Wellington Botanic Garden

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Wellington Botanic Garden
Wellington Botanical Garden 10.jpg
A path in the Wellington Botanic Garden during spring
Wellington Botanic Garden
TypeMunicipal botanical garden
Location Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates 41°16′58″S174°45′58″E / 41.2829°S 174.7660°E / -41.2829; 174.7660
Area61.77 acres (25.00 ha)
Created1868
Operated by Wellington City Council
StatusOpen all year
Public transit accessMetlink route 2
Wellington Cable Car

The Wellington Botanic Garden in Wellington, New Zealand covers 25 hectares of land on the side of the hill between Thorndon and Kelburn, near central Wellington. The garden features 25 hectares of protected native forest, conifers, plant collections and seasonal displays. It also features a variety of non-native species, including an extensive rose garden. It is classified as a Garden of National Significance [1] by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture. In 2004 it was listed as a historic area with Heritage New Zealand. [2] Large sculptures and carvings are located throughout the garden. These are by artists such as Henry Moore, Andrew Drummond, Mary-Louise Browne, Regan Gentry, Denis O'Connor and Chris Booth.

Contents

Treehouse, the Education and Environment Centre of the Garden Wellington Botanic Garden Treehouse 2015.JPG
Treehouse, the Education and Environment Centre of the Garden

History

The Garden was established in 1868. [3] It was initially managed by the New Zealand Institute (later named the Royal Society Te Apārangi) and its manager James Hector until 1891. [4] The New Zealand Institute planted conifers as part of a programme to import plant species and assess their potential for economic benefit to New Zealand. The first map of the garden in 1875, by John Buchanan, also included the compilation of a list of all plants growing there, and a survey of native plants indigenous to the reserve. [4]

Some animals were kept at the Botanic Gardens prior to the formation of Wellington Zoo in Newtown in 1906, including the "City Emu" which died shortly after being relocated to the Zoo from the garden. [5]

Wellington City Council began managing the garden in 1891, developing various parts of the garden such as the Lady Norwood Rose Garden (1950), the Begonia House (1960), and the Treehouse Visitor Centre (1990), in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund.

The Wellington Botanic Garden is home to several organisations, including:

Features

The garden features a large Victorian-style glasshouse called the Begonia House, the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and the Treehouse Visitor Centre. There is a large children's play area, a duck pond, and glowworms visible some nights along paths in the Main Garden. There are monthly tours during autumn and spring (the garden is otherwise closed at night). In 1975 the Japan Society of New Zealand gifted a carved stone lantern that is now located in the Peace Garden adjacent to the Lady Norwood Rose Garden. [6] In 1994 the lantern was adapted to house the Hiroshima Peace Flame in recognition of Wellington's nuclear free status.

Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia House

The current rose garden was established from 1950 to 1953, in time for that year's royal tour. It is named after Lady Norwood, former mayoress of Wellington, who donated £300 towards a proposed new begonia house in 1949, and in 1955 donated a fountain for the middle of the rose garden. In 1977, the fountain was replaced by a new one donated by Lady Norwood's children. The Begonia House bordering the south side of the rose garden was opened in 1960, after a donation of £20,000 by Sir Charles Norwood, former mayor of Wellington. The Norwood family made further donations for landscaping around the Begonia House and rose garden during the 1970s and 1980s. [7]

The rose garden contains 110 beds of roses, including new and traditional varieties, laid out in concentric circles around the fountain. [8] Climbing roses grow around the colonnades that surround the garden. The flowering season stretches from November to April. [9] The World Federation of Rose Societies awarded the garden a 'Garden of Excellence' award in 2015. [9]

When it was built, the Begonia House was the largest glasshouse in the southern hemisphere. [10] The Begonia House consists of two wings holding tropical and temperate plants including orchids, begonias, cyclamen, ferns and epiphytes, connected by a central atrium. A café was added to the east wing in 1981, and the west wing was extended with a large lily pond with fish and water lilies, added in 1989. [8] [10] The Begonia House is a popular venue for weddings and other functions. [11]

Duck pond

The duck pond is a naturally-formed pond, fed by the Pukatea and Pipitea streams, and has been a feature of the Botanic Garden since 1868. In times past it was known as the Frog Pond, the Lily Pond and the Swan Pond. [12] In 1996 the pond was enlarged and reshaped, and its surroundings were upgraded with a small pavilion, wetland garden and lookout points. [13] In 1998, landscape architect Stephen Dunn of Boffa Miskell won a silver award for his redesign of the pond, in a competition held by the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and the Landscape Industries Association of New Zealand. [14]

Events

Summer City / Gardens Magic

As part of its Summer City programme, Wellington City Council organised events in the Botanic Garden during summers from 1979 to the early 2000s, including live Shakespeare, free movies, teddy bears' picnics and free concerts. [15] The concert series continued at the Sound Shell and in 2024 celebrated 44 years of concerts. The series is titled Gardens Magic and also includes a light show. [16] [17]

Tulip Sunday

Tulip Sunday is part of a spring festival held annually in the gardens, usually near the end of September. Visitors enjoy seeing the flower beds near the Founders Entrance filled with masses of tulips in full bloom, and can enjoy entertainment (often Dutch-themed) organised by Wellington City Council and sponsors. [18] [19] The date of the event is decided months in advance due to the organisation required, but sometimes the tulips reach full bloom earlier or later than the scheduled date because of the weather. [20] Tulip Sunday in Wellington began in 1944 with between 10,000 and 20,000 tulips on display and music provided by a band. [21] [22] The event received a boost in 1948, when the Netherlands government gave 25,000 tulip bulbs to Wellington in recognition of New Zealand's welcome to Dutch refugees after World War 2. [23]

The lantern in the Peace Garden contains a flame lit from the fires of the Hiroshima bombing, given by Japan in recognition of New Zealand's work against nuclear weapons. WellingtonBotanicGardensPeaceGarden2.jpg
The lantern in the Peace Garden contains a flame lit from the fires of the Hiroshima bombing, given by Japan in recognition of New Zealand's work against nuclear weapons.

Access

The main entrance to the Botanic Garden is the Founders Entrance on Glenmore Street, which leads past formal flower beds to the duck pond. As of 2024, a No. 2 public bus stops outside this entrance. The Centennial Entrance near the Founders Entrance provides vehicle and pedestrian access from Glenmore Street to the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, and a path from Bolton Street Cemetery past Anderson Park also leads to the rose garden. Further up Glenmore Street from the Founders Entrance are the Pipitea Entrance and West Entrance, which lead to the Puriri Lawn and Magpie Lawn. Three more pedestrian entrances provide access from the south, at Glen Road, Mariri Road and Boundary Road. [24]

At the top of the hill, the Cable Car Entrance gives access from the top of the cable car route. The Wellington Cable Car runs between the top of the Botanic Garden and Lambton Quay in Wellington's central business district. A wide paved path provides a popular downhill route, taking about 30 minutes to walk from the Cable Car entrance to the Founders Entrance. [24]

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References

  1. ↑ "New Zealand Gardens Trust - Wellington". www.gardens.org.nz. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "Search the List | Wellington Botanic Garden | Heritage New Zealand". www.heritage.org.nz. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "Friends of the Wellington Botanic Garden Inc". 5 June 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  4. 1 2 Shepherd, Winsome; Cook, Walter (1988). The Botanic Garden, Wellington. A New Zealand History 1840-1987. Wellington: Millwood Press. ISBN   0-908582-79-X.
  5. ↑ "CURRENT TOPICS". New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6203. 8 May 1907. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  6. ↑ "The story behind Wellington's Peace Flame". Stuff. 16 November 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  7. ↑ Cook, Walter (10 December 2009). "The Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia House". Australian & Aotearoa New Zealand Environmental History Network. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  8. 1 2 "Wellington Botanic Garden ki Paekākā". Wellington Gardens. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  9. 1 2 Hayden (21 February 2010). "Lady Norwood Rose Garden - Wellington". The New Zealand Rose Society. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  10. 1 2 "Begonia House". Archives Online. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  11. ↑ "Begonia House Foyer". Wellington City Council. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Hill, Marguerite (2003). "RECN512: Practicum 2003: Heritage Inventory: Wellington Botanic Garden". Research Archive at Victoria University of Wellington.
  13. ↑ "Pond upgrade". Evening Post. 27 March 1996. ProQuest   314437287.
  14. ↑ "Feather in cap for duckpond's creator". Evening Post. 31 March 1998. ProQuest   314538481.
  15. ↑ Pietkiewicz, Francesca (24 February 2024). "A history of Gardens Magic, the 154-year-old Wellington concert series". The Spinoff. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  16. ↑ "Gardens Magic ready to hit all the right notes in 2024". Wellington City Council. 13 December 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  17. ↑ "Wellington.Scoop » Gardens Magic (free!) back for its 44th year" . Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  18. ↑ "Tulip Sunday – Dutch Club Wellington" . Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  19. ↑ "Te Wā o te Kōanga - Spring Festival". Wellington Gardens. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  20. ↑ "Wellington's tulips blooming early". Stuff. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  21. ↑ "Tulip Sunday". Dominion. 12 October 1944 – via Papers Past.
  22. ↑ "Tulip Sunday at gardens". Evening Post. 16 October 1944 – via Papers Past.
  23. ↑ O'Neil, Andrea (13 September 2015). "Wellington's Tulip Sunday a reminder of Dutch war horrors - 150 years of news". Stuff. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  24. 1 2 "Wellington Botanic Garden ki Paekākā Map [Pamphlet]" (PDF). Wellington Gardens. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
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