Learn when is the best time to visit Wellington Botanic Garden for spring flowers and where to go to see colorful flowers and cherry blossoms.

Where is the Botanic Garden?

The Wellington Botanic Garden is located in Wellington on the North Island of New Zealand.

You can access it by car via Bolton Street and Kinross Street or via Tinakori Road and Glenmore Street.

There are parking spaces in front of the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and a couple of parking spaces more up the road near the Seddon Memorial and the Wellington cemetery.

If you are looking to park your car, it is best to access the Wellington Botanic Garden from Tinakori Road and Glenmore Street via the Centennial Entrance, since the road that leads to the parking spaces in front of the Lady Norwood Rose Garden is a one-way road.

And if there aren’t any parking spaces there, you can always drive further to the Seddon Memorial and Wellington cemetery to see whether there are any there.

After parking your car, you can walk to the main entrance of the Wellington Botanic Garden on Glenmore Street. Just follow the sign of the flower on the pavement.

There are several ways to access the Wellington Botanic Garden if you are on foot. But to avoid getting lost, I’d suggest you take the Cable Car [wellingtoncablecar.co.nz] (it is not free) from Lambton Quay up to the Wellington Botanic Garden, and then follow the path down the hill to the Main Garden and Floral Displays.

When to visit the Botanic Garden for spring flowers

Spring is on in the Wellington Botanic Garden starting from the beginning of September. There are even bushes that blossom late August.

The flowers that are first to come out are Magnolias and Rhododendrons. Then toward mid-September, the Daffodils start to blossom.

While you might still be able to see all three flowers toward the end of September, they reach their peak by the second and third weeks of September.

Cherry blossoms are not plentiful in the Wellington Botanic Garden. At least, not as good as they are in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park.

The Wellington Botanic Garden has a couple of cherry blossom trees sprinkled around the garden that produce mainly white blossoms.

Because these trees are still quite young, they are not as impressive as the cherry blossom trees in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park.

So to see cherry blossoms in spring, I would suggest you go to Christchurch instead of Wellington.

But if you still want to visit the Wellington Botanic Garden to see cherry blossoms in spring, the best time would be in the third week of September, although you might still catch them by the end of September or early October.

Where to find spring flowers in the Botanic Garden

To find cherry blossom trees in the Wellington Botanic Garden, visit the Herb Garden, and then walk on the path that leads down to the Main Garden. There is one cherry blossom tree surrounded by daffodils along this path.

Another cherry blossom tree can be found near the children’s play area. For this you can take the path from the Main Garden past the Duck Pond, and then up to the children’s play area. You should also see some Magnolias along the way.

There are two blossom trees (one with white blossoms and one with pink blossoms) near the Waterfall and Peace Garden not too far from the Lady Norwood Rose Garden.

And finally, there are two cherry blossom trees surrounded by daffodils in the Wellington cemetery, which you should see if you access the Wellington Botanic Garden via Bolton Street Memorial Park by walking up Bowen Street, crossing the Wellington Motorway overpass, and then walking further up towards the Seddon Memorial.

While the Wellington Botanic Garden does not have an impressive display of cherry blossoms in spring, it does have an impressive display of colorful flowers in the Main Garden. So that is what I would suggest you visit the Wellington Botanic Garden in spring for.

From the moment you enter the main gate of the Botanic Garden on Glenmore Street, you are hit by color. All I could say was, “Wow!” when I saw the flowers.

You can take the path that skirts Glenmore Street and continue walking in the Main Garden to be hit by more colorful floral displays.

While the combination and choice of colors for the flowers may vary from year to year, it is still something impressive to see, because there are so many flowers of different colors on display.

Continue walking along the path until you reach the Joy Fountain. While the water is down to a trickle and the fountain is not as impressive as the Peacock Fountain in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, it is worth a visit. I particularly like the water coming out of the mouths of the frogs.

Continue walking to the left or just walk around and visit the different floral displays. Each one may affect you differently depending on what colors you like or dislike.

While I’m not familiar with all of the flowers in the garden and not all are tagged to be able to identify them, there are tulips and poppies among others. Some flowers are just mixed and wild, but still beautiful to see when put together.

All in all, I highly recommend visiting the Wellington Botanic Garden in spring. Just remember that if you visit late September / early October, the school holidays are on, so it might not be the best time to visit if you do not like crowds, since it can get busy, especially on days when the weather is nice.

You can download a map of the Wellington Botanic Garden before you visit or pick one up at the main entrance when you visit.

Video of floral displays in the Wellington Botanic Garden

This 2-minute video takes you on a nice walk through the Wellington Botanic Garden on a beautiful sunny day in spring, and ends with fantastic views of Wellington city.