New Zealand's glorious gardens

Hi friends and rellies:

NZ offers a dazzling array of public and private gardens that engage both the avid horticulturist (Stan) and the casual viewer (Lynne).

The Pukeiti Garden, near New Plymouth, known for its rhododendron collection, focuses on native plants. One of the gardeners, Craig, took us on a tour in an open van, pointing out endangered native Rimu trees, towering pines with long drooping leaves. The garden is trying to help restore these trees; planting 5000 Rimu there recently (www.pukeiti.org.nz).

 

Craig also showed us silver fern, NZ’s national symbol. The underside of the leaves really is silvery. The Maori used the luminescent leaves to mark paths at night.

At the Pukekura Gardens in New Plymouth, visitors can enjoy a stroll around the lakes, a boat ride, and views of a 20-meter high waterfall (www.pukekura.org.nz/). The golden tree below was part of a temporary sculpture exhibition.

Tikorangi, The Jury Garden, in Waitara is still run by the family of Thomas Jury who planted now huge pine and Rimu trees in 1880. Though the garden was closed the day we stopped by, Abbie Jury let us wander through the rainforest. Check out her informative blog at http://jury.co.nz/.

The Hamilton Gardens, in Hamilton, draws huge crowds with its 20 theme gardens. One of our favorites was the Indian Char Bagh garden, modeled on a 16th-17th century Mughal aristocrat’s garden, with four tapestry-like squares. The Maori, herb, and kitchen gardens produce native foods that are donated to local food banks (http://hamiltongardens.co.nz/).

The Auckland Botanical Garden offers a meandering paved path through a camellia garden, rose garden, African garden, rock garden and other themed areas. Although a young garden, opened only in 1982, it has a wide variety of landscaped and natural areas (http://www.aucklandbotanicgardens.co.nz/).

The Looking Glass Garden in Te Puke is the work of Gael & Cedric Blaymires, who started it more than 30 years ago. As it’s on a steep hillside, Stan toured this one on his own. Gael showed him storybook sections, involving not only Alice in Wonderland, but also fully furnished houses of each of the three pigs, areas related to other nursery tales, and quirky sculptures such as Stone Hinge (http://www.lookingglassgarden.co.nz/).

In Rotorua, the Kapiri public park contains numerous bubbling and steaming mud pools that fill the air with a sulfurous odor. While not a traditional garden, the spectral-looking park is a prime tourist attraction. Driving around town, one sees steam vents from mud pools in yards of ordinary homes, surely a nuisance. An entrepreneur has packaged Rotorua mud, and sells it as a skin treatment.

To find unusual gardens, we rely on a terrific guidebook, New Zealand Gardens of Significance, produced by the New Zealand Gardens Trust (http://www.gardens.org.nz/).

Kia ora,
Lynne and Stan







.