Discover New Zealand Gardens on Your Kiwi Vacation

New Zealand is lovely for so many reasons, but we just can’t say enough about those New Zealand gardens. They are serious here about gardens. The Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture maintains a database of New Zealand gardens all over the country. They also manage a registration system whereby local gardners can register and, if they pass the inspection every five years, get listed with the Institute. If someone’s garden is nice enough, they become a Garden of Significance and have photos of their garden posted on the Institute’s website. This benefits locals and tourists, and everyone gets to experience lovely gardens everywhere.

Hamilton Gardens

Hamilton Gardens, in Hamilton New Zealand, is one of the best New Zealand gardens we know of. The city of Hamilton is small, but Hamilton Gardens is top notch. The location used to be a sand mine, and it covers 143 acres. It’s actually a public garden and it’s included on a garden tour of New Zealand often enjoyed by international tourists.

The garden is set up like a trip around the world, with samples of iternational gardens scattered like islands throughout the 143 acres. Of course there’s an English type garden, complete with a fountain and doves. Another country famous for its gardens is also represented in this New Zealand garden: Japan. The zen garden has raked sand. The Indian walled garden is spectacular. The walls around this section are clean white with arches reminiscient of the Taj Mahal. There are beds of zinnias, roses, sweet williams and tons more. The United State garden has a mosaic of Marilyn Monroe for something completely different.