We are ecovitalists. We have been in the horticulture industry for 30 years, making our plant knowledge second to none. Our blog shares our thought leadership and and our mission to enhance ecosystems in New Zealand.

Richard Clague Richard Clague

Planting for clean streams

As you know at Kauri Park we call ourselves ecovitalists because we want to see New Zealand’s ecosystems teeming with vital life. And what does all life need? Water. The better the quality of the water, the better the quality of all life.

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The call of the forest

Is there anything more cool, calm and collected than a forest? A walk into the depths of a forest can feel as restorative as a swim on a hot summer’s day. As our days get longer and the sun rises higher and higher in the sky you’re just as likely to find us retreating to the forest as beating a path to our local beach.

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The plant that walks through fire

We’ve been fascinated by the tenacious ‘tea tree’ for decades. It’s a powerhouse plant that was once much maligned but is now being seen for all its incredible gifts. This is a story of redemption and about the power of never giving up – and those are always fun.

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It’s 100 seconds till midnight

One hundred seconds is the closest we have ever been to ‘midnight’. What’s this got to do with us? Well, just above everything. It means that we’re in a race against time for the restoration of the planet that we call home.

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We need to stop looking at the wood and see the trees.

Aotearoa is a land of forests. Did you know that forest covers 38% of New Zealand land? That’s right, we have a whopping 10.1 million hectares of forests. Of this: 8 million hectares are native forest and 2.1 million hectares are plantation (exotic species) forest.

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A bubble of life: how to restore vitality into an ecosystem.

An ecosystem is defined as any “biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.” But we really like the definition that our old friends at National Geographic use: “An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life.”

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Ecology, Economy Richard Clague Ecology, Economy Richard Clague

Mother Nature sent us.

We’ve always said that our plants feel like they’re on a mission and that they feel the urgency like we do. We’ve always said that we’re environmentalists but we don’t tie ourselves to trees, we just keep planting them. Well, we decided that it was time to tell that story and get into serious action with a big vision and an audacious (ambitious) mission.

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Mother Nature, Ecovitalists Richard Clague Mother Nature, Ecovitalists Richard Clague

Chasing the Nectar Flow

The season starts when the flowers arrive in the Far North and the daytime temperature is warm enough to generate and secrete the flow of nectar into the flower. Nectar is produced by glands called nectaries. Nectaries can be located on any part of a plant, but the most familiar nectaries are those located in flowers (called “floral nectaries”).

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