By Roselyn Fauth
Photo from Doctor Kelly Sweerus office in 2025 overlooking the carpark, the rata tree and the Timaru botanic Gardens.
The forecast is bleak. Again. But when there’s a break in the weather, even a short one, here’s a free idea that costs nothing and gives a lot back. Pull on a jacket. Step outside. Go on a rātā hunt... Start at Timaru’s Botanic Gardens. See if you can find two. The Timaru Botanic Gardens were established in 1864, making them one of the oldest botanic gardens in New Zealand. They cover 19 hectares and have been growing with the town for more than 150 years.
On the east hospital boundrary is a tree is called southern rātā, Metrosideros umbellata. It’s a native New Zealand forest tree and part of the myrtle family. In the wild, southern rātā grows in cooler places with higher rainfall, which is why it’s common on the West Coast of the South Island and in damp, bushy environments. It can live for hundreds of years.
When it flowers, usually between January and February, it’s canopy fills with deep red, brush-like blooms made up of fine stamens rather than petals. Its stunning up close and from a distance.
If you walk South to the Alpine plants section you'll spy another rātā too.
How to spot a rātā
Look for small, thick, leathery leaves. Look up into the canopy rather than just at eye level. Rātā is more at home in forest than on exposed coast. When you are at the Botanic Gardens you can read the sign below to confirm your rata hunch is indeed the actual specimen.
Southern rātā (Metrosideros umbellata) is a native New Zealand tree found nowhere else in the world. It is an evergreen forest tree that can live for several hundred years and is usually found in cooler, wetter environments, from sea level through to mountain forest. It is especially common on the West Coast of the South Island. The leaves are small to medium sized, thick and leathery, dark green on top and paler underneath, and they stay on the tree year round. The flowers appear mainly between January and February and are deep red and brush-like, made up of fine stamens rather than petals. They grow in clusters, often high in the canopy, and are rich in nectar, attracting birds and insects. Southern rātā grows as a solid, upright tree, forming a broad canopy as it matures, and usually grows from the ground up, unlike northern rātā which can begin life high in other trees. With age, the trunk becomes thick and sturdy and the bark can become rough and textured. Ecologically, southern rātā provides important food and shelter for native wildlife and is a key nectar source during its flowering season, as part of New Zealand’s native myrtle family. Compared with pōhutukawa, southern rātā prefers forest environments rather than exposed coastal settings, has generally smaller and tougher leaves, flowers later in summer, and grows in cooler climates with higher rainfall.
Some local observers simply use the timing of rātā blooms as a personal seasonal cue: if the rātā start flush-flowering early, summer feels early; if they flower late, summer feels delayed. There’s no formal proverb, but it’s a bit like watching kowhai to see spring coming or noticing when tui and bellbirds are especially busy.
The fact rātā nectar attracts native birds such as tūī and bellbird when in flower adds to seasonal awareness, since bird activity changes with flowering rhythms. For me, when I see the rātā blooms arrive, it says to me that summer is here.
Rātā or pōhutukawa?
It is easy to mix mix them up. The pōhutukawa, often called the New Zealand Christmas tree, is usually found along coastal areas of the North Island, north of New Plymouth. It’s shaped by salt and wind and flowers around Christmas. Southern rātā prefers cooler, wetter places and tends to flower later in summer.
A rātā with a journey behind it
One of the rātā in the Botanic Gardens has lived two lives. It used to grow in the hospital car park. When alterations were made, it was carefully relocated. Even though it was only being shifted metres, from the car park to the Botanic Gardens boundary, the tree was bundled up, lifted onto a truck, driven through the gates and around to the other side of the fence. Now it offers shade and a place to take a break. I quite often see hospital staff sitting on the bench below, taking a breather.
A little further south of the rātā is another panel, tucked quietly into the plant communities of South Canterbury. It reminds us just how much this region changes, from the Timaru coastline right through to Aoraki Mt Cook.
In a relatively short distance, plants adapt from sea level to more than 3000 metres. Rainfall shifts dramatically too, from around 570 millimetres a year in Timaru to as much as 4300 millimetres in the mountains. Altitude, climate and soil all work together to shape where different plants can survive and thrive.
These gardens represent nine distinct plant communities found along that journey inland. Along the coast, plants cluster into four main groupings, those growing on sand and gravel, in salt meadows, on cliffs, and in boggy ground. Rivers thread their way to the sea, edged with gravel beds and wetlands, while further inland terraces and gorges carve through the land.
In the Mackenzie Country, tough tussock and subalpine scrub cope with low rainfall and sharp temperature contrasts. Closer to Aoraki Mt Cook, bush, scrub and rock plants live with frequent snow and heavy rain.
All of it reflects not just climate and geography, but human impact too. Farming, grazing and settlement have left their marks, quietly shaping the plant communities we see today.
Look further out and see if you can find similar trees.
On South Street at Patiti Point, there are trees that were planted as part of a fundraiser for Hospice South Canterbury, organised by Doug Cleveland. Doug’s late brother Les Cleveland bred the trees in Mosgiel. It took ten years of careful breeding to cross-pollinate southern rātā and pōhutukawa. The result is a tree that carries something of both parents and flowers in that January to February window.
Pop down to the bay and take a look at two tall trees near the sound shell at Caroline Bay. I have often stared at them and wondered... Are they pōhutukawa? Are they rātā? Or something in between? There are similar trees near the Port Loop Road as well.
Why the gardens sit beside the hospital
Timaru's Botanic Gardens were established in 1864, making it one of the oldest Botanic Gardens in New Zealand. The Government lifted 23 hectares of land from ‘waste land regulations’ and surveyor Samuel Hewlings set aside 2 hectares for Botanic Gardens. In 1867 the area was placed under the care of the Borough of Timaru Park Commissioners, the following year the planting of trees and shrubs got underway. $200 pounds was set aside in 1872 for a ranger’s cottage and advertisements soon appeared in the Timaru Herald inviting the public to make donations of trees, shrubs, flower roots, bulbs and seeds. The majority of early planting was carried out with convict labour from the local Timaru Gaol and floral fetes were organized to raise money for development of The Gardens. The first glasshouse/conservatory was constructed in 1905 around the time when the south side of The Gardens were still being leased for the farming of crops and the grazing of sheep. (Deer living within the gardens escaped the grounds, caused damage and endangered staff resulting in them “being destroyed” in 1945.) The Band Rotunda, opened in 1912, was a gift to celebrate the coronation of King George V the preceding year.
During the depression (early 1930s) the council reduced wages and expenditure. Unemployed men were engaged for manual work, including improving the two duck ponds by digging them out by hand.
Between 1936 and 1939, 20,000 daffodil bulbs were donated to the gardens and a few years later, in 1940, pupils of South School planted 60 trees along the Domain Avenue frontage of the gardens.
Gardens, Timaru, 1912, Timaru, by Muir & Moodie. Te Papa (O.001833). In 2014, the Timaru Botanic Gardens was recognised as a Garden of National Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. That same year a Metrosideros ‘Maungapiko’(a cross between a Pohutakawa and Southern Rata) was planted to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the land being formally gazetted as a public park.
The corner of the reserve for the Timaru Botanic Gardens was carved off for a new hospital.
Back in 1850s, there was no government or universal health care here. Most sick people were looked after at home. Influx of immigrants increases hospital demand, and Timaru opened its first hospital in 1862, and that was thanks to the efforts of Belfield Woollcombe, the towns magistrate who moved here in 1858, who found a way to get Government support to make it happen.
The first public hospitals set up in New Zealand were in Wellington and Auckland in 1847, New Plymouth in 1848 and Dunedin and Whanganui in 1851. Christchurch followed in 1862. Many hospitals were opened in the South Island during the gold rushes of the 1860s.
A wooden hospital was near the Bascilla on the edge of a swampy creek by the Canterbury Provincial Government at the corner of North Street and West Belt. Mrs. Simpson, wife of the clerk of works, agreed to serve as nurse for £50 a year. Dr Edward Butler was the first medical appointment as the Provincial Surgeon in December 1 1862. Local communities like Timaru were said to have a sense of civic pride in their hospitals, which were seen as a symbol of civilisation.
The site for this hospital wasn't idea, set in a swampy area, it was decided to relocate to a dryer and warmer location. Constructing a hospital by a garden made a lot of sense. Researchers, designers and health professionals have spent decades testing it, measuring it, and writing theses about it. And they keep finding the same thing. Green space genuinely supports health and recovery. Even short periods spent in hospital gardens can lower stress and anxiety and help regulate emotions. You don’t need hours. A few minutes outside can make a difference.
Historically, hospitals were designed with light, air and gardens in mind long before modern medicine. Contemporary research supports that instinct. A recent framework published in Frontiers in Public Health describes healing gardens as cost-effective, non-invasive interventions and recommends integrating them directly into hospital planning rather than treating them as optional extras.
I did find it frustrating how the modern hospital is orientated and that the link of the buildings and outlook has been muddled with over time. I am sure there are many many practical factors. But I felt the new location for the cafe was a missed opportunity and it would have been so much nicer to have had a park outlook from the cafe windows. That being said, there's nothing like a Night and Day hokey pokey ice cream lick at the Botanic Gardens on a Summer's day.
The "Early Timaru Hospital" on Queen Street, Timaru, circa 1870. Depicts the Timaru's second hospital but the first on the Queen Street site. Construction of the bluestone building began in 1869 but the hospital was not occupied until 1870. South Canterbury Museum CN 1116.
Timaru Hostpital, 1880s, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers. Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (O.034094)
In the Gardens, Timaru, New Zealand, 1900-1910, Timaru, maker unknown. Gift of Patricia M. Mitchell, 1989. Te Papa (PS.000739)
The Hospital, Timaru, N.Z., 1900-1910, Timaru, maker unknown. Gift of Patricia M. Mitchell, 1989. Te Papa (PS.000596)
A Corner of the Hospital Grounds, Timaru, 1900-1910, Timaru, by Alfred Hardy. Gift of Patricia M. Mitchell, 1989. Te Papa (PS.000598)
In 1938, more land for Timaru Hospital was subdivided off from the Botanic Gardens. The idea that green space supports healing was already well understood. Gardens give people somewhere to walk, sit, wait, breathe and think. They support patients, visitors and staff alike. There’s something about being around plants, and a gentle stroll. A lovely environment for rest, recuperation and reflection. It’s good for the soul.
1956 Timaru Hospital - PA-Group-00080 Whites Aviation Ltd Photographs- nlnzimage
Key theses and academic works on hospital healing gardens
Kelly Martin: Hospital Healing Garden Design and Emotional and Behavioral Responses of Visitors and Employees. Degree: Master of Science Institution: Auburn University, USA Year: 2013: https://etd.auburn.edu/bitstream/handle/10415/3462/K.%20Martin%20Thesis-%20Hospital%20Healing%20Gardens.pdf
This thesis directly examines how healing gardens affect patients, visitors and hospital staff, measuring emotional response, stress reduction and satisfaction. It is one of the strongest single thesis-level studies linking gardens and healthcare environments.
Clare Cooper Marcus and Marni Barnes: Healing Gardens: Therapeutic Benefits and Design Recommendations. Academic book drawing on multiple doctoral and master’s theses. Institutional context: University of California, Berkeley Full text (open access chapter PDF): https://escholarship.org/
While not a single thesis, this work synthesises decades of postgraduate research and is frequently cited in landscape architecture and healthcare design theses worldwide.
Ulrich, R. S: View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery. Type: Peer-reviewed study foundational to later theses. Institution: Texas A&M University. Year: 1984
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.6143402
This research underpins many later master’s and doctoral theses on healing environments. It demonstrated that patients with views of trees recovered faster and required less pain medication than those without.
Frontiers in Public Health – Design Framework. Authors: Multiple (international research team). Integrating Healing Gardens into General Hospitals: A Design Methodology: 2023
This article draws heavily on postgraduate research and proposes a structured methodology used in contemporary hospital design and landscape architecture theses.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1288586/full
Therapeutic Hospital Gardens – Literature Review. Author: Various academic contributors. Type: Systematic literature review often used as a thesis foundation
This review collates findings from numerous master’s and doctoral theses and defines “therapeutic hospital gardens” as a recognised research field.