NW Native Tree Thrives in New Zealand
Forum Archives
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: May-20-2005 at 8:29pm
Douglas fir, which is very common here, is also a plant that has been transplanted very sucessfully, almost "too sucessfully" to New Zealand. Our tour through New Zealand included a trip through their rainforest' and it looked like home-- Tall forests of Douglas fir, knee deep in seedlings--very prolific, but there they call them: "Oregon Fir!" Made me proud to be an Oregonian! FYI
Carol
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: May-21-2005 at 4:49pm
I take it Doug Fir was planted for harvesting, Carol? And it is now part of their rainforest. Hope it is not a pest. You never know with introduced plants.
I hope to go to New Zealand some day. It does look like beautiful country.
Jeanne
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: May-21-2005 at 5:33pm
Yes, It was imported about the time they discovered gold in NZ around 1840 to `1860. the climate there is ideal and it grew like a natural born native! Here, when you go into a doug fir forest, you have undergrowth of ferns, native plants and a few seedling. There, you see forty-leven Doug fir seedlings. Lush growth, incredible growth. a super trip. The favorite "pest" in NZ is clematis, which grows everywhere, especially in the forests. And now both NZ and Au are super cautious about importing any plant life or bugs. When we flew from NZ to AU we even had to wash the soles of our shoes!
Carol
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: May-21-2005 at 6:19pm
You must of seen some interesting things. What a great trip! I'm glad they are taking invasives seriously. Did you get some seeds of interesting plants?
Fern
Trish
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: May-22-2005 at 10:31am
When I was an exchange student to Australia in 1976, my host family drove me miles away to see the "Oregon Pines" in cultivation. You guessed it -- it was doug fir!
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: May-22-2005 at 3:51pm
There is a $250 fine for transporting any plant or even dead stuff like a stick into or out of Australia, I did not transport any contraband! I think they prefer you to buy from a certified seed company and have it shipped back to the US. But the trip was fantastic, and I highly recommend it to any garding nut. The majority of our tour site guides were very knowledgeable about plant life, They could tell you botanical names, but I didnt recognize many of them! Their plant life, particularly in NZ, is truely from a whole other plant grouping not grown in the PNW. but utterly beautiful.
Carol
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton