Acorn tree planting8/3/2023 ![]() I got involved several years ago when I went on a trip with Oaks NZ founders Eric Cairns and Kathryn Hurr. The keen and passionate folks behind Oaks New Zealand continuing the legacy left by Don, Cookie, Bob, and others. He planted and nurtured trees on public land – with the approval of local officials – and was also the source for some of the oaks planted at Eastwoodhill and Hackfalls. ![]() While he didn’t own land until late in his life, that didn’t stop him from spreading his love of oaks. A notable horticulturist from the Bay of Plenty, Don was passionate about the potential of exotic hardwoods as timber trees. In total, it has about 150 species of oaks.Īnother great quercophile (lover of oaks) was Don Hamilton. The site turned out to be almost perfect, and Hackfalls is now internationally renowned for its collection of Mexican oaks (about 45 species, plus hybrids). Cookie’s work inspired Bob Berry to establish Hackfalls Arboretum at Tiniroto, an hour’s drive south of Eastwoodhill. Oak trees bring out the passion in people. That concept is still relevant because New Zealand is a safe haven from the nasty diseases threatening oaks in the Northern Hemisphere. He saw his collection of trees, tucked away at the bottom of the world, as an ‘arboreal ark’. The threat of nuclear weapons galvanised Cookie during the Cold War era. Among the 500 species of trees, shrubs, and climbers from the Northern Hemisphere are 100 oaks of 80 different species. He spent 55 years and all his money planting what is now New Zealand’s national arboretum, Eastwoodhill, near Gisborne. Douglas ‘Cookie’ Cook liked to garden naked, save for one gumboot on the foot used on his planting spade.
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