Travelsmartplanet

This fun animal pool garden is just one of creative gardens in the Hamilton Gardens. Some of the others are: English Flower Garden, Italian Renaissance Garden, Te Parapara Garden, Japanese Garden of Contemplation, Tudor Garden and Indian Char Bagh Garden.

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In the Te Parapara Garden in Hamilton Gardens, NZ, traditional (to Maori) rare kuumara (sweet potato) varieties are planted on puke (mounds) in the summer and then harvested. 

Tags: aspect, beliefs, botanic, botanic garden, crops, cultivation, cultural, design, food, garden, gardener, gardens, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, harvest, harvested, History, Kūmara plant, kuumara, landscape, Maaori, Maori, Maori Garden, Māori settlement, material, mound, New Zealand, North Island, park, philosophical, plant, planted, practical, practices, productive, puke, purpose, rare, representation, settlement, sights, sightseeing, spiritual, spiritual aspect, spiritual representation, structure, summer, sweet potato, Te Parapara, Te Parapara Garden, tour, tourist, traditional, travelblogger, values, variety, vegetable, Waikato, Waikato river

Here is the traditional entrance to the Te Parapara Garden in Hamilton Gardens, NZ. Notice the carved face sticking out his tongue. This is a gesture you would see in Maori dancing and is a method of intimidating invaders.

Tags: carved, carved face, dancing, entrance, face, garden, gardens, gesture, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, intimidating, invader, Maori, Maori dancing, method, New Zealand, sights, sightseeing, Te Parapara, tongue, tour, tourist, traditional, travelblogger, Waikato

In the 16^th century the English aristocracy were fascinated by intricate geometric patterns. These Tudor Garden reflects this. There were also knot gardens and some were called fantasy gardens where fantasy plays were held.  Notice the carved heraldic beasts on poles: griffin, dragon, centaur, phoenix, unicorn, satyr and sea serpent. See if you can find “Bottom”  from Shakespeare’s play Midsummer Nights’ Dream.

Tags: 16th, 16th century, aristocracy, beast, bottom, carved, Centaur, century, dragon, English, fantasy, fantasy play, garden, gardens, geometric, griffin, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, heraldic, heraldic beast, intricate, knot, knot garden, Midsummer Nights' Dream, New Zealand, pattern, phoenix, play, pole, satyr, sea, sea serpent, serpent, Shakespeare, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Tudor, unicorn

Since the 1880’s, the silver fern has been a symbol of New Zealand. It is the most abundant of all ferns in New Zealand. You could not have a botanical garden without the official symbol of New Zealand so here it is growing in Hamilton Garden. 

Tags: botanical, botanical garden, fern, garden, gardens, growing, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, hedge, Mother Nature, New Zealand, nonflowering, official, outdoors, plant, planting, shrub, shrubbery, sights, sightseeing, silver, silver fern, symbol, tour, tourist, travelblogger

Katherine Mansfield may not be a name you know, but everyone in New Zealand knows her. Her famous short story, “The Garden Party” is depicted in a garden in Hamilton Gardens. She is by the way, often considered one of the founders of modern literature.

Tags: ambiance, art, famous, founder, garden, garden art, gardens, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, Katherine Mansfield, literature, modern, modern literature, New Zealand, outdoors, scupture, short story, sights, sightseeing, story, The Garden Party, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Waikato, writer

You never know when you might bump into Alice and Wonderland depictions as you travel around the world. This one was in the Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand. It is truly amazing that this story from centuries ago, has resonated so far and wide. 

Tags: Alice in Wonderland, around the world, art, centuries, century, depiction, garden, garden art, gardens, Hamilton, Hamilton Gardens, New Zealand, North Island, outdoors, public art, resonate, sculpture, sights, sightseeing, statue, story, tea party, theme, tour, tourist, travel, travelblogger, Waikato, world

This depiction of real life and imagined life in Hamilton Gardens was an unpaid labor of love for carvers Derek Kerwood and Meghan Godfrey. For this unbelievably intricate carving, the wood came from a single camphor laurel tree which grew on the nearby Waikato river bank.

Tags: bank, camphor, camphor laurel tree, carver, carving, depiction, Derek Kerwood, Hamilton Gardens, imagined, intricate, labor, labor of love, laurel, laurel tree, life, Meghan Godfrey, mural, New Zealand, North Island, real life, river, river bank, sights, sightseeing, single, tour, tourist, travelblogger, tree, unpaid, unpaid labor, Waikato, Waikato river, Waikato river bank, wood, wooden, Wooden Mural

At the Tanihanga, the Maori passing ceremony, the chief’s canoe would be stood up and semi-buried in the ground. This would be the gratitude and homage paid to the great man, warrior and chief. More designs and carvings (kowhaiwhai) would be added to the already decorated canoe to show tribal connections. In this Pouwairua they honor chief Tuhourangi who once occupied the surrounding lands.

Tags: buried, bury, canoe, carvings, ceremony, chief, Chief Tuhourangi, connection, decorated, designs, gratitude, ground, homage, honor, kowhaiwhai, land, Maori, memorial, New Zealand, North Island, passing, passing ceremony, Pouwairua, semi-buried, sights, sightseeing, stood up, surrounding, surrounding land, Tanihanga, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Tribal, Tuhourangi, warrior

New Zealand has lots of trees to walk around in, and on top of. If you climb up here you can get a bird’s eye view of the lush landscape. 

Tags: Adventure, bird’s eye view, climb, Coast, earth, earth focus, explore, Kiwi, landscape, lush, Mother Nature, nature trail, nature walk, New Zealand, North Island, perspective, scenery, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, travelblogger, Tree Top, Tree Top Walk, trees, treetop, treetops, view, view from the top, views, West Coast, wetlands, wilderness, wilderness trail trail