The garden tour doesn’t actually start until tomorrow but I had a half day to walk around Auckland before our group dinner so I decided to post a short blog tonight.
First of all, I discovered that the New Zealand currency is beautiful:
I walked over to Victoria Park and discovered that New Zealand had plenty of water – either from rain or lakes and rivers. Look at how green the lawns are:
I didn’t see any irrigation heads in this lawn so I guess they get enough rain throughout the year.
I discovered this interesting linear park near the docks with many native New Zealand plants:
Sedge (Carex sp.)
Flax Lily (Dianella sp. )
Wire Vine (Muehlenbeckia axillaris)
Mirror Plant (Coprosma repens)
New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros excelsa). In New Zealand it blooms in November/December and in the northern hemisphere it blooms May/June.
Some other interesting plants:
Clivia miniata. These plants are tender but grow on the North Island because of its mild climate. Most of the South Island gets snow in the winter so it won’t grow there.
Clivia yellow form
Doodia media
Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
I found a community garden for people who live in the nearby high rise apartments:
We had our group dinner at the Orbit Restaurant which is located on top of a 52 story tower in Auckland:
They actually bungee jump off of this tower. You can see the cable on the lower left.
The view from the restaurant as we ate dinner was amazing:
