Dunedin Botanic Garden

Dunedin was established in the first half of the nineteenth century and settled by Scottish immigrants, including the nephew of the poet, Robbie Burns. Its name derives from the Gaelic for Edinburgh - the city on which it is modelled.

Following the discovery of gold in in the 1860s, there was a surge in both population and prosperity. Both Dunedin's university, which I visited in my last post, and its botanic garden are the oldest in New Zealand, with 2013 marking the 150th anniversary of the latter.

I was fortunate enough to visit twice during my stay in Dunedin. It was a real treat to see beautiful native and cold climate plants in early Spring. Coming from warmer climes as I do, many of the plants I saw were quite new to me. I've done my best on names, but apologies in advance if any errors have slipped in. Perhaps you can help me out with some of the mystery plants: the pretty pink bulb with nodding head and patterned leaves between the photos of the pulmonaria (it comes in yellow too), and two daisy- like blooms - one white, the other pink.

Clianthus, commonly known as Kakabeak, is a small woody legume tree native to New Zealand. And what is a kaka you may ask.

This handsome parrot is a kaka. Endangered due to the impact of introduced species, in some places only one in seven wild kakas are female, which doesn't bode well for their future survival, so they are being bred in the botanic gardens for reintroduction to an ecosanctuary.

Related to the kakabeak is this Kowhai, recognised as New Zealand's national flower

Hellebore

Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White'

Camellia 'Royal Velvet'

Myosotidium, the Chatham Island forget-me-not

Hellebore

Bluebells

Fritillaria

More hellebores



Michelia yunanensis



Trillium



The Chatham Island forget-me-not showing how the blooms age to pink

Magnolia stellata f. rosea

And this M. stellata is the white form (and a double?)

On my return visit, I tackled the slope and wandered through the alpine garden.

Pride of Madeira and lime green euphorbia

 

The final stopping point of my visit was this woodland planting on the top of the hill - a host of golden daffodils that would have impressed Wordsworth.

 

However, if you enjoyed this visit and the plants featured, there is more to come when I visit Lanarch Castle on the Otago Peninsula not far from Dunedin in one of my next posts.

 

Discovering Dunedin

When my eldest niece Bethany announced after she finished high school that she was heading to the University of Otago in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island, I very promptly assured her that I would head over for a visit. Despite its proximity I had only been to New Zealand once and I was keen to see more.  It came as quite a shock to me earlier this year when I realised that 2013 was the last year of her course, and I needed to make haste if I was going to keep my word.

I settled on the last week of September and first week of October for my visit to avoid the worst of the cold but also manage to scrape in before she was completely buried in books with final exams looming.

 It only took one quick look out of the plane window to realise I was a long way from the subtropics.

More by chance than good management, it turned out that my hotel was close to Bethany's shared accommodation in the student part of town. I started exploring Dunedin with a good wander through the streets and fell completely in love with the Victorian architecture. 

 

Although they date from a similar era, the narrow two-story houses with fabulous details including turrets and iron lace railings are very different to the Queenslanders I am used to.

 

 

 

Student humour

Another lovely point of difference from Spring home in Brisbane were the beautiful cold climate blooms. In the streets, beautiful blossoms and rhododendrons were at their peak.

Ultimately I did cut it a bit fine in relation to Bethany's study for her final exams, but we had a couple of lovely outings in Dunedin, including a personal tour of the beautiful campus grounds.

Choisya ternata

Bethany with friend in the Butterfly Garden at the Otago Museum

I became a regular at this great café while I was in Dunedin.

 

After a lovely timeout, it was back to the books for Bethany, but my adventures in New Zealand were just beginning. In my next post we'll visit Dunedin's fabulous botanic gardens, and then I hit the road to explore some of the prettiest regions in New Zealand's South Island.