OLEARIA TRAVERSII.

Otago Witness, Issue 3711, 28 April 1925, Page 11

OLEARIA TRAVERSII.

A NEW ZEALAND PLANT IN ENGLAND. In the gardens of some Dunedin enthusiasts, and recently in the Dunedin Botanical Gardens under Mr Tannock’s fostering care, the splendid foliage of Olearia Traversii attracts immediate notice. Like a good many others of the dominion’s interesting flora, the merits of this fine species of the Olearia are being warmly recognised. It is in the columns of The Garden and the Gardeners* Chronicle that much valuable information concerning our native vegetation is to be found and much of the awakened interest in our flora is to be credited. In the issue of February 21 of tho latter paper a glowing tribute is paid to Olearia Traversii by Mr J. Clark, Parks Superintendent, Scarborough. “In these gardens,” says Mr Clark, “we have tried most plants that are hardy, or reputedly so, but I state without hesitation, that wo have found nothing to equal this Olearia. We had two 9peciments 12ft high and about as much through, on the north cliff in the full blast of the north wind, straight from the sea; a place where nothing else would grow unless behind shelter boards, and where I have seen Privet, Elders, etc., completely blackened in August. “Unfortunately, these trees had to be sacrificed tw r q years ago owing to work on the cliff subsidence. We have another tree, also growing on an exposed spot, less than one hundred feet from the sea, which is considerably larger than those mentioned, being quite twenty feet high and the trunk fifteen inches in diameter. “We inserted all the cuttings procurable from the plants that were cut aow r n, and quite ninetyper cent, of these rooted in the open. The young plants made quick growth, some being now over two feet high. We have now about two hundred good specimens for planting out thi« season, and it, as I hope, it shows no tenderness in its young state, I consider that the question of shelter is completely solved for us. For standing up to tne cold north-easter, without showing the slightest suffering, there is no tree in my opinion to equal it. All the Olearias are very valuable here, but for hardiness, great stature, beauty of form and foliage, the subject of this note is easily the best, and in the matter of flowering only, is it of no account?”