Lawns And Shrubs Now Thriving At Mt. Cook

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29173, 6 April 1960, Page 24

Lawns And Shrubs Now Thriving At Mt. Cook

Thousands of square yards of lawns are now established about the new Hermitage at Mount Cook and hundreds of shrubs and alpine plants have been planted. Thqpe shrubs and plants are part of what it is hoped will eventually become as complete a collection as possible of the plants of the Mount Cook National Park. Those who because of age, infirmity or limited time are unable to go on the major walks will have an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the high mountain plants. When the construction of the new Hermitage was pushed on with utmost urgency to be ready for the 1958 winter tourist season no consideration was given by architects, builders and the Tourist Hotel Corporation to the layout of grounds. There was no planning of the disposal of the remains of the old building and its foundations and all the material shifted from the hillside for the new building. It was all dumped in the nearest available depression. When the new hotel -was opened at the end of May, 1958, there was a magnificent building for visitors, but about it were unsealed roads and pathways and thousands of square yards of bare scree. In November, 1958, the Tourist Hotel Corporation asked Profession L. W. McCaskill, of Christchurch, for a landscape plan. The whole area is part of the Mount Cook National Park, but the land on which the Tourist Hotel Corporation buildings are situated and a few acres surrounding them, although remaining within the park, aredelegated for administration and

In developing his plan for the area, Professor McCaskill aimed at knitting the area into the natural landscape as far as possible. This consists of totara bush on the steep faces adjoining the Glencoe stream at the rear and, surrounding the Hermitage area, a scrub association consisting of mountain ribbonwood and mountain pine and many species of smaller shrubs. Ibe design provided for planting with only trees, shrubs and alpines native to the parlc The suggestion was adopted by the Tourist Hotel Corporation and the work, which was begun in January last year, was put under Professor McCaskill’s general supervision. The scheme included the laying of several thousand square yards of grass to cover most of the unsightly scree and provide a foreground for the view of Mount Cook up the Hooker valley and a place for visitors to relax. This involved transporting every inch of soil which was moved with the aid of Main Highways Board equipment from areas set aside for the purpose by the Mount Cook National Park Board. Many hundreds of yards were used.

A rock wall had to be built to stabilise the steep road running to the back of the Hermitage. This was made to blend with the stonework in the front wails and entrance of the Hermitage. Rockeries have been used to edge most of the lawns and all the beds of shrubs. Stone for these has been carted from the Hooker valley. The first rockery to be completed was a small one at the entrance to the hotel It contains some 30 species of alpine plants including the giant mountain daisy (Celmisia coriacea) and the mountain buttercup (Ranunculus lyallii). Nearly all the lawns are now sown and established and several hundred shrubs and other alpines have been planted. It is expected that the work will be completed about April, 1961. It will be held up temporarily by the building of the new residential wing which will be opened in December. Nursery Established

A nursery has been established to cultivate plants by seeds and cuttings. Plants have been collected by permission of the park boards from areas where rivers have undermined banks and plants salvaged would otherwise have been destroyed. " ■ Great interest has been shown by visitors, particularly those from overseas, in the plants already established, and it is planned to label representative examples and provide a small descriptive leaflet which will be available to visitors on request. The ultimate aim is as complete a collection as possible of plants of the national park. The main part of the work has been done by Mr D. Bell, now ranger at Arthur’s Pass, and Mr Robin Gay, who is now in charge of the work. Recently Mr H. Gilpin, superintendent of parks and reserves in Christchurch, seconded Mr N. Aitken, one of his apprentices, for three months to assist with the work.

“I believe that this experiment with Mr Aitken could be extended to all parks which will have gardens in conjunction with their headquarters,” said Professor McCaskill. “The parks will get the benefit of the skills of the horticultural apprentices and in return these young men will have a chance of extending their knowledge of native flora.”

Engineers of the Ministry of Works who have been responsible for the construction and sealing of all reading have co-operated in the landscaping programme.