Gardens

About a quarter of New Zealand is forested and largely protected as national and forest parks, where you will find native species of evergreen podocarps like rimu, totara, matai, miro and kahikatea and several varieties of beech tree, mingling with 80 species of tree ferns.

Highlights

October and November are the best months for viewing the stately private and famous public rhododendron gardens of Taranaki and Dunedin. Christchurch, where more than one third of the City is devoted to parks and gardens, is known as 'The Garden City' and is at its most spectacular during February which also coincides with the Festival of Flowers. Auckland is renowned for the Parnell Rose Gardens, as well as the Ellerslie Flower Show. Held each November, this is the largest horticultural show in the Southern Hemisphere.

Climatic Conditions

With New Zealand's mild climate and generally long sunshine hours, species from all over the world flourish alongside the bountiful native flora. The yearly range of temperatures is small by continental standards - around 10 C variation between winter and summer. Regions west of the mountain ranges in the centre of both islands are much wetter than those to the east.

Native Flora

New Zealand's flora evolved in isolation, after the land split from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland 60 million years ago. Of the country's 2000 or so flowering plants, about 75 per cent are unique to New Zealand.