Te Ara Kakariki are committed to sharing knowledge and providing site specific species lists to insure high quality native restoration across Selwyn. Successful applicants of our annual assistance receive a full restoration plan written by an experienced ecologist, containing a guide to planting and a plant species list suitable for their unique site.
If you don’t qualify for assistance from us and would like to get started planting, we recommend employing an ecologist to write a restoration plan for your site. Please contact us for suggestions.
When restoring land to indigenous species we aim to recreate the landscape that would have originally existed at each site. Planting natives is a big investment of time and funds and for these reasons it is important to choose the right plants for your site.
If you don’t have resources to employ an ecologist but are still eager to plant the following information and resources may be helpful in choosing plants.
1) Find out your soil type by:
- Going to the Canterbury Maps website and clicking on Map viewer.
- Enter your address in the search bar or zoom in to find your site.
- Click add data from the blue bar at the top of the page (looks like a piece of paper with a plus symbol)
- Scroll down to S-map data and select ADD.
Close the add data box. - Click the site on the map that you want to plant, a box with S-map data will appear, click on the arrow in the circle.
- There are several pages of information that can be seen using the arrows at the top right, look at the long soil name to find your soil type.
2) Using the Department of Conservation publication Native Plant Communities of the Canterbury Plains
- Scroll down to Plant communities.
- Find the plant community that suits your property soil types.
- Choose plants from this list but leave the ferns and climbers for later.
3) Ordering your plants
- Be sure to order ecosourced restoration grade seedlings from your nursery at least nine months in advance of planting to ensure strong root systems and that you get all desired species.
- We recommend RX90 or SOP plant pot sizes for best value and success.
- You should also seek additional advice from your nursery – some plants from these lists, for example ferns and climbers are more suitable for planting once the pioneer species are established.
Other useful information for restoring your site:
- Planting for success – coming soon!
- Monitoring your planting site
- Pest management at your planting site
- Ecosourcing – why it is important
- Department of Conservation – native plants by area
- Planting tips from Trees for Canterbury