DSC_9877 Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) cultivar 'Vonnie Cave' with pale apricot-salmon flowers, and bright green foliage. Descended from yellow flowered pohutukawa trees discovered in 1840 on Motiti Island, off Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. The cultivar first appeared in Whanganui and was named in honour of Yvonne Cave, by plantsman Graeme Platt. Whanganui *
DSC_3174 Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) orange-scarlet flowers of the cultivar 'Fire Mountain', introduced in the mid 1970's. Selected by Felix Dury, from early pohutukawa plantings on the Waitara River Bank in Taranaki, originating from the Duncan and Davies Nursery. The unique orange flowers may be the result of hybridisation between red-flowered pohutukawa and yellow-flowered parents. The yellow parent came from Motiti Island, off Tauranga, and was sold by Duncan and Davies Nursery from 1947 onwards. Broad Bay, Otago Harbour *
DSC_3163 Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) the unusually bright scarlet flowers, and long stamens of the cultivar 'Vibrance', sourced from Waiomu Bay, Coromandel Peninsula. Introduced by plantsman Graeme Platt this is just one of more than 20 pohutukawa selections he has made from wild plants, and mature plants in cultivation, and selected by him for the quality of their habit and form, resulting in plants of excellent garden quality. Otago Peninsula *