First Day of Spring - Tui and native flowers

The traditional first day of spring is cool, calm and sunny. We've had many winter days with settled weather, so it's been easy to get out and about. There have been signs of spring everywhere. The noisiest are the tui, usually solitary birds, they're gathering together, chasing, swooping and flying around the bay from tree to tree.

Five Tui silhouetted in a tree

Winter Flowers in the Bush

In the last week our native clematis has been starting to make itself seen. Patches of frothy white blooms are appearing on the bush canopy. They'll grace the canopy for a few months before the flowers die and turn into fluffy seed heads and the leaves merge back into the green canopy.

Department of Conservation have published a resource about clematis in the Wellington region that can help you tell one native clematis from another.

Clematis paniculata