Baby totara tree a 'true icon' in the making

A totara planted at the east end of the Silverstream Reserve in Clarkville has been entered in the Waimakariri Tree of the Year competition by Noelene Francis. PHOTO: NOELENE FRANCIS

By Shelley Topp

A baby totara tree at the east end of Clarkville’s Silverstream Reserve has been entered in the Waimakariri Tree of the Year competition.

The tree was nominated by Noelene Francis, of Clarkville, who in 2023 won the individual award at the Waimakariri District Council Community Service Awards for her volunteer work at the reserve.

Noelene said the totara was planted in 2016, three years after volunteers began a concerted effort to plant and look after the reserve.

It was planted among established pittosporums to provide the early protection totaras need and is now thriving.

"It is very happy growing among its sheltering companions," Noelene says.

She believes the totara is a worthy Waimakariri Tree of the Year candidate because it is a "true icon" in the making.

"I know it is just a baby, and you can’t see it very well, but it will be magnificent and given the stony, dry area it is planted in it is doing well," Noelene says.

All entries for the 2025 Waimakariri Tree of the Year will go in a draw to win a copy of Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees the Illustrated Edition.

The competition has been organised by the Waimakariri District Council’s greenspace team.

Nominations can be sent to Mike Kwant at ParksandFacilities@wmk.govt.nz until Friday, February 28.

The competition aims to identify trees to nominate for the New Zealand Tree of the Year.

Entries for the New Zealand Tree of the Year competition can be made from mid-March to mid-April and an expert panel will select six finalists.

Then from May 1, the public will be invited to vote for the tree they want to become New Zealand Tree of the Year from those finalists. The winner will be announced on June 5 - Arbor Day.

The Walking Tree in Karamea was named New Zealand Tree of the Year last year. Photo: gareth.r.andrews / Instagram

The objective of the national competition is to celebrate New Zealand’s most interesting trees and acknowledge the stories that connect communities to them.

Last year’s winner was named the 'Walking Tree'. It is a northern rata on the South Island’s West Coast, near the Karamea Cemetery, with twin trunks stretched apart as if it was in mid-stride and wearing high heels.

The northern rata, one of New Zealand’s tallest flowering trees, can live up to 1000 years, but it is unknown how old this windswept walker is.