History
trust timeline
Pukeiti would not be what it is today without the thousands of hours contributed by Trust members and the generous amount of funds contributed by Taranaki businesses and community organisations.
In sharing significant milestones and achievements from our past, we carry their memory with us into the future.
31 October – Inagural meeting of the newly-formed Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust.
1 November – Official opening of the garden
- Christopher Saxton, prominent Taranaki surveyor, surveys the garden free of charge.
Arthur Goudie (FM) appointed Honorary Curator to oversee early work clearing scrub, opening up old logging tracks and pest control
John (Jack) W Goodwin (FM), Superintendent of Parks for New Plymouth, appointed Honorary Superintendent, and begins major formal layout of the garden.
Russell Matthews (FM) coordinates a massive volunteer effort to begin implement the planting scheme.
Architect Raymond Syme draws up plans for a Lodge to house curators and their families, and to provide a meeting place and shelter for volunteers working in the garden. Building begins.
- Pukeiti becomes a scenic reserve under E B Corbett, MP for (then) Egmont from 1949-1957. In 1949 the newly elected National government gave Corbett—from Okato, Taranaki—the portfolios of land, forests and Māori affairs. Among other achievements, he created the Urewera, Nelson Lakes, Tararua Forest and Mount Cook national parks, and established 147 scenic reserves.
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First plant nursery established on what is now the Lodge Lawn.
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Les Boisen appointed first resident curator and moves into the newly opened Lodge.
Rob Bayly appointed curator and together with his wife, Claire, moves into the Lodge.
First glasshouse, complete with climate control, donated by Robert and Freda Ireland (FMs). This enables an ever expanding amount of plants to be grown from the increasing amount of material being sent by overseas members.
Waterwheel built to pump water to the Lodge and Nursery, and to supply electricity until a mains supply became available in 1961.
The waterwheel was based on a disused waterwheel found at the Ōkato Dairy Factory. The bearings were salvaged and a replica of the wheel was made from heart tōtara, using plans from a local library.
Rob Hair appointed curator. All Pukeiti visitors were welcomed at the Lodge by his wife, Ina, whose gracious hospitality was a hallmark of the Trust.
Ladies Committee established, with Louisa Williams (FM) as the first Convenor. The Ladies Committee ran a hostess roster for visitors every weekend until the Gatehouse opened in 1987.
Second staff house built.
Valley of the Giants created.
Cardiocrinum giganteum seed (Himalayan lily) brought from Gwavas, Michael Hudson’s (FM) Hawkes Bay garden, and broadcast along the margins of walks. Today, it is a Christmas season feature of Pukeiti.
Graham Smith appointed Curator.
From London, Graham used to help on his father’s allotment growing up, developing an early interest in horticulture. He became an apprentice at The Regent’s Park, London and was then accepted for the three-year Diploma of Horticulture course at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Graham came to New Zealand in 1968 to work in the Tropical House, at the Auckland Domain. On his first weekend duty, he saw a newspaper advertisement for the position of curator at Pukeiti. Rather cheekily he applied and, within a few weeks, was appointed Curator. He was appointed Horticultural Director of Pukeiti in 1991 and Director in 1995.
- Third staff house, Cook House, built
Trust celebrates its 25th Anniversary
First Display House completed, again funded by the Stanley Smith Foundation to grow and feature the subtropical Vireya rhododendrons.
Members Euan and Sylvia Perrott donate a third glasshouse which enables the establishment of a “Plants for Members” scheme. This remains an eagerly anticipated annual event.
This also freed up the original first glasshouse to be used as a quarantine centre for imported plants.
Cyclone Bernie struck Taranaki on Easter Friday, toppling more than 3,000 trees at Pukeiti and over 100 rhododendrons, some as old as the garden. All the tracks were blocked with fallen debris, the power was out for a day, the phone for five days and the road down to New Plymouth was impassable for eight days. As soon as they could get through, members and volunteers turned up, and kept turning up, until the mess was cleared.
Terry Boon, a prominent New Plymouth architect, assigned to design a Gate House, to be built with generous support from members and the endowment of former world champion axeman, Ned Shewry, a long time Pukeiti supporter.
1 November 1986 , the Gatehouse officially opened by Mr Phillip Woollaston, Undersecretary for Conservation, Environment and Local Government.
1 July 1987, the Gatehouse opens to the public. Bill and Pat Campbell were the first lessees, opening the first café. An estimated 20,000 people had visited Pukeiti during 1986, and they were keen to expand on that.
- The first covered walkway is built, with assistance from the New Plymouth Rotary Club.
On 8 March, Cyclone Bola’s 165km/hour winds devastate the garden. Overnight, Pukeiti lost 10,000 of its trees. Fortunately, the Valley of the Giants came through unscathed, the valley location itself sheltering the trees.
Members and volunteers again showed up to clean up, with over 2,000 manhours spent clearing debris from the garden in the first month alone.
Fortunately, at this point, with over 3,200 members the PRT was the largest private club in New Zealand.
Testament to their success is that despite Bola, the first Taranaki Rhododendron Festival was held in October, following the NZRA Rhododendron Conference – a pattern that continues today.
With the assistance from several local companies, a new Display House is built to house Pukeiti’s many hundreds of vireyas.
Perrott House converted to a new Public Display House for a collection and rhododendrons from Borneo and Malaysia, also bromeliads and tropical foliage plants needing warmer conditions. Ewen and Sylvia Perrot, the original donors, re-opened the building on 13 November 1993.
Trust publishes “Growing Rhododendrons – A Gardeners Guide” with grateful thanks to the memory of Kenneth Wesley Gittings and Iris Agnes Gittings for their most generous bequest
- Collections Officer Andrew Brooker first joins the garden staff
2 November 1996 Local iwi present three carved Māori panels for Te Whare Taonga, the House of Treasures, to commemorate the work of the original 25 founding members.
Te Whare Taonga originally sat beneath a glass roofed structure in the Founders Garden but now sits under the entrance canopy of the Rainforest Centre.
Pukeiti, New Zealand’s Finest Rhododendron Garden, by Pat Greenfield, first published
TRC takes over management of the gardens, adopting the PRT’s objectives.
The PRT remains an active partner, supporting the garden financially, and consulting and advising TRC garden staff over developments at Pukeiti.
17 October 2015 Opening of the Xanthe White-designed Keiller Rhododendron Home Garden, which is intended to show visitors how to use rhododendrons effectively in their home garden. The work was funded by a generous bequest from PRT Member Robert Keiller.
Contract signed with Massey University to begin working on a formal Plant Conservation Strategy with Pukeiti as the hub for gathering, identification and distribution both nationally and internationally. NZRA formally invited to participate.
Chelsea Flower Show judge Christopher Bailes places Puketi at number two in his personal top 10 of the globe’s gardens in British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Formal establishment of New Zealand Ex-Situ Rhododendron Conservation Project
- New Lodge opens.
Foundation Members
In 1951, we began with 25 Foundation Members. Some of the walks in the garden are still named after some of them, and all of their names are included on Te Whare Taonga, which are placed at the entrance to the Rainforest Centre.
Our final Foundation Member, Michael Hudson, passed away in February 2023. Michael became a Foundation Member when he was just 21, was on the inaugural Board and continued to serve on the Board for 25 years. After retiring, he continued to maintain an active interest in Pukeiti.
We continue to honour these men and women because without their vision and commitment seven decades ago, the garden we know and love would simply not exist.
Phillip Ayckbourn
Monica Brewster
Kenneth Burns
William Douglas Cook
Inez Corrigan
Cyril Croker
Victor Davies
Ronald Gordon
Arthur Goudie
Michael Hudson
Freda Ireland
Robert Ireland
Ada Kynoch
Andrew Larcom
Alan Marshall
Mary Matthews
Russell Matthews
Grant Maxwell
Graham Petterson
Arthur Richardson
Henry Rowe
Roland Stead
Thomas White
Gareth Williams
Louisa Williams
Curators & Caretakers
The Trust was fortunate to have been served by some outstanding curators and caretakers during the 60 years it owned the garden.
Again, we honour their work, and the part they played in creating the Pukeiti we know today.
Curators
Arthur Goudie (Foundation Member), Honorary Curator 1951-53
John Goodwin (Foundation Member), Honorary Superintendent 1953-68
Les Boisen 1954-56
Rob Bayly 1956-60
Rob Hair 1960-69
Graham Smith 1969-2010
Caretakers
Les Boisen 1954-56
Rob & Claire Bayly 1956-60
Rob & Ina Hair 1960-69
Don & Nancy Lay 1969-70
Bill & Billie Plunket 1970-74
Lauri & Lawrie Cadman 1974-75
Tom & Marg Adkins 1975-76
Sol & Val Maynard-Solley 1976-78
John & Elsie King 1978-82
Owen & Joanne Barriball 1982-85
Bill & Venetia Lowe 1986-94
Peter & Karen Davis 1994-2000
The Bank’s Memorial lecture that Graham presented at the 2018 Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture conference
