Hamilton Gardens in 2018

The Hamilton Gardens in Hamilton, NZ, are remarkable. I visited for the first time in 2014, but they have expanded in the four years since then and the new gardens are just as innovative. There is a Tudor-inspired garden, Alice in Wonderland make an appearance and several new additions are based on directions in modern art.

In the Concept Garden: a nod to conceptual art

Pan plays his flute

Mad Haters tea party: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
Answer: "There is no answer."

Tudor garden - keeping the hedge clippers busy

An explanation of the mounds in the Maori garden tells us that Kumera (New Zealand sweet potato)  rot when too wet so they are planted in mounds and then stored in a dry place such as this food storage building.

Food storage house

Fence and Kumera garden

History of gardens

Glimpses through gaps, arches and other apertures make gardens special and in the Hamilton Gardens on the Waikato River there are many such glimpses.The gardens are large and there are wide expanses of lawn and old trees for walking and playing, but the parts that astonish are the culturally specific gardens leading off a central courtyard near the coffee shop.

These gardens are designed to exhibit and explain garden design from different cultures and through the centuries and for garden enthusiasts they are worth a trip to New Zealand to see.

From a central Romanesque courtyard with a fountain different pathways lead to a Maori garden, an Indian Garden, an English garden, an Italian renaissance garden, a modernist American garden, an Italian Renaissance garden, a Chinese scholars garden and a Japanese garden.

American modernist garden

Indian Mogul garden

Bamboo path

Italian Renaissance garden

Maori garden

Japanese garden

Then there is the herb garden, a huge season-tracking sundial ... and I am sure other delights which I didn't quite get to see.

I shall have to return.