This month the city will celebrate the 140th anniversary of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

Civic tree planting around Christchurch began on 9 July 1863, including an oak in the Botanic Gardens. The oak, a Quercus robur, was planted to commemorate the marriage of Queen Victoria's eldest son Prince Albert Edward to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. This planting is generally regarded as the foundation of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

A hundred and forty years later, an afternoon tea is being held for former staff and Friends of the Gardens to celebrate one of the finest collections of exotic and indigenous plants to be found anywhere in New Zealand. Descendants of Enoch Barker, the first Government Gardener, have been asked to plant a commemorative tree that is a progeny of the original Albert Edward Oak planted on the Gardens site that day.

Today, the grounds of the Botanic Gardens cover an area of around 30ha (74 acres), mostly within a loop of the Avon River. There are numerous large majestic trees, many of which are more than 120 years old and form an interesting background to the various plant collections in the Gardens.

In the same year as the Botanic Gardens was begun, many other significant firsts were happening around Christchurch. 1863 saw the beginning of the country's temperance movement, with the formation of the Total Abstinence Society. The city's first murder trial was held, and Sunnyside Hospital was established. It was the year of the inaugural A&P Show, and Christchurch's first real theatre - the Royal Princess - opened. So did the Aulsebrooks biscuit factory.

Residents could hail a horse-drawn cab from the city's first cab stand, travel on the country's first public steam railway, from Ferrymead to Moorhouse Ave, and on the first Cobb & Co coach to Timaru.