Click on any image for an enlargement. Lake Dispute beech forest.
CHRISTCHURCH
Arthur's Pass beech forest.
The Christchurch Botanic Gardens - one of my favourite places. Linden walk at upper left, Acer palmatum at lower left, Gingko biloba right.
Alexandra - a great place for autumn foliage, though the semi -arid climate doesn't appeal to me.
Franz Joseph village. Cool climate rainforest - beautiful to visit, but I prefer deciduous forests and less rain.
Twizel - golden willows in winter. This region is another great spot for autumn colour, but there were no lifestyle blocks there when I was searching for land, and the rainfall is lower than my ideal.
ARROWTOWN

The Wakatipu Basin is my favourite place in NZ. I couldn't afford rural land in 1996, and it's a lot less affordable now.
Winter willows c1992.
Trees in the Anglican churchyard - the scarlet oak was a source of seed for "Arba Cielo".
Acer pseudoplatanus forest. Considered a weed by many because of its prolific reproductive capacity (actually no worse than some NZ "natives") and its "exotic" status (every species is "exotic" to its environment at some point in its history). I think it's a beautiful tree that greatly enhances the rural landscape, though I wouldn't want it in a suburban garden. The autumn colour achieved in this climate can equal the best of any yellow autumn foliaged tree, a fact not mentioned in any reference book I've encountered. Some even colour orange.
Queenstown Hill.
Gorge Rd sycamores in 1993 - note some with orange leaf colour.
Above: a view from the Macetown track.
Sycamores in the Rees Valley (above, 1995), and at Lake Hayes (left, 1992).
An aspen at Lake Hayes, foliage looks like Populus grandidentata.
Larches colour a hillside near Arthur's Point.
Queenstown Hill forest ablaze in autumn colour. Acer pseudoplatanus, Sorbus aucuparia and Larix kaempferi or L. decidua.
Birches, pines and Douglas firs on Queenstown Hill.
Balsam poplars in Sunshine Bay - Populus basamifera, I think. 1992. Environmental purists periodically chainsaw the trees on the upper slopes of Queenstown Hill to protect tussock grasslands. A matter of personal taste masquerading as an "environmental issue" and fuelled by nasty flag waving zealotry (that's how it gets government funding). I call it biofacism in action, though I do enjoy the tussock grasslands as much as the forests.
Lombardy poplars on the Queenstown waterfront. Queenstown Hill llarches & pines.
My home in Queenstown from 1991 to 2001 was at 253 Fernhill Rd. The best sugar maple I've ever grown at left, Prunus "Pink Perfection" at right and the back garden below... another urban forest . I loved it and hope future owners do too. If only I could have bought a 26ha block there I might have been perfectly content to stay for the rest of my life.
The magnicent red oaks in Mann St, Queenstown, 1992 - a seed source for "Arba Cielo". Sadly, these spectacular trees were damaged by wind and that was all the incentive someone needed to completely remove them. The fate awaiting most urban trees is to die long before they need to.
My workplace at Novotel on Sainsbury Rd in Fernhill, Queenstown, from 1994 to 2001.
Acer platanoides in Gore. The seed source for most of the Norway maples planted at "Arba Cielo".