Half the fun of the Wellington Botanic Garden is getting there. We arrived into town late in the day, checked into our apartment, 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.
I am generally not a huge fan of this type of place, but 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 will keep this short, as our daughter Sarah is leaving for a year-long cultural exchange to Argentina in two days and my time is limited. I present the Wellington Botanic Garden to you in photographs as we walked downhill:
We came around a corner and were suddenly enveloped in a rainbow of colourful hydrangeas.
We came to the succulents and cacti just before the endangered species.
A wall of striking colours and fragrant flowers in the begonia house.
This hand of bananas growing inside the begonia house seemed almost out of place but isn’t it lovely with that big flower.
One of many vivid roses in the award-wining Lady Norwood Rose Garden.
Jewish section of the Bolton Street Cemetery (Wellington’s oldest cemetery), which is located at the extension of the Wellington Botanic Garden.
Follow these tiles through the Wellington Botanic Garden to get from the Cable Car to city.
Practical Information:
- 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.
Have you been to the Wellington Botanic Garden?
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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!
Coming around that corner to see the hydrangea was magical.
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! Thanks for sharing on #MondayEscapes
It is peaceful, although I was with teens 🙂
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.
Happy Birthday!
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! 😀
Thanks. and yes, Sarah will be writing about Argentina after she settles in a bit. She will continue her Sunday Snapshot features.
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. 🙂
Actually, it’s summer in New Zealand.
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.
I agree, the colours were beautiful.
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
If you are already in Oz, it’s not that far to cross the ditch.
Oh so much colour! Looks like a great spot to hang out.
It is a great spot to hang out.
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. #mondayescapes
Thanks Corey.
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
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.
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.
Thanks Claudia. Banana flowers are pretty cool.
Glorious photos! I haven’t been to Wellington but I have visited the gorgeous gardens in Hamilton. They were spectacular!
I haven’t been to the Hamilton Gardens, but will try to stop here on my next drive through.
Well that was a winter pick-me-up!
Glad to be helpful.
What gorgeous colors – especially in the first photo. I just want to spend the day there!
A whole day . . . I don’t think I have ever spent more than a few hours.
Great shots. That place looks absolutely gorgeous, just what I needed to brighten me up on this very dull day here.
Happy to be the cause of smiles.
What a lovely place, the flowers, the color and the bananas look great.
Thank you for sharing, hope you have a wonderful week!
Thanks Jay.
Begonias, cactus and hydrangeas! Wowee!
And there was plenty more to choose from, but these were my favourite photos.
Amazing colors! I just love how vivid they are. My photos always comes up gloomy like the weather here =)
LOL – maybe you need to come to New Zealand to take photos.
Great shots. All colors just pop out. I love the cemetery.
Thanks Patrick.
nice photos! #travel tuesday
Thanks Tanja.
look at all those pretty colors. Love it! NYC is still wet and cold..
Thank Indah 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous! I’ll have to put this on my list of places I want to visit someday.
Wellington is one of my favourite getaway cities.
Beautiful post, Rhonda! I love a good downhill garden, too! 😉 Thanks for linking up with us on Travel Tuesday!
Thanks Christy
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. 🙂
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.
So many beautiful colours, great shots here 🙂
Thanks. The park was loaded with colour.
I LOVE a good botanical garden.
Then you should visit this one in Wellington.
oh I love it, reminds me of the BOP quarry gardens, how old is the jewish cemetery btw?
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.
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.
Thank JM. By the way, I was born in Illinois, so I know how cold it actually is.
Thanks Joyce
Stunning pictures of a lush and beautiful place.
🙂
Traci
Thanks Traci – an yes, it is lush and beautiful.
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.
So you must have seen similar colours and blooms.
Those pictures are gorgeous. What type camera do you use? Thanks for stopping by NanaHood!
I switched to mirrorless last year and love my camera. I have an Olympus OMD-Em5 with several good lenses.
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!
In that case this botanic garden should be on your bucket list.
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.
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.
Such pretty colors. I love cacti. You have some great photos!
Glad you said that, as I almost left the cacti photo out, as it wasn’t as colourful. But I really like it too.
How I miss seeing things grow – it’s cold and snowy here.
What about indoor plants?
Oh what a lovely garden. I love botanical gardens very much.
Have a terrific day. ☺
I really think you would love New Zealand. I hope you get to visit here some day.
We just might do that Rhonda. 🙂
What amazing pictures, so vibrant, just beautiful! I love begonias, I have some thriving in my greenhouse.
Pinned today!
Thanks for sharing on the Oh My Heartsie Girls WW
Have a great week!
Karren
Thanks Karren.
Hi! It’s nice to see the botanical garden in winter in Tokyo. The hydrangea photo is very beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
It is summer here.
These are wonderful, colorful photos!
Thank Birgitta.
I love the cactus. So weird how bananas grow.
We have a banana tree, but it isn’t doing as well as this one. 🙂
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
The gardens make me happy too. Right now I am just happy for my girls.
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
I am happy to provide good memories.
All these are beautiful photos .I really love the colourful begonia flowers.It is interesting to see a banana tree in this garden.
I thought so too, about the banana tree. Seemed out of place, yet not really.
So beautiful! I love visiting botanical gardens!
Honestly, it’s not always my favourite thing to do, except in Wellington. There is something really special about this one.
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 🙂
Thanks Steve, the gardens are really lovely, and the lighting was good.