The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

I am planting up my 10 acres in north Canterbury. Its the flats just inland of Burnt Hill. Its just north of the Waimakariri River, and fairly inland. Not plains per se, but not foothills. Its wind exposed, and very rocky soil, old river bed - so stony. I have planted some c propinqua, robusta and virescens - all in small groups so far. very droughty and dry, cops the norwest winds, well, all the winds really. what do you suggest? I want to keep to local species.

Hi Glenda,
A challenging site. This reads like you're revegetating 10 acres? In which case a shelter belt (or belts) of kanuka (Kunzea serotina, making sure it's sourced from a dry plains site) would be very beneficial to your project.
To answer your question, you could also try C. crassifolia and C. dumosa (syn. C. 'Tayloriae') both of which sometimes grow on dry sites in the outer foothills. Don't be surprised if your robusta fail.
It would be great if you could source plants of Olearia adenocarpa and Pomaderris amoena although the latter might be secondary as you are on it's southern limit.
Some of the roads around Burnt Hill still have remnants of plains vegetation and on the Christchurch side of Burnt Hill there's the Eyrewell Scientific Reserve. It's a bit of a mess, partially irrigated, periodically used as for holding pigs and the adjoining farmer was uitilising the road reserve along the front, still it's worth a look.
The best local contact is probably Jason Butt who

...has an intimate knowledge of the native vegetation in that area. Jason recently shifted from WaiOra to ECAN so I think jason.butt@ecan.govt.nz will work.

Hi Glenda,
there is plenty of kunuka along fence lines around Eyrewell that you could use as a seed source. You will also find the pomaderrisgerminates from seed really well out there if you find some along the fences as well. Have you thought of putting in some ground cover as well. Prickly mingimingi (Leptecophylla juniperina) is a great understory for the Kanuka and the berries can be red or white, this is also on fince lines in your area although the seeds take three years to germinate. Wai Ora or the DoC nursery at Makaraka are the best places if you want seedlings.