Weeds
in Cemeteries
Wellington
Christchurch
Dunedin
Conservation Tip Of The Month
Photographing Headstones
Weeds in Cemeteries
Most rampaging plants found in cemeteries are weeds.
Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima)
has long sword shaped leaves. The flowers are dull yellow to purple.
The fruit splits open to reveal bright red-orange seeds. It reproduces
from seed and by division. It is very invasive and every last piece
should be removed, or it can be sprayed with a herbicide.
Agapanthus
There are major infestations in many cemeteries, both in graves
and outside. Agapanthus have aggressive root systems and are prolific
seeders through wind and gravity. Agapanthus is a problem in many
cemeteries. It needs to be grubbed out and/or weed sprayed until
eliminated.
Pohutakawa, coprosma, cabbage tree, totara,
daphne, flax, ngaio, cotoneaster, sycamore pampas grass, banana
passion fruit, and others are common seedling varieties
which invade cemeteries throughout New Zealand
i.Seedlings of all these are easily spread and
constitute a major problem if not eradicated as soon as they appear
as they will all eventually destroy the fabric of the graves and
topple headstones.
ii.Pull seedlings or spray. A regular spraying
programme, using Roundup with pulse, is essential during the growing
season.
iii.If larger cut at ground level and poison stump
with “Vigilant”
[see http://www.hortresearch.co.nz/index/page/503]
Christchurch City Council has an excellent leaflet
on weeds and their control.
See our website for more information
top of page
Wellington
Bolton Street Memorial Park
A
gift of land to the Bolton Street Memorial Park, Wellington’s
historic cemetery, was officially handed over on 17 July 2005. Morva
Williams, a well-known environmentalist, gifted almost half of her
garden (238sq metres) shortly before her death. The garden contains
some interesting trees including a magnolia and a nikau palm. In
order to open access to the garden, a new path has been created
alongside the adjacent graves. The area leading to the garden was
cleared by the staff of the Botanic Gardens and the graves were
cleaned by the Friends of the Memorial Park. One very attractive
gravestone which had been totally buried was found and others are
now visible which had been covered in undergrowth. In this area
and now able to be seen clearly is one of the most beautiful memorials
in the Park, the Stafford-Tucker grave which features two classical
columns topped by spheres.
Christchurch
The
City is looking at adding more cemeteries to our list of Protected
Items in the City Plan. At this stage a consultant researcher
has done an overview of all the City cemeteries, and recommended
priority sites for further research and then they will go through
an assessment process to determine if they qualify for listing.
We hope to notify the changes to the heritage provisions at the
end of this year. We currently only list Addington and
Barbadoes Street cemeteries at the moment, and a number of churchyards.
To have a cemetery listed in the plan as a protected heritage item
means that there are City Plan rules relating to activities such
as alterations, and Resource Consent would be required to undertake
such works. The research into Christchurch cemeteries
will also be made available on-line, and should be a step forward
in raising awareness of the importance of this type of heritage
place in our City. top
of page
Contributed by:
Amanda Ohs
Assistant Heritage Planner, Christchurch City Council, telephone
03 941 6388,
Website: www.ccc.govt.nz
Dunedin
In
the latest LTCCP Dunedin City Council have allocated $25,000 towards
cemetery conservation in the Dunedin area. In conjunction with Council
staff we now have to spend it to best effect.
Morgue Building – a Conservation Specification
for this building [which is adjacent to the Southern Cemetery] has
been quoted and we are now seeking funding.
Larnach’s Tomb – Ian Bowman has completed
a specification for the repair of the tomb and it is now out to
be priced, and then we begin the fund-raising task.
The
New Zealand Historic Places Trust has registered the Northern and
Southern cemeteries as historic places (under section 30 Historic
Places Act 1993). This is the first time that large city cemeteries
of national significance have been registered by the Trust. top
of page
Conservation
Tip Of The Month
We
are now offering a new “Conservation Specification”
consulting service to cemetery managers. This involves carrying
out a full survey of the cemetery, and providing a report with action
plan specifying what is needed on the ground to conserve the gravesites.
Photographing Headstones
After a large amount of vandalism in Dunedin recently we realized
that there was an urgent need to have a digital photographic record
of each grave and grave marker. Inevitably vandalism is cumulative.
While the stones may be reconstructed they can never look the same
as the original, in some cases they cannot be reconstructed at all.
Excellence in grave photography is not easy to achieve. Light conditions,
vegetation, moss, erosion of lettering, angles, all combine to make
it hard to capture the full beauty of a grave.
Another problem is logistics. A complete block/grave numbering system
should be evident on the ground before a start is made, otherwise
confusion could easily result. Also, the method of accumulating
the images on to a database has to be sorted out first - it may
be possible to upload them to the cemetery database of the local
authority or cemetery manager. top
of page
Do you have an email address? If we are sending
this to you by surface post do you have an email address please?
It is easier and cheaper for us, so if you could reply by email
we would add you to our email list.
NEW:
Our website now contains a Weed Eradication section.
Contact
us: Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand, 65 Every Street,
Dunedin, New Zealand.
Website: www.cemeteries.org.nz
Email: stewarth@orcon.net.nz
