On the Floral Trail

New Zealand municipal botanical gardens, including Hamilton Gardens and the Whakarewarewa Forest and Government Gardens in Rotorua, feature in a travel article written by Ray Boren for the Desert News. “Indeed, the website www.nzescapes.com acknowledges, ‘From the landscaped front lawns of their detached suburban houses to public parks and gardens — there are a wealth of botanic delights waiting to be discovered.’ The world-spanning, 58ha garden complex in Hamilton certainly has to be counted as among the nation’s very best. Without leaving the gardens’ expansive site, one can time-travel through the Egyptian and Chinese Scholars gardens, the contemplative Japanese Garden, the modernist American ‘West Coast’ garden (complete with a pool presided over by a pointillist image of Marilyn Monroe) and a spectacular Italian Renaissance Garden, as well as patches showcasing English flowers, and herbs and vegetables grown as demonstrations for native Hamiltonians.”