The Dunedin Botanic Garden has a few patches of native Gunnera; this is a groundcover plant and couldn’t be more different from the exotic species ~huge plants with enormous stems and leaves! Our native Gunnera prorepens has beautiful spikes of red berries in autumn, I took these photos on 29 April 2021. New Zealand.
More information: a 2016 article from the ODT, Romping away with moisture.
Here the Gunnera prorepens complements the Veronica sp. (Hebe) perfectly.
Next photo gives you a closer look at the berries. Two spikes are reasonably in focus. Click on the photo to enlarge – you may need to click twice to fully enlarge.
For comparison here’s the leaf and stem of an exotic Gunnera.
I took the photo at Maple Glen Garden in Southland on 04 April.
Text and photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2021)
Exploring Colour 
The hebe and gunnera combination looks great – such sculptural shapes. It’s extraordinary to see how different the two gunneras are.
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When I first saw the native Gunnera it was hard to believe it’s in the same genus as the big Gunnera! 😀
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I can see why!
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It’s funny, on our end, to hear you speak of April as Autumn. 🙂 Those berries are richly red and would make some nice holiday decorations.
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It’s funny how perfectly opposite we are. Just in the last few days a NZ person posted the first daffodil they’d seen this year, someone in the northern hemisphere posted the first signs of autumn.
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That’s a lovely bold red for autumn. I love the combo in your first two images.
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I love that combo too, the Botanic Garden people have chosen very well!
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