On a Warm Spring Day in Christchurch

It has been such a beautiful day and they say rain is on its way so thought I better get a shot of the wonderful Cherry Blossoms along along North Hagley Park before they are all spoilt. There were some more to come out but on the hole they were at their best.

Here is a link to my flickr page on some photos I took today of the rebuild of the Knox Church today on my way to the Hagley Park. They sure are coming along fast now and it looking really good with the all the scaffolding around it taken down now.

Some History on Hagley Park
When the Deans brothers arrived in Christchurch in 1842, they travelled up the Otakaro river (Avon) in a whaler until the shallow water forced them to use a Māori canoe. They landed at a bend in the river, which is now part of Hagley Park, and travelled by foot to the Puturingamotu patch of forest (now Riccarton Bush).

Town Reserves, Hagley Park and the Government Domain (now the Botanic Gardens) were included as part of the Canterbury Association’s plan for the settlement. Approximately 500 acres on the west of the central town area is shown as the site of Hagley Park in a map of Christchurch dated 1850. It was named after the country estate of Lord Lyttelton, chairman of the Canterbury Association.

In 1855 when the new Provincial Government took over the role of the Canterbury Association, a law was passed which said that "the land commonly known as Hagley Park, shall be reserved for ever as a public park, and shall be open for the recreation and enjoyment of the public."

In the 1850s, the land for Hagley Park was a mixture of scrub and swamp, with creeks feeding to Otakaro river (Avon).

On 9 July 1863 the first tree was planted in the Government Domain (Botanic Gardens). It was known as the Albert Edward oak and was planted to mark the wedding of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark, which had taken place on 10 March 1863.

When the planting began, native plants such as ferns, tussock, cabbage trees, and flax were replaced by "English plants", such as beech, elm, chestnuts, pines and oaks.

The first recorded tree plantings in Hagley Park were the avenue of Oriental plane trees in the North Park in 1870. Pines were also planted in 1870 in the northeast corner of the Park, and near the swamp, which later became Victoria Lake.
For more information on Hagley Park Christchurch.