Ōtari-Wilton's Bush Trust

07/10/2026

Very, very nearly 100 years old and looking smart! The Ōtari Native Botanic Garden centenary will be officially commemorated on October 12. Ōtari’s dedicated gardeners and Trust volunteers have pulled out all stops to make the garden collections look even more spruced-up than usual, if you can believe that’s possible. Thanks everyone. And watch this space for more Centenary-related events, open to everyone: talks, guided walks and, on November 14, our super-duper Community Centenary Picnic. Save the date.

03/10/2026

It’s spring, in Ōtari, so perhaps not surprising yet utterly thrilling when a pīpīwharauroa (shining cuckoo) flew in to pose for a recent Trust 'Ōtari Birds' guided walk. It didn’t just fly past, the cuckoo flitted around for a good ten minutes, giving everyone a good look at its shiny green plumage and boldly striped chest, and looking none the worse for its just-completed 4000km migratory flight from the south west Pacific Ocean. Self-confessed bird nerd (and expert), Hugh Robertson, led the fully-booked tour. There are still more talks and guided walks in the Trust’s special Centenary Year programme, many with a focus on the heritage of Ōtari and Dr Leonard Cockayne’s work to establish the native botanic garden Check it out on https://www.owbt.nz/visiting/centenary-events/

26/09/2026

100 years of Ōtari. It’s Centenary party time, even Ōtari’s moths have been invited. And they are not all boring little brown things. Wellington Botanic Gardens Artist in Residence, Sandra Morris is showing how they are rather attractive, with fascinating stories. She has painted several species, portraying their stunning patterns and colours and wing shapes, and matched them with their known host plants, or the plants they associate with for feeding or egg-laying. Her work follows the ‘100-year moth’ project in the Wellington region, which includes Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush, undertaken by Will Brockelsby (DOC) and Julia Kaspar (Te Papa). Their aim was to compare the number of moth species with those recorded and painted by entomologist, George V. Hudson, 100 years ago.
You can see Sandra’s exhibition now, at the Treehouse, Wellington Botanic Gardens. Her cards are also for sale at Tāne Whakapiripiri, Ōtari’s Visitor Centre, and the Trust will be auctioning one of Sandra's paintings at the Centenary function, on October 12.

20/09/2026

Centenary Open Day was a blast! We even had a special centurion visit. Athol Swann, one of the Trust founders who turned 100 last week, came along for a look. The Centenary BBQ sausages went down a treat, with their specially infused kawakawa and horopito herbs, hundreds of native plants were sold, nursery and laboratory tours that checked out special rare plants and were guided by Ōtari’s own specialist garden staff and scientist thrilled the punters, raranga and rongoā workshops were popular as usual, Zealandia took part, our Laboratory gurus, Te Papa Botany Curator Carlos and Ōtari science technician Jen discussed plant science and lab matters, and everything just went really well, with throngs of supporters shrugging off the cool breezes and engaging with all things Ōtari. Trust members hosted teas, coffees, cakes and sausages. Thanks to all those who gave very generous koha, all those who helped, and to the whole community for sharing the day.

20/09/2026

Learning to weave a kī. Kia ora Ōtari Raranga weavers

18/09/2026

Well worth a read, what Ōtari Native Botanic Garden is all about: established by Wellington City Council in 1926 to collect native plants from throughout New Zealand, many of them threatened, and gather them here under the care of specialists to ensure their survival. Still doing it, 100 years on.

https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2026/09/otari-wiltons-bush-celebrate-aotearoa-native-plants?fbclid=IwdGRzaAUZUhVjbGNrBRlRrXBkb2YBZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeRWV5jGsRRjSjZqkfXMTGhyvN7dvyUWBF8Co8yaRmBt89xc6sI45QN6F9Fac_aem_xPWJRUsxqNR-q51g_E7DvA

Ōtari‑Wilton’s Bush is marking 100 years as a place set aside to protect and celebrate Aotearoa New Zealand’s native plants.

17/09/2026

Here we go again. The kākā are off to Rā Tūwhera ki Ōtari Open Day 2026, on this Saturday, September 19, from 10am to 2pm.
It won’t quite be summer weather but we’ll have some tasty, native herby sausages on the BBQ and teas, coffees and cakes to warm your cockles, along with the chance to catch up with many of our supportive neighbouring and community conservation groups. Yes, there’ll be heaps of native plants for sale. Our own horticultural and botanist gurus will be there to help you chose what might suit your garden. Don’t forget to sign up for a ‘Behind the Scenes’ Tour, a rare look at the special plants in our nursery, guided by the special gardeners who care for them. And check out the ‘explorer’s camp’ for budding young naturalists in your family. See you there! A big thank you to Tony Stoddard (WildBirdsNZ) for spotting those kākā heading to Ōtari.

14/09/2026

Take a bow, titiwai. Ōtari’s glowworms have been shining bright all winter, thrilling those joining the Trust’s sell-out guided glowworm tours. Highpoints of these evenings are 1) seeing families together, all wrapped up warm with headtorches throwing eerie lights around the trees, sharing the adventure and 2) discovering other crawly critters that venture out at night in the forest. While the titiwai did their lovely shiny thing, checking the putaputaweta tree for larvae of the puriri moth, and finding stick insects camouflaged in the rātā carminea lit up the faces of young explorers, on the last tour of the season. We’ll be back next winter, when it gets dark earlier.

10/09/2026

Ōtari. Springtime. Kākā in the kōwhai time and OPEN DAY time. September 19. Come and join us, 10am to 2pm. Here's some of what’s happening this special centenary year.
Plant Sale? YES. Jane, Lynley and Tina have been toiling in the Trust Nursery, preparing hundreds of native plants for sale.
Behind the Scenes Tours? YES. Visit our special, rare native plants, guided by the specialist staff who care for them.
Lions Ōtari Conservation Laboratory? YES. Discuss ongoing research with our resident science technician
Discovery Den? YES. Heaps of fun in a cosy young naturalist 'explorers’ camp’ on the lawn by the kauri trees.
Raranga? YES. Workshop with the Ōtari Raranga, with harakeke harvested from Ōtari’s own Pā Harakeke.
Rongoā Māori? YES. Learn about traditional herbal balms and remedies with respected Rongoā practitioner, Sharlene Maoate-Davis
Ngā taonga tākaro ? YES. Traditional Māori games, a bit of a challenge, and so much fun!
Trust BBQ ? YES. Even better, the Trust will be grilling up a special ‘Centenary Sausage’ mix with native kawakawa and horopito, as concocted by local butcher Cameron Harrison.
Competitions? YES. A ‘walk down memory lane’ treasure hunt, name the birds, name the plants. With prizes.
Community conservation? YES. We will welcome our neighbouring conservation groups and supporters, as usual.
See you on Saturday (Rain Day Sunday 20th, to be advised on Thursday 17.)

06/09/2026

Come check these out. At Ōtari Open Day, September 19, there will be ‘Behind the Scenes’ tours showcasing the many rare plants raised in Ōtari’s Nursery, guided by the talented staff who raise them. Provenance of rare native plants, as in sourcing cuttings and seeds from wild populations, along with working with mana whenua, are key elements of the native plant care at Ōtari. Rātā Moehau (Metrosideros bartlettii) is a case in point. Only 13 of these white flowering rātā trees are known to remain in the wild, in the Far North. They are taonga of Ngāti Kuri, who have gifted cuttings to the care of Ōtari. Cook Strait mahoe, Melicytus orarius, is another example. Taputeranga motu (in Island Bay) is a stronghold for this rare mahoe, which is pollinated by geckos and difficult to germinate. You’ll find several healthy seedlings raised in the Ōtari nursery. Pterostylis tristis is one of two native ‘Greenhood’ orchids that have multiple flowers off the stem. It grows in tussock grasslands, intermontane basins and along river flats and is currently rated ‘At Risk – Declining’. Corybas iridescens, is found throughout New Zealand but is considered difficult to propagate. Remember, you can meet these and other special plants on a behind the scenes tour, at Open Day. See you there.