Gisborne Botanical Gardens
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Gisborne Botanical Gardens is a public garden in Gisborne, New Zealand, first set aside in 1874. In that year a recreational reserve of 2.55 hectares was created, just outside the city boundary beside Taruheru River. The Gisborne Botanical Gardens nowadays occupy 5.1 hectares along Aberdeen Road. There are still many trees remaining from the early period.
Between 1915 and 1920 an area of native bush was planted.
In the 1960s the park was managed more as a park. However, this has changed. Nowadays the Gisborne District Council, the Friends of the Botanical Gardens and the Gisborne Sister Cities Committee are working to improve and develop the Botanical Gardens.
One of the important features of the Garden is the Cacti Collection in the Glasshouse. This presentation is part of a collection bequeathed to the city by the late Mr & Mrs J. B. Greig in 1978.
There are some art works, for instance 'Desert Haiku' - a gift from the people of Palm Desert, California, one of the sister cities of Gisborne. It was created by Michael Watling in 2001. The andesite boulders from Te Puke represent the mountains around Palm Desert. The composition reflects Gisborne's connection to Japan. The stones take the classic haiku form of five, seven, five.
Some important trees in the Gardens are:
- Quercus palustris - the pin oak from south east Canada and eastern USA.
- Quercus robur - the common oak from Europe.
- Platanus acerifolia - the London plane from Europe.
- Ginkgo biloba - the maidenhair tree from China.
- Ulmus carpinifolia var. variegata or Ulmus minor subsp. minor - the smooth-leaved elm
- Cedrus atlantica var. glauca - the blue Atlas cedar
- Liriodendron tulipifera - the tulip tree
- Araucaria bidwillii - the bunya bunya from Queensland
- Araucaria cookii or Araucaria columnaris- Captain Cook's pine from New Caledonia
- Tilia x europaea - the European lime
