13/03/2026
An interesting few days in the North Island for the NZ Forest Nursery Growers Association Nursery Tour and AGM - visiting a range of impressive nurseries and farming operations.
At Waimarino Tree Resource in Raetihi, owner Ian Forster runs New Zealand’s highest altitude forestry nursery. The cooler climate helps produce hardy seedlings well suited to planting across the country, particularly on harsher sites.
Also in Raetihi, Carina’s Native Nursery showcases an extensive range of eco-sourced native plants. Owner Carina McNie, a landscape designer, has recently played a key role in planting the Makotuku Track.
The group visited Waitatapapa Station near Bulls, a diverse farming operation run by the Dalrymple family for over 100 years. Livestock, vegetable crops, and forestry are carefully integrated, with several forestry blocks on sandier soils managed as rotational crops and around 12 hectares harvested and replanted each year - a great example of integrated land use in New Zealand.
At Awapuni Nurseries in Longburn, the team saw a wide range of vegetables, herbs, flowers, natives, forestry seedlings and established plants. All available to be delivered nationwide.
The tour finished at Murrays Nurseries in Woodville, where highly mechanised systems are used to grow radiata pine seedlings to exacting specifications for large-scale forest owners.
It was valuable to come together as a group, see how different nurseries operate, and hear from passionate growers.
