Manawatu’s top gardening destinations
Christine Rush explores gardens and nurseries in this horticultural hot spot
Spring has arrived in central North Island – and this hotbed of horticultural know-how has a raft of places where you can visit, buy great plants, picnic or just stop to smell the (very early) roses.
1 REVEL IN ROSES AT THE DUGALD MACKENZIE GARDEN
The Victoria Esplanade in central Palmerston North is a popular place year-round, but from spring it’s a feast for the eyes. Plant lovers will appreciate its exotic arboretum, bush walks, tropical conservatory and rows of Prunus ‘Awanui’ in blossom, but the big drawcard is the Dugald MacKenzie Rose Gardens. The formal beds are welllabelled, with mostly modern Hybrid Tea, shrub and Floribunda roses. NZ Rose Society spokesman Hayden Foulds says flowers emerge in late October, but peak bloom is usually the third weekend in November and flowering goes right through until pruning in winter. A past winner of a World Federation of Rose Societies Garden of Excellence award, it is also home to the NZ Rose Society international trial grounds. Each year about 40-odd roses are numbered and planted in the trial beds; of these about 10 will be deemed successful enough to be sold to the public. “It’s a great place to see what is coming through in the world of roses,” says Hayden, “and we’ve just planted the next trial, which will finish in 2018.”
2 SOAK UP CAMPUS SPIRIT IN THE GROUNDS OF MASSEY
Massey University has a long association with horticulture, and many of our leading gardeners studied there. Today you can stroll around its lovely grounds and along the Turitea Stream, admiring its colourful bedding, rare exotic trees – collected from around the world by a keen early groundskeeper – and even help yourself to apricots, apples and citrus from fruit trees planted to sustain hungry students! Have a quick peek at the attractively landscaped gardens at Wharerata historic homestead; the sunken garden is very popular for weddings.
3 KICKSTART YOUR SUMMER GARDEN AT AWAPUNI
Awapuni Nurseries was started by Dutch immigrants in the 1960s. It now supplies herb, vegetable and flower seedlings to home growers online and to The Warehouse, Bunnings and supermarkets nationwide, and raises native plants for regeneration schemes. You can visit their small nursery shop just south of Palmerston North on Pioneer Highway. “Make sure you bring some cash – it’s an honesty box system!” says owner Henri Ham. Garden clubs and schools can take a behind-the-scenes tour of the nursery; to book, call 0800 332 000.