Yes! We went the opening week of the Henry Moore exhibit. Things are really shaping up beautifully at the garden. The rose garden was STUNNING absolutely fantastic and a haven for the organic rose gardener to view the performance of many roses. This spring we had the chance to learn which chosen cultivars there would be subject to ball in a lot of rain. They have a lovely array of antique roses. Not all parts of the garden are finished yet, but I am planning on going back in a few weeks to see how the roses are shaping up in heat.

I wouldn't call this list a top ten by any means. I have been to Chanticleer, Filoli, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden on the list. The first two are definitely must-see gardens. A true botanical garden is focused on botany which means it is educational but not necessarily beautiful. Botanical gardens are interesting to visit and often have beautiful sections but I don't usually find them beautiful overall. A beautiful garden is usually the result of passion and knowledge, horticultural skill and artistic gifts. Organizations or committees don't usually produce beautiful gardens--I'm being very opinionated here, I admit. Almost always, a single creative force creates a beautiful garden--one person, whether they have help or not, sometimes an owner with a designer and/or a head gardener. But a beautiful garden can be tiny and tended by one person. The glory of the art of gardening is that it is open to anyone with the love of it. I made a top-ten list once, from seeing hundreds of gardens in the US and Europe. Then I tossed it. Too many worthy candidates.

I'm visiting NZ from the U.S next week, and would like recommendations on rose gardens to visit. I will be based in the Hamilton area for 3 weeks, but will also be in and out of the Titirangi area. I know that Hamilton Gardens has a rose garden (and that I just missed a rose show), but please let me know any other hidden treasures! Old roses, new ones, minis,climbers.....I love them all! LOL Thanks all.

Thanks re the ID of the cleome. I don't grow annuals so am not familiar with most of them. I did a Google search on 'annual flower thorny stems' and cleome did come up but I couldn't seem to find a picture of the foliage to confirm that it matched.... I had heard that they seed around a lot so I'll warn them about that. re the slope/lower garden - the topography of the property and area is complicated and confusing! The house sits lower than the street and the driveway is sort of a ramp off the street and runs close to their front porch - there is no front garden - there isn't even room for a 'necklace' of green' like we have between the driveway and front porch. The lot slopes from the front of the house to the back - but not to the extent of producing a walk-out basement. The lower garden is naturally lower than the rest and the step down was there when they bought the property. The land behind the fence appears to be higher ground. So they seem to be sitting in a bowl - but there doesn't seem to be water retention problems so I assume that the land continues to drop off somewhere beyond the lower garden. The seating patio in the corner is just steps from the stairs down from the deck. It's a nice place for morning coffee and afternoon and evening relaxing. The outdoor dining table is on the deck. The hanging baskets someone commented on in the second picture above are hanging off the deck. The compost are is - and needs to be - attractive because it is across from the end of the stair from the deck! I took that picture looking down from the deck while standing near the stairs.... The garden space is both attractive, functional and used efficiently.