Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Christchurch, New Zealand, New Zealand

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Christchurch Botanic Gardens is one of New Zealand's finest and best-established gardens, located in the heart of central Christchurch within a large hook of the Avon River / Ōtākaro, surrounded on three sides by Hagley Park, and covering 21 hectares (52 acres) of elegantly cultivated parkland. Founded in 1863 with the planting of an English oak tree to commemorate the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra, the gardens have grown from small beginnings into a much-loved destination showcasing one of the finest collections of exotic and indigenous plants in New Zealand, with some substantial exotic trees among the oldest exotics in New Zealand including various conifers and an extraordinary twisted eucalyptus tree. The gardens feature over 10 different gardens framed by mature trees and expansive lawns, including the Central Rose Garden with hybrid tea roses at their best in December, the Heritage Rose Garden with old roses best in early December, the Azalea and Magnolia Garden with magnolias flowering from August to October, the well-tended century-old trees, rhododendron and shrub borders, the longest herbaceous border in a public garden in the Southern Hemisphere created in the 1920s, a New Zealand Garden providing an introduction to native species including the iconic silver fern, the Water Garden with a backdrop of mature trees and shrubs, the Temperate Asian Collection, and the Primula Garden where primulas and other plants from Asia are displayed naturally.