- Every autumn, street gutters get clogged with the leaves from the street-side planted trees from the UK or other Northern Hemisphere countries.

- Our native birds have few, if any, places to feed within our urban areas.

- Rotorua, during this last week of stormy weather, has lost two "heritage" trees, one killing a resident when it came down. An arborist had warned the District Council about the dangers the town's "heritage" trees posed. The fatally fallen tree was so rotten inside a man could have stood inside the trunk's space. All the "heritage" trees are in such a state that they have "supporting" braces of wire or planks.

Our native trees are evergreen, which means they drop their leaves - mostly tiny 1 cm long and very narrow - all year round, and are so small they are easily swept into storm drains without clogging them.

Why, oh why, do our councils insist on planting oaks, maples etc., rather than Kowhai, Puriri and other natives?

I am wondering - how many (if any) towns or cities have planted their roadsides with natives?