Gardens from our
Tours in New Zealand

Please browse below, for descriptions and information on some beautiful gardens of our New Zealand tour:
(P) = large colour photo linked to page (Photos copyright Sisley Garden Tours)

• North Island
  • Ayrlies Garden - A country garden where the contours of the land dictate the shape; a garden where there is space for larger trees grown in family groups; a seasonal garden where the challenge is to have some plant or vista at its best every week of the year; a garden where still ponds and cascades of water create a sense of tranquility; a garden filled with moments of drama and lots of heady perfume. (P)
  • Belleview Garden - Vivienne Papich has planted her unique garden with colour and originality. Every turning in this delightfully eccentric stroll garden heralds another carefully designed picture. Set on a hillside on various levels it faces spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. Native trees line the driveway over naturalised ferns, cymbidium orchids and bromeliads. (P)
  • Ellerslie Flower Show - An extravaganza of stunning sights, dazzling displays, exciting exhibits, garden art, musical maestros and fabulous food at the largest garden exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere. Previously at the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens on lush greenland, surrounded by native bush, with more than 300 exhibits, the Show is moving to Christchurch in 2009.
  • Peter Brady's Garden - The suburban Californian mission revival house was built in 1934 and purchased by Peter in a rough state in 1983. Drawing on elements of the 'Pacific Rim', the rich foliage, textures and ornamental detail create 'snapshots' each with its own space, making it like a Japanese stroll garden. (P)
  • Westridge - The garden of Richard Cadness and Geoffrey Haughey in Titirangi nestles amongst nikau palms, ferns and native trees in the Waitakere Ranges Scenic Park of forested hills on the outskirts of Auckland city. A garden with a distinctive New Zealand flavour in which native birdsong enhances the sub-tropical background of grotto-like darkness and sunny glades. (P)
  • Hamilton Gardens - Garden history beautifully illustrated. Extensive and well designed garden rooms take one through the ages around the world in a beautifully maintained public park. (P)
  • Pukeiti Rainforest Garden - A collection of over 2000 specimens of the rhododendron species in a 900 acre native rainforest setting. (P)
  • Otari - Wilton's Bush Native Botanic Garden - Conceived by ecologist Leonard Cockayne in 1927, to preserve New Zealand's native plants for future generations it has a wonderful collection of native flora from all over New Zealand landscaped into an existing piece of native 'bushland'. (P)

• South Island
  • Barewood - Caroline Faraday is a florist and it shows. The exquisite white-painted timber house with elegant varandah is strewn with colour and surrounded by all manner of floral delights. (P)
  • Winterhome Garden - Richard and Susan MacFarlane's private garden situated high on the coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean is on a scale which matches the grandeur of its outlook. Formality is the key note with huge brick walls, espaliered apple trees, a raised lily-pond in the front of the house and dramatic sea views. Eighty rose bushes are in a parterre with a back-drop of delphiniums in season.
  • Glenfalloch Woodland Garden - Developed in 1917, a very mature garden and grounds. With its bird life and bush walk which will take you approx 45 minutes. Contains a wonderful collection of fuscias, roses, azaleas and rhododendrons, including some species not found elsewhere in the country.
  • Christchurch Botanic Garden - Beautifully situated on flat land close to the city centre, where citizens can easily enjoy this quiet and interesting civic amenity alongside the shallow curves of the Avon River. (P)
  • Ohinetahi - New Zealand architect Miles Warren's house and exquisitely landscaped garden at Governors Bay has been featured in international magazines. Immaculate walled and hedged gardens surround the picturesque house. One of the most beautiful gardens in New Zealand. (P)
  • Cashel - Interesting formal planting cleverly laid out since 1993 with many NZ native plants on a difficult large flat site on the Canterbury Plain with distant views of snowclad mountains. (P)
  • Wilsons Mill - Laid out with strong lines and many trees from 1987 beside a stream and a small lake, the shelter now protects more intimate and colourful formal garden areas. (P)