Half the fun of the Wellington Botanic Garden is getting there. We arrived into town late in the day, checked into our hotel, and headed to Lambton Quay. It’s the centre of Wellington and the location of the cable car entrance. At the top is the Wellington Botanic Garden.
There is something really special about the Wellington Botanic Garden that draws me here on each visit to New Zealand’s capital city. I think it’s the variety – from flowers to trees, from common to exotic, it seems to change rapidly. Or, maybe it’s simply that it goes downhill. We start at the top and follow the mosaic tile path down through the gardens to the city.
I present the Wellington Botanic Garden to you in photographs as we walked downhill:


Begonia House


Lady Norwood Rose Garden
A favourite section of many is the Lady Norwood Rose Garden. Just next to the rose garden is the Picnic Cafe, a delightful place for coffee, breakfast or lunch.

Bolton Street Cemetery
Wellington’s oldest cemetery is located inside the Wellington Botanic Garden.

Path symbol that leads from the cable car to city
The flowered tiles in the image are on the ground leading from the entrance to the gardens at the cable car stop (top of the hill) to the city entrance near parliament. We typically walk this path and then head over to the government buildings for a tour (if we are with guests) or for a picnic on the lawn. It’s one of the many things I like to do when visiting Wellington.

Practical Information on Visiting the Wellington Botanic Garden:
- The Wellington Botanic Garden is classified as a Garden of National Significance by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture and is a Historic Places Trust Heritage Area.
- The Botanic Gardens are open from dawn to dusk. The Begonia House hours are 9 am to 5 pm in Summer, with earlier closing in the winter.
- There are 26 hectares to explore and include sections of exotic, rare, native, and colourful flora.
- The Cable Car operates until 10 pm Monday to Saturday, and until 9 pm on Sunday.
- The Space Place at the Carter Observatory is located inside the Wellington Botanic Garden.
- Be sure to stop at the Tree House visitor centre, at a minimum to enjoy the views from the extensive decks.
- Entry to the gardens if free. (It’s one of many Wellington activities with free entry)
- For more information see the gardens official website here.
Have you been to the Wellington Botanic Garden?
If you enjoyed this article, please share it on social media, including Pinterest:
Jean Marie
What a feast for the eyes, I love that deep, deep blue of the Hydrangea but everything is so beautiful! I’m very glad I stopped to look!
Rhonda Albom
Coming around that corner to see the hydrangea was magical.
Ting
What beautiful flora and foliage. I imagine it’s very peaceful here. I do love a botanical garden, it transports you away from the city somewhere colourful and quiet. 26 Hectares is some area to explore!
Rhonda Albom
It is peaceful, although I was with teens 🙂
Lisa at LTTL
I can get lost for hours in a botanical garden. I just told my family that they should be happy it will be a little cold yet for the garden in Denver, otherwise we’d be visiting on our upcoming trip. Lovely photos.
Lisa @ LTTL
PS sorry I am late in visiting this week, I was caught up in celebrating my birthday.
Rhonda Albom
Happy Birthday!
Trekking with Becky
Beautiful shots and great angles! 😀 Thank you so much for sharing this for #ExpatTuesday! 😀
Is Sarah going to be writing about her cultural exchange in Argentina? I’d love to read about it! 😀
Rhonda Albom
Thanks. and yes, Sarah will be writing about Argentina after she settles in a bit. She will continue her Sunday Snapshot features.
Susanne
How lovely to have so much colour at this time of the year. I’ve only been to a botanical garden once but I loved it. So inspiring for a gardening geek as myself. 🙂
Rhonda Albom
Actually, it’s summer in New Zealand.
DBA Mountaineer
the garden is definitely beautiful, i am not really a fan of flowers too but in overall, the surroundings become alive because of their beautiful colors.
Rhonda Albom
I agree, the colours were beautiful.
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Tanja.
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Christy
peregrinationgourmande
Wow! NZ is on my list! really! For now I enjoy Australia but I really have to go there. Your pics are very nice, the nature is beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
cathy
Rhonda Albom
If you are already in Oz, it’s not that far to cross the ditch.
[email protected]
Oh so much colour! Looks like a great spot to hang out.
Rhonda Albom
It is a great spot to hang out.
Corey
Looks beautiful, especially the rose garden. I love coming across a good botanical garden in my travels..this one looks like it has great variety.
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Corey.
Paul F. Pietrangelo
Hi Rhonda. It’s been some time since I’ve written. My wife & I went on a cruise to the Caribbean on the Carnival Breeze. It was pretty good but I got sick ( found to have bronchitist ) and later my wife got it also. Many guests on the ship were hacking & coughing so that wasn’t good. I’m now writing about our cruise and Wednesday’s blog shows a photo I took out of my balcony. I’d like to have your feelings about it. I’m very excited and proud of the picture. I guess I must be getting better. ( I hope so )
Good luck to your daughter. She’ll be do well. Mom & dad might be lonely though. Have a great time together. See ya my friend.
Cruisin Paul
Rhonda Albom
Sorry to hear you got sick. It would be pretty awful to be on a ship full of sick people. Lots of great photos on you page, and that special on is really nice.
Claudia | ImagesByCW
I think the Garden and your photos look gorgeous. I have not, but I would not mind at all to visit. I have never seen a banana flower, bloom – that is amazing! Thanks for sharing.
p.s. and good luck to your daughter.
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Claudia. Banana flowers are pretty cool.
Kathy Marris
Glorious photos! I haven’t been to Wellington but I have visited the gorgeous gardens in Hamilton. They were spectacular!
Rhonda Albom
I haven’t been to the Hamilton Gardens, but will try to stop here on my next drive through.
Colleen
Well that was a winter pick-me-up!
Rhonda Albom
Glad to be helpful.
Kristi
What gorgeous colors – especially in the first photo. I just want to spend the day there!
Rhonda Albom
A whole day . . . I don’t think I have ever spent more than a few hours.
Inkslinger
Great shots. That place looks absolutely gorgeous, just what I needed to brighten me up on this very dull day here.
Rhonda Albom
Happy to be the cause of smiles.
Jay @CraftySpices
What a lovely place, the flowers, the color and the bananas look great.
Thank you for sharing, hope you have a wonderful week!
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Jay.
Kathe W.
Begonias, cactus and hydrangeas! Wowee!
Rhonda Albom
And there was plenty more to choose from, but these were my favourite photos.
Merlinda (@pixiedusk)
Amazing colors! I just love how vivid they are. My photos always comes up gloomy like the weather here =)
Rhonda Albom
LOL – maybe you need to come to New Zealand to take photos.
Patrick Weseman
Great shots. All colors just pop out. I love the cemetery.
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Patrick.
Indah Nuria Savitri
look at all those pretty colors. Love it! NYC is still wet and cold..
Rhonda Albom
Thank Indah 🙂
Mrs. Pepper
Absolutely gorgeous! I’ll have to put this on my list of places I want to visit someday.
Rhonda Albom
Wellington is one of my favourite getaway cities.
Lexa Cain
The pics are gorgeous! I like the one of the rose the best. I never knew bananas started out so green. When I first saw the pic, I thought they were jalapeno peppers! lol Kinda weird that there’s a cemetery attached to the place. Wishing your daughter a bon voyage and hoping the year passes quickly for you. 🙂
Rhonda Albom
LOL – they are much too big for jalapeno peppers. I guess I should have put in something to give a bit of perspective. Thanks for the good wishes for Sarah.
Claire
So many beautiful colours, great shots here 🙂
Rhonda Albom
Thanks. The park was loaded with colour.
Jessica
I LOVE a good botanical garden.
Rhonda Albom
Then you should visit this one in Wellington.
Amy
oh I love it, reminds me of the BOP quarry gardens, how old is the jewish cemetery btw?
Rhonda Albom
I haven’t been to BOP, but someday I will get there. The cemetery began in 1840. I don’t know if the Jewish section started at the same time or later.
JM Illinois U.S.A.
I enjoyed the cyber tour of the Wellington Botanic Gardens. Thanks for posting such beautiful photos. We are experiencing winter months here so really appreciated seeing all the color and photos of bananas etc.
JM, Illinois-U.S.A.
Rhonda Albom
Thank JM. By the way, I was born in Illinois, so I know how cold it actually is.
Star Traci
Stunning pictures of a lush and beautiful place.
🙂
Traci
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Traci – an yes, it is lush and beautiful.
Lyn (aka) The Travelling Lindfields
Your photos are lovely. We went to the Botanic Garden when we were in Wellington almost exactly a year ago. I had forgotten about the little path mosaics until I saw your photo – and thought – that looks familiar.
Rhonda Albom
So you must have seen similar colours and blooms.
Teresa from NanaHood
Those pictures are gorgeous. What type camera do you use? Thanks for stopping by NanaHood!
Rhonda Albom
I switched to mirrorless last year and love my camera. I have an Olympus OMD-Em5 with several good lenses.
Marcella @ WhatAWonderfulWorld
Gorgeous! I love all of the colours and textures that you captured. There is something so peaceful about wandering around gardens, camera in hand and just taking it all. It’s one of my favourite things to do!
Rhonda Albom
In that case this botanic garden should be on your bucket list.
Kathryn Grace
As always, your photographs are marvelous. I thoroughly enjoyed walking down the hill with you. I had to wonder: Did the gardeners put a railroad spike at the foot of each of the pink hydrangeas to get them to turn pink, as gardeners used to in the Pacific northwest when I was a child? Whatever made for that purply-pink-blue rainbow, you captured it beautifully, as you did all the other goodies.
Thanks! I needed a nice break from work, work, work.
Rhonda Albom
Interesting question, and one which I have no idea. We have shell at home as a ground cover and we get very purple/pink hydrangeas.
Alissa Apel
Such pretty colors. I love cacti. You have some great photos!
Rhonda Albom
Glad you said that, as I almost left the cacti photo out, as it wasn’t as colourful. But I really like it too.
Parent Club
How I miss seeing things grow – it’s cold and snowy here.
Rhonda Albom
What about indoor plants?
Comedy Plus
Oh what a lovely garden. I love botanical gardens very much.
Have a terrific day. ☺
Rhonda Albom
I really think you would love New Zealand. I hope you get to visit here some day.
Comedy Plus
We just might do that Rhonda. 🙂
Karren Haller
What amazing pictures, so vibrant, just beautiful! I love begonias, I have some thriving in my greenhouse. Karren
Rhonda Albom
Thanks Karren.
Minoru
Hi! It’s nice to see the botanical garden in winter in Tokyo. The hydrangea photo is very beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Rhonda Albom
It is summer here.
Birgitta
These are wonderful, colorful photos!
L. Diane Wolfe
I love the cactus. So weird how bananas grow.
Eli
Looking at those colorful flowers made me soooo happy:-) They are just so lovely!! You sure know Your photoskills too – amazing Pictures:-) Good Luck to Your daughter on her New adventures. I knwo the feeling — when mine moved out to study n another country…. Oh…. Well, as long as they are happy we feel happy too, right. Hugs
Hilary
Hi Rhonda – those are stunning shots … loved seeing them .. the hydrangeas are particularly stunning – they’re a Cornish shrub to me .. and remind me of my mother and Cornwall. Have a very happy last few hours – as you’re into that sort of count down now with Sarah – she will have the most amazing time … as will you when you get to chat with her as she travels and learns … lucky girl. Have so much fun – and lots of thoughts to you all – cheers Hilary
Amila @ Leisure and Me
All these are beautiful photos .I really love the colourful begonia flowers.It is interesting to see a banana tree in this garden.
Rhonda Albom
I thought so too, about the banana tree. Seemed out of place, yet not really.
Lady Fi
So beautiful! I love visiting botanical gardens!
Rhonda Albom
Honestly, it’s not always my favourite thing to do, except in Wellington. There is something really special about this one.
stevebethere
Now these are beautiful shots Rhonda love all the colours that lovely rose and the pretty begonia
Have a petaltastic day and gissa banana LOL 🙂