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Native grasses and iconic trees were put together for a riparian planting trial. The results were surprisingly charming.

- One man's riparian planting mission with native grasses.

Lockdown presented the perfect time to focus on selecting the right plants – time Noel normally spends working in other people’s gardens. He began with a group of mānuka and silver tussock (Poa cita) in his agripatch, which happens to lie on the other side of the stream from his and partner Sue Billing’s house, garden and potager. He was impressed with the rapid growth of the mānuka and tussocks, and the fact that once the tussocks are established and smothering the ground, weeds are much reduced.

As the planting trial proved fruitful, he was excited about experimenting with other grasses. One of his favourites is hard tussock (Festuca novae-zelandiae), which grows in montane parts of Canterbury such as the Craigieburn Valley and Broken River, reminding him of those years in the mountains. But better at smothering the weeds is windgrass (Anemanthele lessoniana), which makes an excellent groundcover.

The names of the wide range of native grasses roll expertly off Noel’s tongue and reflect the years spent working for Forest Research in the 1970s, when he worked on botanical surveys just about everywhere in the South Island’s high country. The job took him to the Hokitika headwaters, Haast Arawata, Arthur’s Pass, the entire catchment of the Waitaki and Mt Cook, the Wairau Valley, Fiordland and other areas too numerous to mention, ending in Westland National Park.

One of his most memorable moments was during two summers he spent in Fiordland while documenting the vegetation on the Dark Cloud range. Intent on spending a month establishing research plots in that catchment, the team only managed one day of work before experiencing 24 days of relentless rain. Noel lit a fire for breakfast on their last morning, sending a plume of smoke up through the canopy. A rescue chopper had been sent to look for them, saw the smoke from the fire and landed on the ridge, much to their surprise. “Bizarrely, after a 40-minute flight we stayed the night in the lap of luxury at the Grand Hotel in Invercargill and then the next day we were dropped onto Mt Anglem, Stewart Island, back into the wild to continue our survey work there,” says Noel.

Noel has created a corridor of natives for birds and bees to enjoy on the property, with mānuka peppered throughout and the North Island kōwhai as a decorative element every 10m or so, chosen for its upright form.

Carex secta and some mountain flaxes hold the stream banks in place, and Carex dipsacea, dwarf toetoe, red tussock (Chionochloa rubra) and windgrass (Anemanthele leesoniana) are just some of the many grasses he grows. All do well, smothering the ground with their weeping nature. “The grasses, once established, reduce the need to weed so they make an effective groundcover,” says Noel.

As part of the vegetation survey, Noel also noted the observations of animals present to get a picture of browsing that led to the recommendation of the culling of certain species. He found extreme examples of excessive browsing in some of the alpine basins which reeked of their faeces. Nowadays though, it’s pūkeko that Noel keeps an eye out for. They too can be destructive, ripping out young plants, and interestingly making their nests in the tops of the Carex secta. He makes regular checks to find them and the eels in the stream receive a welcome feed of eggs.

Noel Fine has planted the entire length of the 320m stream that runs through his Ohoka property in native plants, with grasses the main feature.

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2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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