New Zealand's Gardens of Eden

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand's wild beauty — from majestic seashores and deep fiords to the towering, glacier-tipped Southern Alps — is often likened, with some justification, to that of a paradise on earth.

But the nature-blessed Kiwis appreciate the cultivated beauty of their gardens, pastures and farm fields with equal fervor, so much so that their land has been described as "a veritable Antipodean Garden of Eden" by, of course, the nation's Heartland apple-growers, who should know considering their fabled product. Their orchards produce the Braeburn, Royal Gala and (yes) Eve varieties, among others, for the taste buds and fruit baskets of the world.

And when you've traveled across the Pacific to this beautiful island nation (dominated by the big twins, North Island and South Island) a few times, as I have, you also realize that New Zealanders love to create civic and private botanical "gardens of Eden" of some sort in virtually every burg of any size.

One of my trips Down Under came at the invitation of my brother and sister-in-law, Phillip and Reesa Boren, of Highland, avid gardeners themselves, who lived in New Zealand for a year-and-a-half on an LDS mission. They took every opportunity to see the sights.

"We loved every kilometer of it," Phil says — and that includes the civic gardens, "filled with every variety of bulb, plant and tree. Europeans came to stay. They brought their manicured flower-garden lifestyle," adding to the beauty already there.

"Even small towns, like Te Awamutu in the center of the North Island, boast a world-class rose garden equal to those in Canada," my brother says.

Indeed, "New Zealanders love their gardens," the Web site www.nzescapes.com acknowledges. "From the landscaped front lawns of their detached suburban houses to public parks and gardens — there are a wealth of botanic delights waiting to be discovered."

There are literally scores, and to visit them properly all would take a lifetime. The New Zealand Gardens Trust Web site www.gardens.org.nz powerfully illustrates just how many the public can visit.

The trust and its Web site, established by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, make it easy for travelers to create an itinerary, if it is gardens they seek. Based on high standards set by the trust, the site divides and guides the curious through more than a hundred civic and private (but open to the public) gardens, judged to be "internationally significant," "nationally significant," "significant" and "registered."