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Welcome to New Zealand's best kept Secret Gardens

Have you ever peered over the fence into an amazing garden and wished you could step through the gate and explore? Welcome to Secret Gardens, the garden-share platform that enables you to visit a diverse and inspiring collection of New Zealand gardens, across the seasons - and to meet the passionate, knowledgeable gardeners who created them.

Behind fences, hedges and gates throughout New Zealand lies a hidden world of creativity, passion and hard work – thriving diverse ecosystems, organic vegetable gardens, permaculture food forests, secret urban sanctuaries for native flora and fauna… and a wealth of valuable gardening knowledge.

Amongst the compost heaps and pea-straw you’ll find their creator, curator and caretaker, the keen gardener – always eager to share their hard-earnt wisdom, their successes and failures, and to help inspire a new generation of gardeners.

Whether it’s a large-scale formal garden, a compact inner-city sanctuary, a productive kitchen garden or a prized dahlia collection, every Secret Garden offers something unique and inspiring to explore and learn from.

Explore Secret Gardens

Explore our curated collection of Secret Gardens which are open for visits – hosted by the gardener – throughout much of the year. Our collection features gardens from across New Zealand… with new listings being added every month.

Flower Gardens

Vegetable Gardens
Food Forests
Native Gardens
Lifestyle Properties
NZ Gardens Trust

Secret Gardens of Aotearoa

by Jane Mahoney & Sophie Bannan
$49.99 + Postage

Explore twelve intriguing and unique New Zealand gardens – from a hidden suburban food forest in Coromandel Town to an ever-evolving collage of botanical curiosities in Dunedin.

Though each garden is unique, all embody the Secret Gardens values of sustainable gardening practices, kaitiaki and knowledge sharing.

Meet the Gardeners

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Merve, Hakea, Raglan

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Linda, Ngāmotu, Taranaki

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Jo, Greenhills Paradise, Coromandel

Explore Workshops

As well as hosting garden visits, many of our Secret Gardeners offer workshops and practical demonstrations, covering a whole range of topics and practical skill sets.

Masterclass Series ‘23

We are thrilled to announce our 2023 Masterclass Series, hosted by Margaret Long at Frensham, near Christchurch – three very special events in store, for gardeners of all levels.

Articles

Partner charities

Do you have a Secret Garden you would like to share?

Fantastic! Get in touch and we’ll send you an information pack.

Give the gift of gardening inspiration buy a Secret Gardens voucher