Plants on the move as Cuningham empties out

Christchurch Botanic Gardens’ Cuningham House is being emptied of all but a handful of plants ahead of a heritage restoration as well as updating it to the 21st century.

The large display glasshouse located next to the Central Rose Garden is home to a substantial collection of tropical plants, many of which are being carefully removed and relocated to the Townend (pictured above) and nursery glasshouses. This will allow the contractors to have access to the building, which as part of the planned work will see all glazing removed. 

The plants will have a change of scenery or go ‘on holiday’, where the team will concentrate on getting them ready for the time that they will move back into the house, propagating, repotting and pruning.

Just five trees/ groups of plants will remain in Cuningham House during the restoration as they are difficult to move or propagate - the rest of the collection is being relocated.

“This is a process we call decanting and it’s not just about shifting plants; besides moving many hundreds of potted plants, we’re also working on the collection during this time for the benefit of the plants and the future planned display. The plants in the central bed will be lifted and potted and grown on in the other houses. These are plants that have grown together, been shaped by one another and formed a unique ‘landscape’ within the glasshouse," says Botanic Gardens and Garden Plants Director, Wolfgang Bopp.

Historic Cuningham House is closed for 18-24 months while a full heritage restoration takes place, with many plants being relocated in the Townend and nursery glasshouses next door.

“It’s a big job, because overall there could be up to 3,000 plants in total but it's hard to estimate because when they are growing in masses or in the same container, that makes it difficult to distinguish individuals."

Two special trees that will remain in place are male and female miniature date palms, Phoenix roebelenii situated either side of the entrance.  Mr Bopp says it’s likely the slender 6m high palms are the same ones that appear in pots in a photo of Cuningham House taken around the time of it opening one hundred years ago. 

The delicate, century-old palms will be surrounded by protective scaffolding and covered with protective film while the restoration takes place around them.

A 8 to 10 m tall nikau will also remain in situ. Staff estimate the slow-growing native at between 30-40 years old but due to warm, moist conditions inside the glasshouse it’s much larger for its age than if it had grown outdoors. It has many years of space to grow before it reaches the roof hence the decision to keep it in place alongside the palms nearby that are very hard to transplant.

“For plants that are easy to propagate like the banana plants, they send out baby shoots quite regularly, we will dig up several and pot them up, ready to grow into mature plants for replanting when Cuningham House is completed. We have already moved several large potted plants into Townend House. 

“We’ve also contacted other botanic gardens in Aotearoa to share some of the plant material with them. To share experience and knowledge a staff member from Wellington Botanic Gardens has recently spent a couple of days with us and she has taken plants back to enrich their own collection.

“Giving rare or unusual plants to other botanic gardens is a type of insurance policy, in case anything happens to the parent plant." 

The restoration of Cuningham House is expected to take 18-24 months and is costing approximately $10 million.