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Edmonds Band Rotunda
View upwards from Gondola from about 1/2 way up.
Bring a torch
The Press building has a distinctive tower.The Garden City
Christchurch prides itself as the Garden City. And more: In 1996, Christchurch was acknowledged as the outstanding garden city from 620 international entries and in 1997, was judged Overall Winner of Major Cities in the Nations in Bloom International Competition to become “Garden City of the World”.
Although some people use their gardens as dumps or carparks, or car wreck yards, most people really care about the green spaces surrounding their houses. I have listed several properties in my mind which I always look at when I drive past because the owners do such great jobs.
A great plus for gardeners is that most of New Zealand’s native shrubs and trees are evergreen, so the gardens do not even look dead in winter.
From September to March you can even book a garden tour to extraordinarily beautiful private gardens.
This company, for example, offers such tours. As they are not daily and, as mentioned, not during the whole year, please check availability. A 3 hour tour costs NZ$ 40 (as April 2008).
During the Festival of Flowers in February, this company operates official Prize Winning Garden Tours in conjunction with the Canterbury Horticultural Society and the Christchurch Beautifying Association.
Contact:
Phone (03) 366 9660, toll free within NZ (0508) 669 660
The best (and cost-free) garden you can visit is the fantastic Botanic Garden where you will find flowering plants even in winter, and some exotic trees with red leaves in autumn (whereas the “normal” exotic trees only get yellow leaves because the day and night temperatures do not differ enough to turn them red). In spring parts of Hagley Park display fantastic masses of flowers, especially daffodils.
Another great place is Mona Vale.
Riccarton Bush is the only place in the city with original native kahikatea bush. And there are parks dotted all over the place, Victoria Square being a nice one in the inner city. The pockets of native forest in the Port Hills are also worth a visit.
But back to the “real” gardens.
Christchurch has, as mentioned earlier in the tour tip, the Festival of Flowers in February, and last year (2007) the City Council purchased the right to host the Ellerslie International Flower Show (the first time in March 2009) which has taken place in Auckland and Manukau up to then.
