Our Garden & webcam
ewart Island Gardens and Webcam
Our
webcam looks out from the guests sunroom over the bird table,
garden and the harbour beyond.
Images are
updated every 5 minutes, 24/7
We have a bird-table, and put
out bird cake and sugar water every day. Kaka, Tuis Waxeyes and
Dunnets are regular feeders, with Bellbirds, Fantails, Grey
Warbler, Brown Creeper,
Kereru (NZ Pigeons) Red Crowned Parakeet
and Morepork frequenting the wider garden. We hear Kiwi at night
from time to time and a special visitor a few years ago was a
"Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike". The 11th recorded sighting of a
very very occasional Australian vagrant.
Iris has always been an
enthusiastic gardener and her favourite relaxation is in the
four gardens we look after. Sails Ashore, Kowhai Lane, my late
mothers garden next door and now she has taken on St Andrews
Anglican Church garden. My involvement has been more in the
co-opted department, but I now find myself taking on projects.
My mother was a very keen gardener and well known for her lawn
fetish and now I find myself fretting about the lawns as I grow
older.
North Island visitors to the
Island are often astonished at the "northern" plants that will
succeed here. We have Pohutakawa and Puriri growing well and
have fruited both Kiwi fruit and Tamarillo outside. (We have to
reassure Te Puke that they are not at risk from Southern
competition) Kauri grow well on the Island.
We grow the majority of our own
vegetables, enjoying the pleasure of growing our own and knowing
just what has gone into them, and also the freshness and quality
that home grown gives us. All our food scraps and garden waste
goes into a worm farm or our large compost bin, and although
Stewart Island soils do need mineral additions from time to time
we avoid pesticides and sprays if at all possible
Sails Ashore flower garden is a
mixture of exotics and natives, with the bank in front of Sails
Ashore being devoted to natives. We are particularly fond of
grasses and their motion in the wind. I am fascinated by native
orchids and we have large areas of the Earinas Autumnalis and
Macronata. (Autumn and Bamboo orchids) and Winika Cunnighamii
(Ladies Slipper) Several Thelymitra species (sun orchids)
seriously frustrate me, but are well worth persevering with when
they do briefly open. Stewart Island Forgetmenots, Pratia's and
Gentians fill in spaces with their delicate blooms. We have lots
of Rhododendrons for their colour and Fuchsia for the nectar
drinkers. Ferns fill out damper darker corners
At Kowhai Lane Anne and Iris
have established many natives, which compliment the setting
amongst established larger exotic decorative trees and native
fuchsia.. Over the summer we find onion orchids in profusion, as
well as thelymitra and black orchids
