Ruud Kleinpaste: Learning from our trees

Our holiday on the West Coast of the South Island (Punakaiki) was just what we needed – weather in Christchurch was cold and wet, but on the West Coast sunny and warm.  

I re-discovered a tree I have missed since leaving Auckland 14 years ago: Rhopalostylis sapida is its name. Gardeners know it as the Nikau Palm. 

There are two species in the New Zealand Territories: R sapida is the common Nikau in North Island and South Island, occurring mostly on the coast from Okarito in the West and Banks Peninsula in the East. 

It also occurs on Chatham Island and Pitt Island and the variety that grow there is a lot more elegant, especially in the younger form: the fronds (leaves) have a more drooping attitude, a bit like the traditional palms in the tropics. I reckon we should have a taxonomic discussion about its identity (a different species?).  

The Nikau on the offshore Islands of the Hauraki Gulf show a similar elegance (Little Barrier, Great Barrier etc etc). I must say: I prefer those drooping forms over the tightly growing leaves pointing towards the sky.   

Flowering takes place in Spring and Summer and the colours are wonderful.  

The seeds that are formed a year later are one of the Kereru’s favourite snacks. These birds’ ecosystem service is to disperse the seeds through the forests – a lovely job! 

So… if you find Nikau seeds and want to have a go at germinating them: chuck them in water for a few days and take out the seeds; the flesh is easy to remove. Plant the seeds in good seed-raising mix (or even in a plastic bag!) until they germinate. Plant them in tall pots – keep them in shade.   

When they start to grow (My goodness… they are slow!) ensure that you give the palm’s roots some space. When transplanting be careful not to damage the roots, especially the tap root!  

The second Native species in New Zealand occurs in Raoul Island (Kermadec Islands group). Its scientific name is Rhopalostylis baueri. This is a gorgeous form with large leaves and beautiful drooping habits. They are great to grow in large containers. I found some of these baueri (often called Rhopalostylis baueri var cheesemanii) as Christmas present for my local gardener at home.  

It’s one of those finds that fills a space in my heart too and it gives us a few years of “advantage” to get that beauty growing. Plant in shade, out of frost sites and be very careful with the roots.  

In Punakaiki I learned exactly how much that time advantage is:  

• Nikau take about 40 years to start forming a trunk  
• They can grow to 15 meters tall  
• Have “rings” around their trunk where old leaves were attached, so you can more-or-less guess how old the tree is: two or three rings per year Do the Maths!  
• Too slow? Sorry to hear that. 

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY! IT’S WORTH IT 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at be.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
I started the show this morning by talking about the
little bit of time I had tramping through the Khudannggi
National Park over summer, a part of the country I
absolutely love. If you're not familiar with it, it's the
kind of northwest corner of the South Island, so the
top left corner of the South Island. It stretches from
Golden Bay, where my family lives these days, down onto
the west coast around Kadamere on the west coast. That's

(00:35):
where the heavy track goes to. So if you're driving
up the west coast of the South Island, that's about
as far as you can go before you get to
go back back down and back in land a little bit. Anyway,
it turns out I'm not the only one who is
drawn to the kind of landscapes and the kind of
flora and fauna you see in that part of the world,
because Rude Climb power stand man in the Garden has
also been on the South Island's west coast, and he's

(00:56):
been taken by some of the flora there. Kelter Rude exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Jack Hello, it's so good to do that, Isn't it
such a great place?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
It is wonderful that part of the country. And one
of the things I love about the Cahudangi National Park
of the Nico Groves where that whether bush meets the
ocean or meets the coast and you get those incredible
groves of Nico trees.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, that's right. Well, the Nico as you know, it's
one of our palm species that occurs. That species only
lives in New Zions. It's endemic if you like. And
we've got two of them. But the one you probably
will have seen is that one that is kind of
tightly the leaves are going tightly up into the sky,
sort of like a V shape.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, Now that's a roppolo steel is sappy. That's the
name of Nico Farm, you know, that's what it is about.
And this is an interesting little plant because I've kind
of missed it since I left Auckland. Yeah, and there
it was, like you said, in there thousands on the
hills and it and it just totally grabbed me again.

(01:57):
So I look at that and then I thought, when
I went to the Chatham islands and places like that.
I saw a nico palm that had leaves we're bending
down more if you like the tropical look. Yeah right,
yeah right, And it's the same blinking species. Ah okay,

(02:18):
And I don't believe botan is now. I think they're
lying because they haven't really done their I think it's
a different species, you know what I mean. Anyway, yeah, yeah, anyway,
So these things, these decos, they of course they flower
in now spring and summer. And I saw those flowers
come out, and I think they will probably be on

(02:39):
the website, I bet you. And they are absolutely gorgeous
in color. It's just amazing. Yeah yeah, And here comes
to deep and now we're getting the seeds from last
year out as well. And guess what, blinking kenny everywhere
taking these ripe seeds out and putting them all out.
And that's their geek of course, Yeah, that's exactly.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
They spread them around, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
And that's I should do that too, So I am
doing that now. But anyway, the idea is to actually,
if you want to, you can actually grow them here
on the porthills. We know because I've been doing it
now for a little while, but not with as much
very verev if you like as I do right now.
And then I thought, why don't I get that other

(03:26):
species that lives in the Kermaedek Islands in Raoul Island,
And it's got a Bowery name. It's a different name,
so that's a different species, And gosh, I could find
it in garden shops and in places that actually sell
those things. Yeah, And then and then I realized you
can actually grow those at home if you've got a
Nico nearby. There are wonderful ideas on the website for

(03:49):
everybody on how to get those seeds to germinate very
gently and how to grow those plants. Oh wow, I thought,
wouldn't that be nice in my guiden? And then I thought,
how long is that going to take?

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Because they take for a Nico take forever to grow, right.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
It takes forty years for a Nico bound to start
a trunk.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
But this is why it's so important to plan them. Now,
what's what's the old edited? When was the best time
to plan a tree? Yesterday?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
When?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
When when is the next best time? Right now? Whatever?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, but this is the point you all say, ah,
that takes too long, So I bought a bigger plant
from one of the things of a Jakes and it's
still is like three of these little rings that you
see around the back of is in one year. So
it takes absolutely incredibly long, but you got right, two
or three rings a year do the Mets. It's slow,

(04:46):
but honestly, you're leaving a legacy that is so New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, I totally agree. I think that's what it is
about the Nico. You really feel like you're part of
the South Pacific when you see it Nico. Yeah, I
thinks rude.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
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