And the Dunedin City Council has moved to reassure the public the removal of the trees from Lovelock Ave is not the beginning of realignment work planned for the road.
Community and recreation services manager Mick Reece said yesterday the council had been looking for trees for the space between the Chinese garden and the Otago Settlers Museum, and decided to use about 10 trees that had been planted close together in the botanic garden, and needed to be thinned.
They would be replanted on a service road by the Chinese garden.
The Lovelock Ave realignment is part of a $5 million strategic development plan - an initiative of the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden - that would add 6000sq m to the garden.
It has upset some Opoho residents, who were concerned they not been properly consulted.
Mr Reece said the council had received complaints from members of the public who thought the removal of the trees was the beginning of the realignment work, but that was not the case.
