Yellow Pohutukawa Saved for Christmas

The Tree Council is delighted to announce that the Yellow Pohutukawa at 3 Church Street, Mangere Bridge will remain to flower for many Christmases to come.

It was planned to be removed by Auckland Transport to make way for a bus shelter.

On the day of the removal a passing naturalist who knew that the tree was “a Yellow” reported the incident to The Tree Council who contacted Auckland Council and Auckland Transport and eventually managed to get the work stopped after 4 hours of phone calls.

The Tree Council would like to thank the landowners at 3 Church Road for being willing to retain this special tree and are offering them free membership of The Tree Council for a year and a framed certificate featuring the tree in flower.

Thanks must also go to Asplundh for stopping work on the day of the removal, to enable us to have time to speak to the Council, and to Auckland Transport and Greenscene for being responsive to the new information about the tree’s rarity and being willing to modify their plans to enable the tree to stay.

The Tree Council's Secretary Mels Barton said "it was only luck that enabled us to save this special tree. If ever there was a good example of why Auckland Council needs a dedicated tree helpline this was it. Taking 4 hours to find a decision maker able to authorise stopping the removal for the day is totally unacceptable".

The beautiful and rare yellow-flowered form of Pohutukawa Metrosideros excelsa 'Aurea' descends from a pair discovered in 1840 on Motiti Island off Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty by a Mr Potts.

The Tree Council would like to know where the other Yellow Pohutukawas are in Auckland, so we’re asking the public to go out and look for them now while they are flowering. Download our Agile Cloud Tree App for Android from the Google Play Store and record their location and condition for us. Instructions on how to use the App can be found on our website at http://thetreecouncil.org.nz/new-tree-app-launched/

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