Totara Waters is a 2 acre subtropical garden set on the upper Waitemata  Harbour, Auckland N.Z.

After purchasing the property in 1999 we decided to build a subtropical garden.  Extensive planting began with rare and unusual plants. This turned into a huge job, something much bigger than we originally anticipated

Our aim was to create an interesting and unusual Sub-tropical garden using varieties of plants not often seen in most gardens. There are many species of Palms, Cycads, Aloes, Agaves, Beaucarneas, Yuccas,       Dracaenas, succulents and of course Bromeliads.

We also hunted for unusual pot, urns and Crucibles from the smelters. Heavy equipment was also used to move in the larger Palms and other plants, almost at times became an absolute nightmare. Even a large collection of Chimney pots has been included in the garden

Totara Waters were recently awarded the honor of being one of New Zealand’s “Garden of National Significance”. The garden is often used by visitors as a basis for designing their own gardens.

Peter and Jocelyn will be telling us about  “Totara Waters, Our Sub Tropical Dream”