Outstanding wildflowers in Hagley Park

Wednesday, 17 January 2024

Wildflowers provide food and shelter for pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

The wildflowers of Hagley Park are tall and striking this week, as this cyclist discovered near Carlton Corner.

Christchurch City Council began sowing the flowers in the park in 2021 as a trial.

A bee hard at work in Hagley Park’s wildflower grove.

That proved successful, and other grassy areas in the park were sown with poppies, borage, alyssum, calendula, cornflower and more in 2022. Some community parks across the city were similarly planted last year.

“Wildflowers provide habitat for pollinators and insects, offering food, shelter, and places for them to breed,” said Al Hardy, the council’s manager of community parks.

They also improve the soil and reduce the city’s carbon footprint, because there is less mowing.

Perhaps most of all they’re pretty.