Suggested itineraries - North Island
the far north and bay of islands
Two days through Northland's gardens: Doubtless Bay and the Bay of Islands on day one, then south through Pakaraka to Whangārei.
Day One - the Far North.9.30am. Butler Point, 31 Marchant Road, Hihi. The 1840s whaler's homestead and cottage garden, right on the water at Doubtless Bay. Allow 2 hours. Book ahead.
12.00pm. Lunch at Mangonui, 10 minutes round the harbour.
2.00pm. Silkwood Lodge, 27 Silkwood Lane, Kerikeri. 50 minutes south. A Balinese influenced garden, and a gentle way to finish the day.
Stay the night: Kerikeri, or Paihia if you would rather wake up by the water.
Day Two - Pakaraka to Whangārei.9.30am. Ngahuha, 121 Smith Road, Pakaraka. 25 minutes south of Kerikeri. 15 acres of lakes, lotus ponds and stonewalling. By arrangement.
12.30pm. Lunch at the Quail Café, inside the Whangarei Quarry Gardens. An hour down SH1, so you will arrive ready for it.
1.30pm. Whangarei Quarry Gardens, 37A Russell Road, Kensington. A worked out quarry turned into a subtropical garden by volunteers.
Stay the night: Whangārei or carry on to Auckland which is 2 and a half hours south.
AUCKLAND
Four days through Auckland's gardens from a single city base: Tāwharanui and the rural north, the central city, Epsom and Mt Eden, then south-east through Whitford and Flat Bush to Manurewa.
Day One — north of the city.9.30am. Ōmāio, 14 Kereru Lane, Tāwharanui which is an hour and a quarter north of the city. A garden wrapped around the old family log cabin at the water's edge.
12.00pm. Lunch at Matakana, 25 minutes back down the peninsula.
1.30pm. Kaipara Coast Sculpture Gardens, 1481 Kaipara Coast Highway, Kaukapakapa which is 40 minutes across country via Warkworth. A sculpture trail and plant centre.
4.00pm. Mincher, 338 Coatesville Riverhead Highway which is 25 minutes on. By appointment.
Stay the night: Auckland, half an hour back into the city.
Day Two — the central city.9.30am. The Urban Jungle, Freemans Bay. 427 square metres of layered subtropical rainforest, 10 minutes' walk from the CBD. Guided visits by appointment, address given on booking.
12.00pm. Auckland Domain Wintergardens, Wintergarden Road, Parnell which is 10 minutes across town. Lunch at the Wintergarden café beside the duck pond, then the glasshouses and fernery.
2.30pm. Highwic, 40 Gillies Avenue, Newmarket. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Stay the night: Auckland.
Day Three — Epsom and Mt Eden.9.30am. Eden Garden, 24 Omana Avenue, Epsom. 60 years of volunteer work in a former quarry on the slopes of Mt Eden. Closed Mondays and Fridays.
12.00pm. Lunch in Mt Eden village, 5 minutes away.
1.15pm. Pōhutukawa House, 29c Kingsview Road, Mt Eden. A small city garden of rare bromeliads, orchids and begonias. Guided visits by appointment.
3.30pm. Cornwall Park, Green Lane West, Epsom. Open daily until 6pm.
Stay the night: Auckland. Government House Garden at 14 Glenfell Place, Epsom sits 5 minutes from Eden Garden and slots into this day when its open days fall right.
Day Four — south-east to Manurewa.9.30am. Ayrlies, 125 Potts Road, Whitford which is 35 minutes from the city. Sweeping lawns, ponds and wetland. Weekdays only.
12.00pm. Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple, 16 Stancombe Road, Flat Bush which is 15 minutes on. Lunch at the temple's vegetarian café, then the grounds. Long trousers or skirts are required.
3.00pm. Auckland Botanic Gardens, 102 Hill Road, Manurewa which is 20 minutes south.
Stay the night: Auckland, or head off from here. The airport is 15 minutes away and SH1 runs straight down to the Waikato.
waikato
Four days through the Waikato's gardens: the Thames Coast, Gordonton and Hamilton, then south down SH1 to Taupō and Mount Tauhara.
Day one: the Thames Coast to Gordonton9.30am. Rapaura Watergardens, 586 Tapu-Coroglen Road, Thames Coast. 64 acres of native bush, lily ponds and a waterfall walk.
12.00pm. Lunch at Rapaura's own café, in the gardens.
2.30pm. Woodlands, 42 Whitikahu Road, Gordonton which is an hour and 20 minutes south via Thames. An 1875 neo-Gothic kauri homestead in 15 acres of Victorian gardens. Weekdays only.
Stay the night: Hamilton, 20 minutes on.
Day two: Hamilton and the plains10.00am. The Sculpture Park at Waitakaruru Arboretum, 207 Scotsman Valley Road, Tauwhare. A greywacke quarry turned into a 17.5 hectare arboretum. Closed Mondays. There is a café on site.
1.00pm. TreeChurch, 119 West Road, Ōhaupō which is 50 minutes south-west via Hamilton. A living church grown from trees. Open days are limited, so check before you set out.
Stay the night: Hamilton or Cambridge.
Day three: south to Taupō11.15am. Lava Glass, 165 SH5, Wairakei which is an hour and a half down SH1 from Cambridge. Lunch at the café, then 600 glass sculptures set through the garden.
1.45pm. Ora Garden of Wellbeing, Taupō Museum, 4 Story Place which is 10 minutes into town. The New Zealand garden that took gold at Chelsea in 2004, rebuilt here.
3.00pm. South Domain, on the lakefront beside the museum. Native trees, sculpture and the rose garden.
Stay the night: Taupō.
Day four: Mount Tauhara9.30am. Tauhara, 94 Mountain Road, Taupō. A country garden at the foot of the mountain. Open October to March by appointment.
Away by midday. SH5 runs over the hill to Napier in an hour and 20 minutes.
BAY OF PLENTY
One day across the Bay of Plenty's two Trust gardens: the 1830s mission garden in central Tauranga, then east to Te Puke.
Day One 11.00am. The Elms Te Papa Tauranga, 15 Mission Street, Tauranga. One of the oldest European gardens south of the Bay of Islands, planted by the Church Missionary Society from 1834. Open daily 11am to 3pm. Robbins Park, with its rose garden and glasshouse, is a 2 minute walk away.
1.00pm. Lunch in Tauranga or out at Papamoa on the way through.
2.30pm. Shalendy, 699A Rangiuru Road, Te Puke which is 40 minutes east. Made from a bare paddock in 1990 and planted to look good all year. By appointment.
Stay the night: Tauranga.
taranaki
Four days around the maunga, starting with the city gardens and the rainforest rhododendrons at Pukeiti, then inland to the Forgotten World Highway and south along the coast to Hāwera.
Day one: New Plymouth9.30am. Pukekura Park & Brooklands, 10 Fillis Street, New Plymouth. Lakes, the fernery and a large exotic tree collection, developed continuously since 1876.
12.00pm. Lunch in the city, a few minutes away.
1.30pm. Te Kāinga Mārire, 15 Spencer Place, Merrilands. A town garden made entirely of New Zealand natives, with a glow worm tunnel.
3.30pm. Tūpare, 487 Mangorei Road which is 10 minutes on. A Chapman Taylor Arts and Crafts house with gardens falling to the Waiwhakaiho River. Open daily, free entry.
Stay the night: New Plymouth.
Day two: west and north9.30am. Pukeiti, 2290 Carrington Road which is 45 minutes west of New Plymouth. A world class rhododendron collection in 360 hectares of rainforest. Open daily, free entry.
12.30pm. Lunch at Ōakura which is 30 minutes back towards the coast.
2.30pm. Waiongana Gardens, 74 Kairau Road West, Waitara which is 35 minutes north east. A sunken garden, rose garden, redwoods and a river walk, with peonies in late spring.
Stay the night: New Plymouth.
Day three: inland, then south10.00am. Cairnhill, 1054 East Road, Stratford which is an hour east of New Plymouth on the Forgotten World Highway. Rhododendrons, hostas, irises and peonies, all on one level. Open October to April, 9am to 5pm. Café on site. Signposted opposite Toko Primary School.
12.30pm. Lunch at Stratford which is 15 minutes back down SH43.
2.00pm. Hollard Gardens, 1686 Upper Manaia Road, Kaponga which is 30 minutes south west. The Old Garden from 1927, the New Garden from 1981 and Bernie's Home Garden. Open daily, free entry.
4.30pm. King Edward Park, Camberwell Road, Hāwera which is 20 minutes south east. Laid out from 1902 around two grassed avenues, with the rose garden and duck pond.
Stay the night: Hāwera.
Day four: the south coast9.30am. Oakley Garden, 79 Lower Normanby Road, Hāwera. Garden rooms linked by hedged paths, with brick walls and pillars, cottage borders and a vegetable potager. By appointment, and open daily during the festival.
11.45am. Openlands, 1064 Auroa Road, Auroa which is 20 minutes north west. A country garden around the farm homestead, with a 1910 Methodist church relocated onto the site.
2.00pm. Lunch at Manaia which is 15 minutes on.
3.00pm. Sanderson Garden, 1961 State Highway 45, Otakeho which is 10 minutes west. Sculpture, mixed shrubs and roses through the whole garden.
Stay the night: Hāwera, or carry on to Whanganui which is an hour and 20 minutes south.
Manawatū-Whanganui
A long region, running from Taumarunui in the north down through Whanganui and Palmerston North and up into the Rangitīkei high country.
Day one: Taumarunui9.30am. The Omaka Gardens, 11 Omaka Road, RD1, Taumarunui, 7km out along the Forgotten World Highway. 5 stars. The Champagne Lawn, the Water Garden, the Dell, the Woodland and the Secret Garden, with a rare fern-leaved beech and a 75 year old kalmia. By appointment only. Accommodation on site, and dog friendly.
12.00pm. Lunch in Taumarunui.
1.30pm. Bradley's Garden, 26 Totaranui Drive, Taumarunui. 5 stars. Five acres of rooms linked by stone pathways, with a hydrangea walkway, a grape-covered pergola of riverstone and a limestone tunnel flanked by two 200 year old tōtara. Café on site, and dog friendly.
Stay the night: Bradley’s Garden, The Omaka Gardens or in Taumarunui.
Day two: south to Whanganui12.30pm. Bason Botanic Gardens, Rapanui Road, Whanganui, 4.8km along Rapanui Road. 4 stars. Conservatories built from recycled theatre bricks holding tropicals, begonias and cool climate orchids, a Phoenix palm avenue to the Homestead Garden, and the Mediterranean garden of aeoniums, aloes and echiums. Free. Café on site. Lunch here.
3.00pm. Paloma Gardens, Pohutukawa Lane, Fordell. 5 stars. Exotic planting on a scale found nowhere else in the country. Guided tours available, and Moto 71, a collection of 45 classic motorbikes, is open alongside.
Stay the night: Paloma Gardens or back to Whanganui.
Day three: Palmerston North9.30am. Hlomo Hlomo, 85 Ngahere Park Road, RD2, Palmerston North. 5 stars. Reflecting pools in shades of red, boardwalks through 20 year old native bush, the Terraces with layered hedging, a potager and a labyrinth. The drive is shared with number 83.
12.30pm. Lunch in Palmerston North.
2.00pm. Victoria Esplanade Gardens, 80 Park Road, Palmerston North. 5 stars. Begun in 1897, with registered trees, the Peter Black conservatory and its orchid collection, and a lathe house alongside. Open 7.30am to 9pm October to March and 7.30am to 6pm April to November. Free. Café on site.
Stay the night: Palmerston North.
Day four: into the Rangitīkei10.00am. Heritage Park Garden, 34 Haggerty Street, Kimbolton. A Plant Collection rather than a star-rated garden. 4.5 hectares of specimen rhododendrons, trees, kōwhai and perennials, including the former New Zealand Rhododendron Association beds and the Maddenia collection on the terrace.
12.30pm. Lunch at Kimbolton or Taihape on the way north.
2.30pm. Ngata, 1380 Moawhango Valley Road, Taihape, 20 minutes east of the town up an oak-lined avenue. 4 stars. An Alfred Buxton country garden of 1936, with oak, linden, liriodendron, beech, elm, cedar and a Parrotia persica, two perennial borders and views over the Hiwera Valley to the Ruahine Ranges.
Stay the night: Taihape or return to Palmerston North
wellington and wairarapa
Four days starting in the capital, out through the Hutt Valley and up the Kāpiti Coast, then over the hill to the Wairarapa for Masterton and the southern valleys.
Day one: Wellington City 9.30am. Ōtari-Wilton's Bush Native Botanic Garden, 160 Wilton Road, Wilton. 6 stars, and the country's only public botanic garden given over entirely to native plants. Over 1,100 native species across 5 hectares, with 100 hectares of ancient and regenerating forest alongside, the national harakeke collection and the Threatened Species Garden. Open every day, entry free. Toilets, parking, picnic areas, dog friendly.
12.00pm. Wellington Botanic Garden ki Paekākā, 101 Glenmore Street, Kelburn which is 10 minutes south. 5 stars. The Lady Norwood Rose Garden with over 300 varieties, the Begonia House, and the conifers planted from 1868. Lunch at the café. Open dawn to dusk, entry free. The cable car from Lambton Quay is an alternative to driving.
3.00pm. Government House Garden, 1 Rugby Street, Newtown. 5 stars. 12 hectares running from Mount Victoria to the Newtown flats, with formal lawns, award-winning perennial and native borders, rose gardens and trees planted by visiting royals. Tours are free but must be booked ahead and are capped at 15 places, so ensure you arrange this well in advance.
Stay the night: Wellington.
Day two: Lyall Bay, Kāpiti and the Hutt9.30am. The Haven, 210 Sutherland Road, Lyall Bay. 4 stars. A small, intensively planted garden behind a 1964 modernist courtyard house, with a tiled courtyard, a blue pergola walk of climbers and roses, and a strong salvia collection. No lawn anywhere. $20 per person, Sundays 11 to 3 in January, February and March only.
12.00pm. Anam Cara, 150 Rangiuru Road, Ōtaki which is an hour north. 4 stars. 10 acres of botanic garden and arboretum in nine rooms, with a giant pūriri and groves of rimu and tōtara. $20, or $15 unwaged. Monday to Friday by appointment with 48 hours' notice. Morning and afternoon teas with the same notice, so arrange lunch when you book.
3.30pm. Woodcote, 296 Whitemans Valley Road, Upper Hutt which is an hour south-east. 4 stars. Formal hedges, roses, rhododendrons and hydrangeas now being woven through with natives and edibles, on the Mangaroa Farms regenerative landscape. Open days only, so check ahead. Café on site.
Stay the night: Woodcote or Upper Hutt.
Day three: Silverstream, then over the hill9.30am. Gillies Garden, 6 Tiniroa Grove, Silverstream, Upper Hutt. 5 stars. Three quarters of an acre around a Chapman-Taylor cottage, arranged as small rooms linked by clipped hedging: a bush garden, water garden, topiary garden, courtyard, herb garden, parterre vegetable garden and rose garden, with native bush behind. $25, or $30 including the owners' tour of fifty years of New Zealand contemporary art inside the house, which needs a group of at least five. By appointment.
12.30pm. Lunch in Greytown
2.00pm. Red Sheds, 21 Morris Road, Masterton. 5 stars. Pin oaks, pleached Pyrus hedges, beech and bay hedging, and a ha-ha opening out to the Wairarapa countryside. $20 per person, by appointment.
4.00pm. Stablehouse Garden, 39 Morris Road, next door. 5 stars. Lyn Eglinton's one hectare design, with pleached lime allées, cloud-pruned junipers, a parterre and a bay topiary room. $20 per person, by appointment.
Stay the night: Stablehouse or Masterton
Day four: South along the valley9.30am. Longbush Cottage, 1023 Longbush Road, RD4 Masterton. 4 stars. Garden rooms radiating from an 1890s cottage, the rose-filled White Garden, peonies, irises and a large mere. $15 per person. Self-guided visit takes about an hour. Open daily 10 to 4 by appointment, mid-September to May.
11.00am. Fernside, 1407 State Highway 2, between Featherston and Greytown. 5 stars. The 1860s Elgar estate, with a man-made lake fed by the Longwood Water Race, a Lutyens style rill and sound shell, a Victorian sunken garden, oaks from 1870 and native beech up to 300 years old. Guided walk at 11am, weekdays only, $42 per person. Picnics welcome afterwards, which handles lunch.
1.30pm. Ambervilla, 10 Oates Place, Greytown. 4 stars. One acre of straight lines and strong planes, with an international sculpture collection through a series of rooms. $20 per person, by appointment.
3.30pm. Whakapuni Station Garden, 2409 White Rock Road, Tuturumuri, 26km south of Martinborough. 3 stars. A 1931 homestead garden on a working sheep and beef farm, with 1930s California redwoods at the entrance, formal borders of roses, hydrangeas, delphiniums and peonies, and a ha-ha out to a wetland pond. $20, or $35 with high tea and $50 with lunch, by appointment.
Stay the night: Martinborough.