Mainstreet staff Graham Ellet and Julie Heathcote install a garden of native plants in Wanganui's Majestic Square to celebrate Puanga/Matariki, the Maori new year.
This year's theme is mahi raranga (weaving) and most of the plants can be used for weaving or dyeing. In earlier times Maori used the plants to make clothes, mats, bags and nets.
Included are harakeke (flax), ti kouka (cabbage tree), kareao (supplejack) and the native sand binding plant pingao. Many were donated by the CIE nursery at Whanganui Prison. The plants will be given away around midday on July 18, when the garden is removed.