Otago Daily Times

No better time to visit garden than spring

- Garden Life is produced by Dunedin Botanic Garden. For further informatio­n contact Linda Hellyer.

IT’S spring! Time to take a stroll through Dunedin Botanic Garden to enjoy the delights of colour and fragrance.

Drifts of bright yellow daffodils are a classic spring treasure. Planted in various locations through the botanic garden, they look stunning. The most accessible spot is the daffodil lawn, right beside the upper garden car park.

Pockets of colour are popping up from the flowering trees and shrubs covered in blooms. The Rhododendr­on Dell’s Cherry Walk is flowering right now with its delicate soft pink blossoms characteri­stic of the Prunus genus. Rhododendr­ons are starting to do their thing and camellias are in full force. Large bright pink flowers on magnolias punctuate the botanic garden.

As well as colour, there’s fragrance from the many springflow­ering trees.

Near the Croque cafe visitors get a waft of vanilla — it’s not from the morning baking, but from the Azara microphyll­a, the vanilla tree. Planted before the bridge across the creek, it’s covered in a cluster of tiny yellow fragrant flowers.

As you enter the botanic garden from Great King St you are greeted with the display of highly fragrant white flowers from the shrub Viburnum × burkwoodii (pictured). This multistemm­ed shrub is semi evergreen and covered in spring time with highly fragrant, white flowers. Arranging this spring hit at home is easy, as this shrub is very easycare, able to be pruned to fit any spot. The best spot is close to the house for enjoying the beautiful vanilla aroma.

 ?? PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON ?? Viburnum × burkwoodii has highly fragrant white flowers.
PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Viburnum × burkwoodii has highly fragrant white flowers.
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