From the garden’s early days, it was found to be a sun trap and vantage point and seats are visible in photographs from the early 1900s. Once the bandstand was built in 1914, it became a popular gathering point to socialise and enjoy the music. In the early 1940s, the existing terraces were formed and the present-day seats installed.
A few years ago, botanic garden management recognised that this area was becoming tired, and work began to repair and paint the seats.
Since then work has continued with re-contouring the eroded banks, rock work at the north end to form new beds, and the installation of steps. In the next 12 months, a further three sets of steps will be built to improve access and more plants will be added.
The area enjoys the full blast of the afternoon sun and because of the clay-based soil and the difficult and exposed site, plants need to be chosen carefully.
So far, plantings have included an informal tangled hedge of Coprosma acerosa Red Rocks, white-flowering Cistus salviifolius ‘Snow Mound’, tough and colourful Australian natives Grevillea lanigera ‘Mount Tamboritha’ and Grevillea ‘Bronze Rambler’, Artostaphylos x media ‘Woods Red’, the bright green Australian grass Lomandra longifolia ‘Little Con’, upright black flax Phormium ‘Black Rage’, hardy conifers such as Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Greenstead Magnificent’ and Juniperus x pfitzeriana ‘Gold Coast’, and mass plantings of smaller varieties of Agapanthus.
- Garden Life is produced by Dunedin Botanic Garden. For further information, contact Robyn Abernethy.
