An Oasis of Hope – Trees for Canterbury
Trees for Canterbury is not a standard plant nursery. Manager Steve Bush shares his passion for the not-for-profit organisation, whose mission is to employ disadvantaged people in the community, teach environmental awareness and cultivate native plants for regeneration.
Steve Bush, manager of Trees for Canterbury , is a warm and amiable chap who doesn’t take himself too seriously. When I ask if he gets teased working in a tree nursery with a name like Bush, he chuckles. ‘I tell people my mother was called Ivy Rose Bush, and that usually shuts them up. I started here on April Fool’s Day in 1992 and my contract was for six months. I’m still here, so I guess the joke’s been on me ever since.’
At 10 o’clock on a bright spring morning, Steve shows me around the 1.5-hectare premises in Charlesworth Street. Inside a large shed, we discover an army of volunteers hard at work with their hands deep in potting mix. ‘This is Arnie,’ he says, introducing me to a diminutive man with a big smile. ‘We call him Arnie because he’s so strong. He buses across town three days a week to volunteer.’
Arnie and Steve banter for a few minutes and then Steve leads me past vast glasshouses and holding areas brimming with pots filled with trees and shrubs. We pause beneath a stunning kōwhai tree, which is smothered in yellow flowers. It seems a fitting place to chat, as the trust’s logo is a kōwhai flower.
The Trees for Canterbury website states that the trust began in 1990 when Tim Jenkins asked on a radio programme for people to contact him if they wanted to plant trees. Initially, volunteers grew the trees in their back gardens, but then the trust rented premises in Opawa Road. When they outgrew that site, the council agreed to lease them the land on Charlesworth Street. ‘In 2004, when we arrived, this was bare ground. You could see all the way to the estuary,’ Steve tells me. ‘We’ve planted shelterbelts using natives, and it is wonderful hearing the birds.
‘I like cabbage trees. It’s my ambition to sell one to every member of every garden club in Christchurch,’ he laughs. ‘At the moment I’m about a million behind.’ I find cabbage trees too messy for my garden, so I ask Steve why he likes them. ‘People say they create mess, but I point out camellias and rhodos are just as guilty. They feed the birds for up to nine months of the year. The scented flowers attract nectar-loving birds. People think the lovely perfume must be their neighbours’ roses when it is coming from the cabbage trees. When they fruit, they draw insects to the trees, which also benefits birdlife.
‘If you have a large cabbage tree, you can reduce its height by chopping it lower. It will sprout away even after a severe pruning. Instead of buying expensive garden ties, strip the leaves down and use them like string to secure plants. I always recommend putting cabbage trees in the corner of a property. Stripping lower leaves means they become self-cleaning which reduces the mess.’
I ask how Trees for Canterbury’s goal of planting two million trees is going and if Covid lockdowns have set them back. ‘When we started, we wanted to plant one million trees and we achieved that two years ago. Now we aim to plant two million as well as donating 40,000–45,000 plants each year. It won’t take us as long to reach the next million because native plants are now in incredible demand. In Christchurch there is a lot of planting because of new housing developments and the Port Hills fires. The two Covid lockdowns did set us back with the potting up of plants.’
Trees for Canterbury isn’t a standard plant nursery. Steve concedes other nurseries produce more plants but the ethos behind the trust has always been to help disadvantaged people (those with physical or intellectual disabilities, the long-term unemployed and low-risk offenders) and to provide an environment of acceptance where volunteers can develop a work ethic and raise their self-esteem. ‘We aren’t just growing trees here; we are growing a community. Many of the volunteers require support. There are a few paid staff. However, people don’t work here to get rich. Even the trustees pay for their own tea and biscuits at their monthly meetings. Volunteers are always welcome, but they need to have patience, and a sense of humour helps.’
The trust accomplishes the aim of habitat regeneration through community planting events, which are promoted on their Facebook page and website .
‘After the Port Hills fires, we saw an enormous leap in the numbers of people coming along,’ Steve says. ‘If I plant a million trees, no one will care, but if the community plants a million trees, they will take ownership of them.’
When I ask which planting area Steve finds the most interesting, he struggles to pick one. ‘They are so diverse. We plant at Orton Bradley Park, Amberley Beach, Halswell Quarry Park, The Groynes, Mountain Bike Ashburton, Kaikōura and Horseshoe Lake, among others. I’m excited about them all. Styx Mill Conservation Reserve has been going since 1999 and I love walking through it and observing the progress. My daughter planted her first tree at Travis Wetland in 2003 and now when she goes along, that tree is metres tall. It is highly rewarding watching these areas develop and seeing the increase in birdlife. When people ask why we are passionate about planting, I say the one thing we can all do to battle climate change is plant a tree.’
The third aim of the trust is to educate the public about the importance of native plants and Steve regularly speaks to school groups, Cub Scout and Girl Guide troops. ‘When I speak to children about biodiversity, I have to put it in words they understand. I use the image of a seesaw and ask them what would happen if I sat on one end, and a child sat on the other. They tell me it wouldn’t work. I say nature is like that seesaw. If nature goes out of balance, it can’t function correctly. The native stinging nettle is a good example of the importance of biodiversity. The plant isn’t attractive, and it has dangerous thorns. Some would say it should be eradicated. Yet if it is, we will lose a whole species of butterfly. The same is true for several other poisonous plants.
‘The children are quick to get it, but as it is their parents and grandparents who buy plants, I also talk to Probus and Rotary groups to encourage them to include natives in their gardening. Many flowering natives are beautiful as well as good for the environment. Ferns can also be spectacular; they shouldn’t be relegated to behind the garden shed.’
Walking around the nursery, I see all ages purchasing plants. ‘We attract every generation – young people, middle-aged, as well as the retired,’ Steve tells me. ‘We have a grown-ups card which is very popular as it gives pensioners 20 per cent discount in our nursery.’
Steve’s impassioned defence of the cabbage tree has won me over, and I contemplate buying one. His parting words ring in my ears: ‘We aren’t planting for ourselves or our children; we are planting for our children’s grandchildren. Planting a tree is a sign you believe in the future.’
