By Roselyn Fauth May 2023

ABOVE: Altrusa members Lorraine Watkins, Robyn Brien and CPlay volunteer Roselyn Fauth with the trees in the council yard ready to be planted at the new playground at Caroline Bay.

As part of Altrusa International of Timarus' recent 50th anniversary celebrations, CPlay were gifted five trees to provide some shade, colour, and beauty. CPLay volunteer Roselyn Fauth met with Lorraine Watkins and Robyn Brien from Altrusa to thank them and show them the trees which arrived this month.

"We'll look forward to watching them grow and become an integral part of a fun and inclusive space for our young people to play, develop social skills and most of all enjoy!" Said Robyn Brien.

CPlay would also like to thank Timaru District Council for their help in selecting and sourcing the trees. They needed to have the right shape, strength, trunk, roots, and tolerate the dry, sometimes frosty, and coastal conditions. They can provide shade in Summer, and lose their leaves in the Winter. It was important to us to make sure they did not have fruit or berries that can affect people with allergies, and attract wasps. 

‍ABOVE Acer Griseum Paper Bark Maple (top left) and Lagerstroemia Crepe Myrtles; Indica Saint Emilion, Fauriei Townhouse, and Indica De'Puard.

Here are some fun facts about the Lagerstroemia 

• Crepe Myrtles have a smooth mottled bark and beautiful Summer blooms of large, cone-shaped panicles of light-pink to pale-purple flowers.
• The genus Lagerstroemia is named after Magnus von Lagerström, a Swedish merchant and naturalist who supplied plants to his friend and patron Carl Linnaeus during his travels.
• Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who developed the modern system of naming organisms known as binomial nomenclature.
• The Japanese name for Crepe Myrtle is saru suberi, which means "monkey slip" and refers to the smooth, slippery bark.
• There are 50 known species of Crepe Myrtle today, resulting from 200 years of cultivation and breeding.
• Lagerstroemia Indica 'Crimson Red' was developed by Cecil Pounder at the United States Department of Agriculture and distributed by J. Berry Nursery in Texas, USA. It is native to various countries in Asia.
• Lagerstroemia Fauriei 'Townhouse' was discovered as a chance seedling at the JC Raulston Arboretum in North Carolina, USA, and selected in the 1980s.

Caroline Bay represents the only sandy beach along the 240 km long South Canterbury coastline. 

"Caroline Bay’s isolated sand beach has largely formed and continues to grow in response to the sheltering effects of the Timaru Harbour. Outside the harbour, high-energy southerly waves drive drifts of foreshore gravels and nearshore sands northward. The eastern breakwater acts as a barrier to the drift of foreshore gravels, causing coarse sediments to accumulate south of the port but nearshore shelf sands are swept past the port and into the entrance of Caroline Bay.
Before harbour works began in the 19th century, Caroline bay was moderately deep, with a narrow mixed sand and gravel beach and a rocky sea floor. Since construction of the port of Timaru started in 1878, approximately 3,000 m3 of sand has accumulated annually in the shelter of Caroline Bay causing the shoreline to advanced seaward by more than 650 m. This artificially established sandy beach has allowed the build up a shallow dune system which had become dominated by planted and naturally spreading marram grass (Ammophila arenaria). ... significant planting has been carried out across the area using over 100,000 native seedlings...

"A diverse mixture of backdune species at Caroline Bay established and managed by the Timaru District Council provides one of the best examples of backdune restoration in the country"
-  coastalrestorationtrust.org.nz/Establishing Natives on Sand Dunes/Case Study - Caroline Bay, Timaru

Timeline of some of the tree planting at Caroline Bay

• 1839-1841 There was a Weller Brother whaling station at Caroline Bay
• 1878 Construction of the port of Timaru started, approximately 3,000 m3 of sand has accumulated annually in the shelter of Caroline Bay causing the shoreline to advanced seaward by more than 650 m.
• 1890s Work to ‘improve’ Caroline Bay began. A tree-planting picnic was organised by the mayor of Timaru, J. Grandi, after a public meeting had been held to discuss how the town should mark Queen Victoria’s ‘record reign’. In the same year sections of the cliff behind the bay were lowered and cut back.
• Many hours of voluntary labour went into creating a promenade and pleasing recreational facilities. . First improvements made to the bay included the planting of pine trees at the top of the cliff to camoflague the rubbish and sewage that was being dumped near the site of the present day tearooms.
• 1897 Top soil taken from railway cutting to be spread for grassed area on bay.
• 1902 The council leased the new foreshore from the harbour board in 1902 for a European-style beach resort. The mayor offered a prize for a shceme for development and the winning entry was submitted by A J Morris.. A loan of 2500 from including 1000 publish subscriptions was raised.The willows by the Soundshell were one of the first projects for the Timaru Beautification Society.
• 1905 1000 shrubs planted on bay.
• 1907 Willow trees are planted by the local group, the Timaru Beautification Society. One of the first was to plant the Willows near the soundshell.
• 1918 Caretaker instructed to plant Willow trees along main promenade.
• 1929 Roads and paths on the Bay were sealed, a memorial seawall was built, lawn was laid. The memorial wall, which commemorated all the major battles of World War I, originally divided the sandy beach from the land on which there were lawns, gardens and paths; it is now many metres back from where the beach begins.
• 1939 The first of the Phoenix Palm (Canary Island Date Palm) were planted along on the north side of the pavilion, and on the bank above. 
  "Further along on the north side of the pavilion there are other recessed seats, and hardy palms have been planted on the bank above." - PROGRESS AT BAY TIMARU HERALD, VOLUME CXLVII, ISSUE 21507, 21 NOVEMBER 1939, PAGE 6
• 1948 A commemorative totara tree planted near the band rotunda
• 2009 Small trees Broadleaf Griselinea littoralis Ngaio Myoporum laetum were planted backdunes over the 5 years including several thousand seedlings comprising over 30 species.
• 2005 Kowhai trees (Sophora Tetra Ptera) by skate park (stage 2 of the bay redevelopment)
• 2005 Mt Fuji white flowering cheery trees (Shirotae) (stage 2 of the bay redevelopment)

Source: timdc.pastperfectonline.com/CarolineBayTimaru

The whalers used the cabbage-trees on the skyline as a guide to the sheltered land- ing on the beach below.

- A W Anderson, The Historical Trees of South Canterbury (30 Aug 1958). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 30/06/2023, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/3724

Interesting and notable trees at Caroline Bay

• Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis)  Also known as Pineapple palms or Phoenix palms. Growing by the Tea Rooms at Caroline Bay, Playground and boulevards.
• Willows (Willow Walk Caroline Bay) 
• Ribbonwood (Plagianthus regius) (Pt Lot 1 DP 22231, Caroline Bay)
• Silver Birch (Betula pendula) (Pt Lot 1 DP 22231, Caroline Bay, between the Hall, Picnic Shelter and Aviary, also at south west end of pergola)
• Red maple (Acer rubrum replaces the Plagianthus regius) (Part Lot 1 DP 22231, Caroline Bay, near Palliser drinking fountain on north side of east west promenade)
• Southern Rata (Metrosideros ambellata) (Part lot 1 DP 22231) Caroline Bay side of soundshell
• Southern Rata (Metrosideros umbellate) (Part lot 1 DP22231) Caroline Bay soundshell

Source:  isoplan.co.nz/timaru/NotableTrees - 28021 - Sep - 2022.pdf