/06/2024

We were there at the Greening Taupo planting day on Friday 7 June - adding to the colour of the day. School children from all round the district were bussed in to plant 3,000 trees on the Taupo golf course. Big effort. Big crowd. Venison sausages. Music, Fun.
We had dead things (rats, mouse, weasel, possum) on display on the back of Hugh's truck - a highlight of the day, no doubt! Notice our new signboards.

06/06/2024

Seen around today ... fungi, for the beady-eyed.

06/06/2024

Tomorrow, Friday 7 June - Greening Taupo is painting the town GREEN ... again!

From 9am until about midday, 3,000 native plants will be planted by the pupils of local schools on part of the Taupo Golf Course. The entrance is on Tauhara Road, opposite the BP station.

There will be more than 35 exhibitors present, including Mynoke, Tongariro Trout Centre, Mitre 10 Mega, Epro, Wingspan, Trees for Survival, Bug Hunt, the Moths and Butterflies Trust of NZ, Didymo Dave, the Taupo Fire Brigade ....... and the Waipahihi Botanical Society.

Come and help, saunter around the exhibitors or just study the action.

22/05/2024

After the storm ....

16/05/2024

Well, the sky cleared and the sun came out, so we went for a walk around the ring road. This is what we saw on the way down to a big birthday afternoon tea (happy birthday, Bev, and thanks for all the cakes) ....

15/05/2024

Another damp day - we like! - we need!
When the sky clears make sure you walk the camellia paths. Most come out in the spring but there are quite a few winter-flowering bushes.
If you haven't seen it, the full collection has been photographed and catalogued by Bev and Graeme Robinson, and lodged on our website - see https://www.waipahihigardens.nz/camellia-gallery

12/05/2024

Volunteers planting, pruning and fixing ....

07/05/2024

The annual gingko and golden lawn photo!

06/05/2024

Yes, it's decidedly Autumn at Waipahihi, this scene is available to view now!

11/04/2024

We are quiet folk and we are in quiet corners all over the Gardens - this is our time - autumn. Check out our biography.

03/04/2024

Special people - volunteer Molly turned 90 recently - she works in the Gardens in both volunteer work sessions and has done for more than a generation.
Jenny Bishop and Hugh Eccles were made life members at the AGM - Jenny for the vast knowledge and experience she has and from which the Gardens have benefitted enormously, and Hugh for creating and developing a pest control network that has been hugely effective. They all say they love the place!

10/03/2024

Another beautiful day and a wonderfully interesting and varied concert. Taupo has such a depth of music. Thank you to all the performers - musicians and drummers - fantastic effort.

30/01/2024

Welcome to 2024! We invite you to another Music in the Gardens the 7th) - Sunday 10 March - 11am until approx 1pm. As is our tradition we have a programme of music by local musicians (Taupo has such a lot of talent) - some regular performers and some newcomers. See you there!

02/12/2023

Seen around recently .... a wedding in the Lemonwood Walk, lingering rhodos, a new track - a crescent in the Floral Walk, a beautiful manuka in flower, view of Tauhara over the h**e garden - and new parking area under construction.

19/11/2023

The volunteers have made a new path - it joins the Flax Lawn/Town Lookout to the Big Leaf Rhododendron Dell, winding through some beautiful trees and linking to the Wilderness Track. It's not quite ready for walking but soon it will be a lovely addition to the collection of paths in the Gardens. The flax patches are looking superb at the moment - well worth stopping to study..

11/11/2023

Oh the rhododendrons! Some are over, some are out now and some are yet to come. Come and visit - the Gardens are in their spring clothes and look fantastic.

28/08/2023

We love trees. You love trees. Some people don't love trees. See www.newsroom.co.nz/environment for a news article (Fears of chainsaw massacre) written by Emma Hatton yesterday to be reminded of the importance of trees. Share it !

Newsroom is an independent, New Zealand-based news and current affairs site.

11/08/2023

Cats ....Many of the volunteers of the Waipahihi Botanical Gardens are cat owners – nevertheless, we are concerned about what seems to be an increasing number of cats roaming the Gardens. They are a potential and very real danger to our birdlife and small animals which consider the Gardens ‘home’. This flier will give you some ideas about how you can help us keep our birds, geckos and lizards safe from cats.

21/07/2023

Walk or drive along the top section of the ring road of the Gardens - any of the tall trees you see in the background are in danger of the Procrustean chop.