Lady Anne Berry - Hackfalls Arboretum

Hackfalls Arboretum

Hackfalls Arboretum, Tiniroto, Gisborne, New Zealand, was the creation of Bob Berry, who started planting trees at his station in the 1950s, and created interesting collections of poplars, maples, oaks etc. Bob became a member of the IDS in 1977 and in October 1982 joined a tour to Mexico, which was the beginning of a particular interest in Central American Oaks (Quercus), which would later form the most important part of the collection of Hackfalls Arboretum. In later years other trips to Mexico followed to collect acorns.

When Anne came to live at Hackfalls Station in 1990 the management of the farm had already been taken over by Diane and Kevin Playle (Diane is a daughter of Bob Berry's sister Pet), the name being changed from Abbotsford Station to Hackfalls Station. Hackfalls Station had been the name of the original property of the Berry family at Tiniroto, when they first came to live there at the beginning of the 20th century. The collection of the arboretum at 1990 contained about 3,000 taxa. The number of different species of trees, shrubs and climbers has been enlarged since then. Anne extended the homestead garden at Hackfalls and introduced many new plantings.

In 1993 the arboretum was protected by a covenant with the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust.

Since 2006 Diane Playle takes care of the arboretum and the homestead garden. The collection at the arboretum in 2008 held 3,500 different taxa.