Since 2025, Whaingaroa Weedbusters has teamed up with Te Rekereke Taiao Trust, a local organisation who are working hard to enhance biodiversity across an area from Whaingaroa to Aotea.
One of the main goals of Te Rekereke Taiao Trust is to raise awareness of the plants and trees that make our part of the Waikato special. Have you ever noticed, when you drive over to the Coromandel or Bay of Plenty, how different the forest looks, compared with the west coast?
That’s because the western Waikato has its own unique plants and plant communities (groups of species that like to grow together) that are specially adapted to the west coast way of life. Where the east coast is clad in pohutukawa, houpara and karo, our coastal forest is naturally home to species like northern rātā, tanguru, and kōwhai.
All of Aotearoa’s native plants are taonga, and non-local natives can still look great in gardens, parks and cultural plantings. For restoration plantings, however, local is always the most beautiful. By collecting local seeds and cuttings (which are then grown on at a specialist nursery) Te Rekereke Taiao Trust makes west coast species available for planting projects throughout our rohe.
The trust focuses especially on plants that are at risk of disappearing before our eyes. That’s where Whaingaroa Weedbusters come in: one of the biggest threats to western Waikato’s native plant communities are introduced weeds.
Together, Te Rekereke Taiao Trust and Whaingaroa Weedbusters offer a double-pronged approach, empowering residents and landowners to remove invasive plants, and offering free locally-sourced natives to take their place.
Last year, volunteers from Whaingaroa Weedbusters and Te Rekereke Taiao Trust planted our local coastal toetoe (Austroderia splendens, which in many places has been pushed out by American pampas grass) along the coast road. This winter, the two organisations delivered bundles of specially-selected local plants to residents who have made space for them by clearing weeds. Want to be part of the scheme for next winter?
Follow us on facebook, ask questions, join in. Whaingaroaweedbusters@gmail.com
For more specific information see www.weedbusters.org.nz
Keep an eye out for our monthly pest plant column with thanks to Te Rekereke Taiao Trust and Waikato Regional Council.
