African Plants Garden
Splashes of colour throughout the year
Visit the wilds of Africa... in Auckland
Visit the African Plants Garden in winter alongside flocks of noisy silvereye and tui feeding on the vivid aloe and protea flowers. Come again in spring for the explosion of bulbs – the Cape is the bulb capital of the world– but you can get a taste of Africa right here at Auckland Botanic Gardens. Imagine elephants and giraffe wandering by, grazing on trees like the Acacia sieberiana. With its dry herbal scents, unusual plants and busy birds there is something stimulating for all the senses in this garden.
Leucodendrons, proteas, watsonias, daises, nerines, strelitzias, freesias, gladiolus, gerberas – many plant species common to our gardens or florist shops have their origins in southern Africa. The Cape Floral Kingdom alone has a staggering 9,000 species of native plants (in comparison, New Zealand is 3 times larger and has 2,400 native species). The Cape lies on the same latitude as New Zealand and like us, has wet winters and dry summers. Most of these plants are self-sustaining – they don’t require much water and perform well in poor soils - perfect distinctive yet low-maintenance ideas for your Auckland home garden!
Watch the video about our African Garden.
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Cultural
Now over thirty years old the African Plants Garden was designed by Jack Hobbs with input from Joy Amos (1919-2011) who was an expert in protea’s and cut flowers. Joy worked with commercial flower growers in the early days of NZ’s cut flower industry and for forty years Joy helped us with advice on what to plant in our African Plants Garden.
The Garden promotes African plants best suited to Auckland’s climate and conditions. Plants from the Cape Floristic region (western and SW parts), with its heavy winter rainfall and drier summer, thrive in the similar environmental conditions in Auckland. Our collection focuses on aloes, proteas, bulbs, daisies, succulents, wild flowers and restios.
The Cape flora provides many of the cut flowers we buy including gladiolus, freesia, gerbera, clivia, sandersonia’s, strelitzia, and protea. Many South African flowers are long-lasting in a vase. Leucadendrons, for example, last at least two weeks (sometimes up to 3) making them a particularly useful floristry plant.
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Research
Protea 'Clark's Red'
Horticulturalists at Auckland Botanic Gardens are maintaining accurate records of plant performance, including flowering records, for the purpose of recommending plants suitable for Auckland.
Rock Garden
Plant identification
Red hot poker trial 2016