Dye Journal Notes - Pūriri Flowers, New Zealand
GISBORNE, NZ, 29/7/2024
In the forest I often look at the floor. There, among browned leaves and kicked up dirt, you find signs of other things fallen from above - berries, flowers, seeds. Today, walking in what felt like ancient forest I saw beautiful pink flowers scattered on the forest floor. Gazing up, they grew in the branches among the leaves of what I learned was the Pūriri tree.
We were in Grey’s Bush Reserve, Theo and I, and we passed by a sign that explained how rare it was for the Pūriri and Kahikatea to grow together because they require different soil conditions, but here in this small reserve they grew almost entwined, hugging one another. Friends that don’t often meet. Seriously, the forest felt so ancient and it made me sad, in fact. No other part of Gisborne looked like this. It’s mostly fields and rolling hills, ancient vegetation like this missing, or where there was vegetation it was planted pines for timber. This forest felt old and reminded me what this land looked like before Europeans - when and before James Cook first arrived. These plants pushed away only to be sequestered here, and only if they are taken care of and invasives actively managed. The trees were oh so tall and the birds were louder than the rushing traffic just a couple hundred meters away.
On our last loop Theo said he prefers just standing instead of walking. As I quietly picked flowers from the forest floor he stood, hands in his pocket, looking up into the branches, watching the trees sway in the wind. Our quietness made us feel small. This forest was larger than us, stronger than us, likely kinder than us, if a forest can be kind.
Getting home I soaked the flowers in water and heated. I added some alum mordanted yarn, but to my slight dismay it seems that I may have tainted my pot when I soaked rusted nails for an iron mordant. The color felt saddened, a blue-gray-green, with green being most prominent. I added another skein with a deep iron mordant and this was a darker version of the color. I may never know what color the Pūriri flowers would have given on their own, or perhaps this green is their true color!
