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A Bug's Life
Heather Loughlin has transformed part of her urban garden into a native paradise for bugs and birds — from rotting logs and leaves to safe insect ‘hotels’, it’s an environment that sees them thrive.
Heather Loughlin’s small city garden in Matua is an ever-changing seasonal woodland. Deciduous trees bring drama and colour with the changing seasons. Curling white bark of jacquemontii birch trees is stunning by day, and glows in the moonlight at night. The canopy these trees provide creates a microclimate for many mass-planted shade-loving plants below.
Known as Amberwood, Heather’s garden was named after her grandfather’s home in England.
“My garden tells a story reflecting my English background that intertwines with my New Zealand home.” she says.
But Heather’s garden doesn’t just provide her solace — the site has become an intentional habitat
for bugs. It’s Heather’s way of recognising the vital role insects have to play in our biodiversity.
“It was only around three years ago when entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste [better known as
‘The Bugman’] visited my garden and upon spying my one forlorn wētā motel, asked me if
I had ever had a wētā in it. I replied that I never did. One quick look around the garden and
he said that he wasn’t surprised as there was nothing for them to eat!” says Heather.
Heather learnt from Ruud that bugs, and in particular wētā, love living
in a messy habitat, and need
specific native trees and shrubs for food. With his guidance, she was inspired to undertake a major overhaul of a significant section
of her garden, starting with an
existing pond area that already had three large nikau palms and tree
ferns — the perfect bones to create
a native habitat for wētā.
Heather removed all non-natives
from the area and replanted it
with houhere (hoheria), māhoe (melicytus ramiflorus), horopito (pseudowintera ‘red leopard’), coprosma and more. The bushy habitat was finished off with large mossy and rotten logs, leaf litter
and additional wētā motels. Rodent traps were introduced and the base
of gates have been blocked to deter hedgehogs. “The rotten logs, Ruud tells me, are ‘plankton of the forest’ and certainly now home to hundreds of insects — all busy cleaning up debris, composting and aerating the soil. What’s not to love about that?” says Heather.
What started as a thoughtfully designed urban woodland garden now incorporates a successful habitat to encourage bugs and biodiversity. This cool, sheltered and safe native bush area invites
a variety of bugs to dwell, and cleverly blends into the more classically “English” woodland areas.
The existing canopy of deciduous trees provides dappled shade and their fallen leaves provide natural compost, which Heather allows to lie around the garden for the bugs to enjoy. There are
also watering holes for thirsty bugs in the summer.
Heather’s efforts have meant that wētā now have homes (this protects them from predators
— many species are endangered), which serves to attract many other insects… The leopard slug
is a frequent visitor, who joins an army of worms in the naturally composted soil. Dragonflies helicopter over the pond, where you might also spot a frog or two. Bagworm moths take up residence under the house eaves. Leaf-cutter bees are provided houses, along with a bumblebee hive — both fantastic pollinators. An insect “apartment block” made out of an old pallet caters for many smaller insects, like slaters, earwigs, centipedes and spiders — all food for other insects and birds.
A large swan plant area attracts monarch butterflies, ladybirds, aphids and praying mantises.
“Here, everything eats everything, but it is in balance as it should be. I leave them to get on
with it!” says Heather. Even the much maligned cockroach (Heather likes to use the fond
nickname ‘wood beetle’) is part of the mix, having an important role in breaking down dead
matter and returning it to the earth.
Heather aspires to attract stick insects and is always happy to re-home more wētā into her
garden. She has appealed to local bug enthusiasts and gardeners to keep an eye out for them
and is very happy to accept them as gifts for her garden.
Creating a beautiful home for bugs has meant that the garden’s birdlife has benefitted too.
The trees attract many garden birds, and Heather entices tūī and wax-eyes with a sugar water concoction. She also feeds the birds from a ‘bird table’ that’s laden with old fruit. “Wild ducks fly
in for breakfast every morning in spring and summer, much to the amusement of the neighbours!” says Heather.
Heather’s garden has always been ‘open’ to visitors and groups — something that happens by
word of mouth, in addition to her regular spot on the Bay of Plenty Garden & Art Festival trail.
“It is my hope that a visit to my garden is an enjoyable and educational experience on many
different levels. I love seeing people with the happy smiles that the garden gives to them.”
Amberwood is in Matua, Tauranga and is open by arrangement. Cost: $5 per person (or BYO wētā!). Contact: Heather on 07 576 2288 or 027 444 7096.
First published in issue 34 (June/July 2021) of Our Place magazine.
