From Flat Farm Paddock To Landscaped Campus – University of Canterbury campus

An interview with Peter Cadigan, superintendent of grounds at the University of Canterbury

Maybe most students, staff and other people who walk through the campus of the University of Canterbury take the gardens for granted, but for Peter Cadigan they have been a passionate interest for the last twenty four years. He can tell you the history of every tree, rhododendron, azalea and garden plot. For twenty four years he has been grounds superintendent and has seen the campus develop from small beginnings.

When the University of Canterbury moved from its town site to Ilam, west of the city , the site was farmland with the homestead on it known as Okeover. As buildings were completed departments moved from the city site. When Peter arrived in 1974 the departments of Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, and Geology and the School of Forestry were established. The Registry was about to open. The Ministry of Works staff who were overseeing the whole landscape development had done some planting and put in some semi-mature trees, particularly in what is now the Students’ Association car park. Peter saw the job of further development as a wonderful challenge.

Scope of the work The campus covers some 76 hectares (190 acres). Maintaining and developing the grounds that surround and enhance the increasing number of buildings is a huge undertaking. Peter oversees ten full time gardeners and their supervisor who maintain the grounds on the campus, the Ilam Gardens, the sports grounds, and the gardens of forty five houses owned by the University and used as transit houses for visiting academics. In the 1970s and 1980s gangs from the Labour Department helped with raking stones and levelling the ground for the original lawns. Now a few students are employed in the summer vacation to cope with the pressures of summer growth.

Transforming the flat farmland The site for the campus was rather uninterestingly flat, but the huge piles of earth created from the excavations for the buildings were used to create grassy mounds which have proved to be an interesting landscaping feature.

Trees galore Trees have been a major feature on the campus. In 1997 all trees more than four metres high were catalogued with their botanical name, their common name, their country of origin and other information. The trees totalled 4,200. Staff from the University, Landcare, the Botanic Gardens, and other agencies completed this task and the resulting database will soon be on the Net in conjunction with those from places like Kew Gardens and the Botanical Gardens in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. This is an ongoing task and the information will be available as an educational resource.

Blend of native and indigenous trees As new buildings were established the policy was to plant native trees and shrubs around them and link each building with European shade trees in avenues. Fine lawns were laid between the trees, but as the trees have grown bigger and demanded more from the soil the lawns have died under them. The plan now is to replace the lawns under the trees with textured paving.

Rapid tree growth Some of the trees have grown so fast that decisions need to be made as to whether they are to be thinned or allowed to develop into copses.

The Chinese poplars which were planted widely, for example between the Students’ Union and the creche, are now becoming spindly and developing dead wood, so Peter believes that they need to be replaced.

Special trees

Trees on the campus which have special significance are to be retained. The best known of the these is known as the Okeover Oak (quercus robur) on the north side of Okeover homestead (now the home of Continuing Education). It is thought to be 130 years old and there was great concern some twenty years ago when it caught fire. All the leaves were burnt off one side, but the tree recovered the following season. Subsequently it had to be reduced by 8 metres (27 feet). Its present healthy state shows no sign of the fire.

A beautiful magnolia soulangeana to the east of Okeover was transplanted from the School of Engineering while it was having building redevelopment and extension.

Some trees are to be retained as VIP trees because they were planted to mark special occasions. Others are valued for their beauty, especially the group of prunus yedoensis forming a walkway known as the Cherry Walk.

A group of alders and pinus pinasters has provided shelter from the north east wind for the Students’ Union building.

The Okeoever oaks on the mounds around the Okeover Car Park were developed from acorns brought from Okeover Hall in Staffordshire in England. The acorns were from oak trees mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The Ilam theme The campus is known as the Ilam Campus from the name of the homestead in the rhododendron gardens. Peter explained that to maintain the Ilam theme it seemed appropriate that as many rhododendrons and azaleas as possible be planted, especially on the shady south side of the campus. These have taken a long time to get established, but after twenty odd years they have really come into their own, he said.

A recent challenge has been the development of the grounds around the car park of the new Law School. Because the earlier mounds had been such a success on the flat landscape more mounds were established. New rhododendrons and azaleas have also been planted around the carpark. A mixture of natives and exotics has been planted closely with a view to thinning later.

Creepers On the instructions of one Vice Chancellor ivy was planted around the Library to soften the appearance of the large concrete structure, but it grew into the heating ducts and obstructed the windows and had to be removed.
Now no creepers are planted on any painted surface.

Planting around the streams Two waterways flow through the campus, the Avon River and Okeover Stream. In the past grassy riverbanks around Christchurch were mown, and the edges beside the water were trimmed. Now the Christchurch City Council Water Services Department policy is to leave the natural growth untrimmed and to encourage the planting of site-specific indigenous material that is locally sourced. It is hoped that this will improve the biodiversity of the area.

A number of appropriate natives – some of the carex riverside grasses, reeds and rushes – have been planted along the Okeover Stream banks. Around the bridges there are rhododendrons and azaleas beside the ferns and other native plantings.

As the springs have dried up Okeover Stream has almost disappeared near the sports ground, but it has a reasonable flow of water east of Ilam Road as it is fed by surplus water from the University buildings which have their own wells.

Irrigation Dry summers and nor’west winds have been a challenge for the gardeners, and the big blow in 1978 cost the campus ten big trees, including some fine cedars, and a wide variety of other trees.

Irrigation has lessened the damage caused by hot nor’westers and times of drought. In the early days when the irrigation was not automated it was difficult to maintain the lawns and keep the trees growing. Now the whole campus is on a computer controlled irrigation system which operates at night. This is an economical use of water as the system uses only enough water to maintain the horticulture.

The whole playing field has automatic irrigation. It used to take one man two weeks moving the perforated spray lines from the east side to the far boundary. Now the whole field can be watered in one night.

Gardens featuring New Zealand natives Native trees East of the School of Forestry is what Peter terms a West Coast garden with rimu, kanuka, mountain beech, coprosma, nikau, wineberry, native fuchsia, pohutukawa, and ferns. Pungas have also been grown successfully thanks to special irrigation.

Endangered species garden This is sited near the School of Forestry on the bank of Okeover Stream and thirty native New Zealand endangered species have been planted there. In the foreground in the photo of Peter in the garden can be seen aciphylla dieffenbachii flowering profusely.

Flax cultivars Nine species of New Zealand flax have been planted around Te Ao Marama, the Maori Studies Department, as part of the landscaping. They will be used for weaving and other craft work when they mature.

The Bridges of Friendship Garden This garden is the most recent addition to the campus. It was constructed as part of the landscaping for the new building for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Computer Science.

The garden honours the 25th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Kurashiki in Japan and Christchurch. Kurashiki city donated a stone lantern to mark the anniversary.

The garden combines the idea of the Oriental “Scholar’s garden” and modern ideas from computer science and mathematics. For more details about the garden and its significance go to the
website.

Peter to retire After twenty four years Peter retired at the end of 1998. The fine gardens on the campus are a visible testimony to his dedicated work.

If you have not already done so you may like to read about the gardens at Ilam Homestead which were also under Peter’s direction.