Lake Tekapo
This is another South Island location that is popular in the summer months, Lake Tekapo. The first sheep farm in the area dates back to 1857 which was owned by John and Barbara Hay on the shores of Lake Tekapo. Soon after, a hotel was established in 1861 before a ferry was set up to cross the Tekapo River. These days it’s a popular holiday and tourist destination in the MacKenzie Basin.
Lupinus Polyphyllus – Buy
We can thank horticulturist and Yorkshireman George Russell for the wonderful range of colours we see in today’s Lupins. However, the story starts further back with a Scottish botanist called David Douglas. After being recommended by London’s Royal Horticultural Society, Douglas went on a plant-hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest in 1824. Two years later, when returned home, he brought with him many new species of plants, which included the predominantly blue and white Lupinus Polyphyllus (or Lupin).
Then, in 1911 at the Coronation of King George V, George decided he didn’t particularly like the blue and white coloured Lupins that were on display. So, he spent the next twenty six years of his life collecting and crossing different Lupin to develop a more colourful species that was exhibited for the first time at the Chelsea flower show in 1936. This new species would become known as the Russell Lupin and was exported all over the world.