Residents are outraged at council plans to spray a dune area covered in flowers and replace them with native grasses as part of a restoration project.
Oceanbeach Rd resident Marcia Sayers learned about the Tauranga City Council's plan to spray the growth along the sand dunes between Girven Rd and Omanu Way and replace it with dune plants while talking to her neighbour, who was picking some of the flowers for her house.
"All the freesias have been out," she said. "I don't understand why they are doing it because there's flowers and grass and it looks really pretty. They say we've got to save the sand dunes but these are established plants. Kids go down and play in it because it looks like a little fairy land."
The council carried out a large amount of spraying last year but did not quite reach the area outside Ms Sayers' home.
"We had pheasants nesting and it killed them," she said. "They've already killed the pheasants and there are little silver eyes that fly around here. Why spray it and kill the birds?