What is the oldest tree in Christchurch?
Christchurch's oldest tree with a documented planting date is the Albert Edward Oak in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, put into the ground on 9 July 1863 to mark the royal wedding of the future King Edward VII. It stands close to the Avon River, south west of the Archery Lawn, and is roughly 163 years old.
The Albert Edward Oak is Christchurch's oldest documented tree, planted on 9 July 1863 in what was then the Government Domain, to mark the marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. It was the first tree planted in the grounds that became the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, and every other tree in the gardens came after it. A second oak went into the ground the same day at Ferry Road and East Belt, planted by four prominent colonial wives; that one has since been lost, leaving this the survivor of the pair. Nobody has published its exact girth or a precise modern coordinate, so the pin marks the likeliest candidate near the Archery Lawn rather than a certainty, and a plaque at the site names the planting. Other contenders for oldest come close but fall short of a documented date: the Botanic Gardens' huge Alpine Ash is estimated at a century or more, and the Avon River poplars date only to the 1920s. All are free to visit.
One of Christchurch's trees also appears in The Oldest Tree in Every City We Map, a themed collection spanning several cities.