Dunedin Botanic Garden

Dunedin, New Zealand, New Zealand

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Dunedin Botanic Garden is New Zealand's oldest botanic garden and a six-star Garden of International Significance, located at the northern end of central Dunedin in the South Island on a spur of Signal Hill at the corner of Great King Street and Opoho Road, just over two kilometres from the Octagon. Established in 1863, the garden spans 28 to 33 hectares and is home to over 6,800 plant species, resplendent with native bellbirds, wood pigeons, and Tui, offering hill views from sunny lawns and a peaceful atmosphere with native birdsong. The garden is divided into two parts—the lower gardens at 25 metres altitude featuring formal, almost level areas with herbaceous borders, a rose garden, camellia collection, herb garden, and the beautifully planted Lister Garden, and the upper gardens rising up the hill-spur to 85 metres with a more informal character, pockets of regenerating bush, an extensive rhododendron collection containing about 3,500 specimens, and a woodland garden with large groups of Meconopsis, Primula, Astilbe, Hosta, and Iris. The lower gardens feature the unique Edwardian Winter Garden glasshouse containing tropical plants, cacti, and succulents overlooking the serene Japanese Garden complete with a bamboo grove, plus formal rose and camellia gardens bordered by one of the largest rock gardens in the world that climbs the hillside in terraces, while spring sees the upper reaches bloom with thousands of daffodils and a substantial forest of mature rhododendrons, making it a perfect picnic destination with views over the city.