Brian Mayo Reserve (more)

Since the swale was planted, there have been two droughts, and the plants suffered. Replanting is now essential, as at August 2014, and these students from St. Peters School are helping us do that. This little video shows them planting about 150 plants in under 2 hours. They were late starting because the Tree Trust's truck got bogged in unexpectedly wet ground on the way in, and they had to do what they could with plants barrowed in for about a kilometre until the truck was freed.

Survival is always a problem in an area like this, where the ground has been prepared for house building rather than planting.

2 droughts have wreaked havoc with the plantings here, and these International Baccalaureate students from St.Peter's School are helping to replant the area as part of their community service.

In October 2018, Amber Nurseries gave us some surplus flowering cherries.

We decided to plant them here, but didn't tell the neighbours. We sprayed several areas to get the ground ready, and the neighbours thought we were planting more of the big clumps of trees we had planted several years earlier. They objected vigorously, and even arranged to speak at a meeting of the Cambridge Community Board. They were much happier after a site meeting, when we assured them the plantings were going to be in the style of the adjoining Maple Arboretum; i.e. open plantings of widely-spaced trees. Another meeting was held, when they and we marked out the places for the trees. The result is a joint effort that everybody is happy with. Here are some photos of this planting. Some of the neighbourhood children helped, as it was school holiday time. The sprayed brown areas will be mulched. They are laid out to acommodate the Waipa District Council's 6-metre mower.