Conservation & Land Regeneration | 2022 Round Up

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. 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. 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.