by Mike Lloyd Republished from The Local Arboretum: Noticeable trees and their stories The first blogpost on the monkey puzzle tree in New Zealand finished with a view of a good specimen in Queen M…

Dr Garritt (Chip) Van Dyk – University of Waikato      24 September 2026, 6.00-7.30 p.m. The Link Room @ Hamilton Gardens (suggested donation: $10 waged; $5 unwaged) From the seventeenth century, p…

by Mike Lloyd Republished from The Local Arboretum: Noticeable trees and their stories One of Wellington’s very few monkey puzzle trees. Source: Author, August 2026 Stories of trees falling in and …

by Clare Gleeson [This article is reproduced from Australian Garden History with the permission of the Australian Garden History Society.  The Society produces four journals a year which cover New …

Here are six examples of cenotaphs, obelisks, or similar World War One memorial structures that all have phoenix palms beside them: Source: Postcard of a war memorial, Akaroa. Ron Scarlett Collecti…

By Alice Lloyd-Fitt, Dunedin Botanic Garden The Dunedin Botanic Garden is dissected by the Lindsay Creek, dividing the garden into two distinct areas; the more formal, level Lower Garden and the st…

by Mike Lloyd Reposted from: The Local Arboretum: Noticeable trees and their stories Robert Percy Moore is regarded as New Zealand’s greatest panoramic photographer.1 Particularly during the 1920s,…

As part of Hamilton Book Month, we are hosting authors Rachel Clare and Tryphena Cracknell, who will provide a talk on their book “Aotearoa in Bloom: The History, Culture and Practical Uses o…

by Alice Lloyd-Fitt The New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition was a major World’s Fair held in Dunedin, New Zealand, from 17 November 1925 to 1 May 1926, a total of 24 weeks. It…

by Ian Duggan Despite the danger of rhubarb leaves being known for over one hundred years, their consumption remains one of the most highly reported causes of poisoning by plants in New Zealand. Ba…

by Ian Duggan Despite the danger of rhubarb leaves being known for over one hundred years, their consumption remains one of the most highly reported causes of poisoning by plants in New Zealand. Ba…

If you're walking around the streets today, you might not realise you are walking past trees planted in the 1800s.

If you're walking around the streets today, you might not realise you are walking past trees planted in the 1800s.

The curated plots of flowers, herbs and trees serve as windows into Shakespeare’s work and life

YouTube video by Garden History Research Foundation

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Hamilton Garden tells the story of how mastermind designer Peter Sergel transformed a town's rubbish dump into one of the great gardens of the world. It’s not so much a...

Clare Gleeson (author of The Fairer Side of Buxton: Alfred Buxton’s Gardens and the Women Who Loved Them, The Cuba Press) Alfred Buxton created gardens throughout much of New Zealand, as far south …

by Mike Lloyd Republished from ‘The Local Arboretum: Noticeable Trees and their Stories’ Source: ‘Wellington from the air, 1930‘, F. Douglas Mill Collection, Auckland Libraries Heritage…

by Mike Lloyd Republished from ‘The Local Arboretum: Noticeable Trees and their Stories’ Source: ‘Wellington from the air, 1930‘, F. Douglas Mill Collection, Auckland Libraries Heritage…

Riccarton House, 2019, with garden. Photo by Sgerbic. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. The Garden History Research Foundation invi…

Riccarton House, 2019, with garden. Photo by Sgerbic. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. The Garden History Research Foundation invi…

Daffodils that travelled with a missionary woman from England to South Taranaki 180 years ago, will soon bloom at Waitangi.

Dr Trevor Fitzjohn is the owner of Teepee Cider, a boutique, traditional method cider orchard and producer in the Wairarapa. A retired history-lover with a personal library of over 1,000 rare books, h...

Brought to you by Garden History Research Foundation: Event 1: The inaugural Marilyn Yeoman Memorial Talk, 2026: “The Medieval Cloister Garden: A Vision of Paradise” A talk by internati…

New Zealand has 2,200 native flowering plants and 85% of them grow nowhere else, including some spectacular displays that open just in time for the festive season.

By Ian Duggan Construction of the Wintergarden glasshouses in Auckland Domain was initiated during World War I. The Temperate (or Cool) House was erected first, between 1916 and 1921, for the year-…

by Ian Duggan, Te Aka Mātuatua – School of Science, The University of Waikato The mistletoe species most associated with Christmas globally is Viscum album – the so-called European mistletoe – whic…

by Ian Duggan, Te Aka Mātuatua – School of Science, The University of Waikato The mistletoe species most associated with Christmas globally is Viscum album – the so-called European mistletoe – whic…

Even gnomes aren't safe in this cruel, cruel world.

Even gnomes aren't safe in this cruel, cruel world.

by Peter Sergel The imaginary gardens described by Lewis Carrol include elements of old gardens, reflect the changing culture of the Enlightenment and, like all good art, they can perhaps challenge…

by Peter Sergel The imaginary gardens described by Lewis Carrol include elements of old gardens, reflect the changing culture of the Enlightenment and, like all good art, they can perhaps challenge…

By Lindsay Amner The sundial in Hamilton’s Garden Place has been an iconic fixture in the centre of the city since 1953.  Generations of children have played on it, various vandals have bashed…

Ian Duggan A number of newspaper reports were published in the early 20th Century on the figureheads of ships featuring as items of statuary in New Zealand gardens. In previous blogs we examined th…

An illustrated talk by Gail Pittaway 11 September, Chartwell Room, Hamilton Gardens, 7 pm. $5.00 entry fee (cash, please!) Imperial War Museums via Getty Images At the beginning of the Second World…

Pretty much the last place you'd think you'd find a rice paddy growing is on a hill in Nelson, but Yuki Fukada is doing just that.