Conservation & Land Regeneration | 2022 Round Up
Written by Jean Grierson | Conservation Lead
Summer maintenance work amongst the native plantings at Te Kano’s Northburn vineyard is a focus for the landscaping team in summer. Mostly this involves suppression of weeds and grasses to release the natives that have been planted across gullies and on south facing slopes over the past four years, and checking that new plants are getting enough water to help them establish and thrive.

Summer maintenance
Some 2000 native plants grown on site from eco-sourced seeds and cuttings were planted at Te Kano over last winter by the vineyard team. This included some 450 hardy and drought-tolerant species planted without irrigation on a sheltered south-facing slope, which has established well with lots of spring moisture and now receives a little help from hand watering over the now prevailing hot and dry summer conditions.

Winter planting day - trial of drought-tolerant species without irrigation
This spring we saw the first honey-eaters – korimako (bellbirds) and tūī feeding amongst flaxes in our plantings; we hope that in future years as the planting islands extend across the vineyard site habitat will be established for increasing the biodiversity of species.

2-year old plantings in gully by Stags Run block

Campbells Gully native riparian plantings and tussocks