Hamilton Gardens

Hamilton Gardens
Map
LocationHamilton East, New Zealand
Coordinates37°48′17″S 175°18′14″E / 37.8046°S 175.3039°E / -37.8046; 175.3039
Created1960s
Operated byHamilton City Council
VisitorsOne million per year

Hamilton Gardens is a public garden park in the south of Hamilton owned and managed by Hamilton City Council in New Zealand. The 54-hectare park is based on the banks of the Waikato River and includes enclosed gardens, open lawns, a lake, a nursery, a convention centre and the Hamilton East Cemetery. It is the Waikato region's most popular visitor attraction, attracting more than 1 million people and hosting more than 2,000 events a year.[1][2]

Hamilton Gardens is described in popular culture as a botanical garden,[3] but does not technically qualify as a botanical garden. Instead, the site features 28 gardens representing the art, beliefs, lifestyles and traditions of different civilisations or historical garden styles. These gardens are grouped into the Paradise, Productive, Fantasy, Cultivar and Landscape garden collections, and there is space for gardens which are still in development.[4]

The first development of the gardens began in the early 1960s at what was then the city's waste disposal site. The first substantial development, the Rogers Rose Garden, was opened in 1971 in an attempt to block highway development over the site. Since 1982 many newly developed areas have been opened to the public. Additional features of the gardens now include a lake walkway and a waterfall lookout.

  1. ^ "Hamilton Gardens". tourismexportcouncil.org.nz. Tourism Export Council. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference gardenstovisit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Kerr, Megan. "Hamilton Gardens". nzgirl.co.nz. NZ Girl. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Hamilton Gardens". newzealand.com. Tourism New Zealand. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.