DID YOU KNOW?

In a road reserve on the corner of Budge Street and Shurtcliffe Avenue in Riversdale, Blenheim, is a large pagoda tree, Styphnolobium japonicum. Thought to have been planted around 1923 it is a well-known landmark, bearing masses of yellow and white flowers in late summer. Probably the only one of its species in the Marlborough region, it’s the top-scoring pagoda tree in the country on the NZ Tree Register, so worth checking out if you’re in the area. It is native to China, though often called Japanese pagoda tree, and was formerly in the genus Sophora so is related to NZ’S native kōwhai. – The NZ Tree Register