Namaste Park and Gardens is a 2.2 hectares lifestyle property on Studholme Road, Wanaka; currently on the urban boundary of Wanaka.
In the upper part of Namaste Gardens around the dwelling, the property hosts a dozen mature trees of significant height and hundreds of shrubs, trees and more formal gardens – home to abundant bird life.
The lower eastern side of the property hosts two small ponds, flower gardens, fruit and young nut trees and enclosed vegetable and berry patches.
Namaste Park
The lower part is a one-hectare arboretum planted by the current owner over the last 16 years. Once a bare pasture, the area has been planted with more than 500 trees, mostly all different, with a forest of silver birches on the road side, a grove of dogwoods, an area with crabapples, lots of maples, and many more different trees from all over the world that survive our Wanaka climate.
Established boundary trees of Cypress Glabra align the western boundary and a collection of Conifers are well underway over a fifth of the arboretum.
Many of the chosen trees are rare and unusual creating a significant collection of interest. In the heart of the park is a small native area.
The park is a beautiful and lush open landscape, designed to show amazing blossom shows in spring and splendid foliage colours in autumn, along with benches and curved footpaths. Although the emphasis is not on natives, we believe the sheer variety of trees planted offer a unique and valuable open space for people and biodiversity.
Sustainability and Regeneration
As Studholme Road is a small valley floor it offers a unique corridor of biodiversity, attracting birdlife which would be lost if the number of established trees were to be removed. Birds include Fantails, Silvereyes, Bellbirds, German Owls, Ruru, Hawks, Oystercatchers, Quails and Tuis along with a number of more common bird species.
With the lawns being cut only on footpaths, the surrounding
grass is regenerating the land and is now home to insects,
birds and skinks.
No biodiversity inventory has been done yet.
The property doesn’t have any town water source and is serviced by a deep bore, which makes the regeneration of the land all the more important. The deep soil now retains enough moisture to keep green in summers with minimal drip irrigation watering.
The whole property is cared for without chemicals and without fossil fuels (electric tools charged with solar panels). It is a fantastic example of how one person can regenerate bare grazed land in just 18 years, bringing the dawn chorus back (all day chorus actually).
The landowners intention is to keep the land as a whole, for perpetuity, with owners continuing guardianship and fostering nature life.
Peri-urban context
The property is sitting in a zone planned to become urban within the next 28 years, which means the sections and trees in this zone will overtime be chopped up, leaving no nature in the area. Already both ends of Studholme road have been subdivided, at the upper end down to 400sq.m. If we look further on the town boundary along Orchard Rd there are currently intensive subdivisions taking place with the usual removal of all existing fauna, flora, top soil and land form.
Our park trees start to have enough growth and visibility to be admired by walkers from the road as well as visitors on guided garden tours.
It is our intention to open the arboretum to the public once more mature, thereby creating a valuable green space for locals and visitors. When the whole area around becomes dense housing, the Park will be a treasured haven for the community benefit and refuge for wildlife.
We are advocating the Council to create a regenerative land zoning or whichever way to enable people like us with properties planted with mature trees to be possibly preserved, but at this stage, council staff and councilors turn a blind eye.
There are other established zones of vegetation around Studholme Road so we have submitted for its inclusion in the Mount Alpha Outstanding Landscape zone.
The Wanaka Community Board have been consulted as well and have encouraged that this preservation be discussed with QLDC…
We have started a Biodiversity group on Studholme Road, facilitated by WAI, to encourage a more collective approach to ensuring open green spaces can be included in future Council rezoning.
We also have excellent support from Lake Wanaka Tourism who are keen to see more examples as outlined above.
We are working with QEII Trust to support us to enable long term protection of our property for the benefit of the “greater good”.
This beautiful place is visited as part of Beautiful Gardens of Wanaka guided garden tours and the place of Gardening in Harmony with Nature workshops.
It’s our beloved home, we enjoy enhancing the gardens, soil, wildlife. We love planting and nurturing the trees, watching them grow. We are privileged to be caring for this land in harmony with nature, guardianship, kaitiaki, gratitude 🙏🏵️
Regenerative Livestyle Blog 