An adventure through time and space and... plants

Hamilton isn't a very big city, one of it's claims to fame however, are its gardens. The Hamilton Gardens sprawl along the Waikato River towards the south edge of town. They contain pedestrian and bike paths to enjoy the grounds along the riverside. There's also an award-winning rose garden, with plenty of space for half a dozen to a dozen families to have private picnics.

Outlook towards the Rose Garden at the Hamiton Gardens from a Gazebo. Photo credit: A. Beaulieu 2020

When we visited the gardens though, it wasn't so much to see the riverbank, but to see their enclosed gardens.

Admission is free, and that is frankly insane because the enclosed gardens they have are amazing. They had seventeen different types of enclosed gardens while we were there, with four more currently under construction.

The four under being built were the Ancient Egyptian, Medieval, Baroque and Pacifika gardens.

Yes, those are the sort of gardens they have at the Hamilton Gardens.

Maps available to view the enclosed gardens. To the left you have the flyer version, to the right you have the aerial view as shown in the gift shop. It's really quite something. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020

We followed Alex's rule of exploring dungeons (always head left) because it did feel a little maze-like in there, the hedges and other greenery growing tall enough to enclose the gardens fully. That way, when you step into the space of one garden, you really get to enjoy the atmosphere created in that area. Not look off into the distance and think, 'that's a nice pagoda!' in the middle of an English flower garden.

The first half a dozen we saw were recreations of styles of gardens we had perhaps previously seen or heard of. These are gardens where living examples of their styles remain, and as such they are less open to interpretation, but no less beautiful in their execution.

From left to right: Slivers showing the Marilyn Monroe painting in the Modernist Garden, the English Flower Garden and a fountain in the Italian Renaissance Garden. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020

It's worth pointing out that each of the enclosed gardens can take your breath away for various reasons. Towards the end of our walk, we came across some gardens that were less anchored in facts, and so, in hindsight, the realness of these first ones really helped keep us malleable and open-minded enough to enjoy the gardens we visited later on.

The first gardens we saw were the Japanese Garden of Contemplation, an English Flower Garden, Chinese Scholar's Garden, Modernist Garden, Indian Char Bagh Garden and Italian Renaissance Garden.

They were all wonderful. The Japanese, Chinese and Indian gardens felt more exotic and magical from my western perspective. The English and Italian gardens, though they both also made me feel like I was being transported elsewhere, were more familiar. The Modernist Garden made me laugh, because it reminded me of my childhood, the colour the bottom of the pool was painted and even the colour of the pebbling was reminiscent of Place-des-Arts in downtown Montreal before it's renovation and the pool across the street from my mother's.

From left to right: Slivers of the Japanese Garden of Contemplation, the Indian Char Bagh Garden and a bridge in the Chinese Scholar's Garden. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020

Though we followed the philosophy of keeping to the left for the rest of the day, I'm going to describe the remaining gardens not in the order that we saw them in, but in the subcategories that I think best fit the remaining types.

Following in the vein of the gardens that represent a specific style of gardening where examples remain, we have the gardens where examples no longer remain. For example, the Tudor garden here is the only living Tudor garden currently in existence, the rest have all been destroyed or neglected beyond recognition.

The other garden that I would place under this category is the Te Parapara Garden. Here the Hamilton Gardens have recreated a Maori enclosure for growing native root vegetables with adjoining buildings, demonstrating pre-colonial horticulture found in New Zealand.

From left to right: the Tudor Garden and Te Parapara Garden. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020

The next three gardens are what I'm calling the 'interpretations of ideas gardens', they are the Chinoiserie Garden, the Tropical Garden and Concept Garden.

Chinoiserie was a trend in the early 18^th century where Europeans would re-imagine Eastern designs into their furniture or gardens. It wasn't genuine Chinese artwork, but a recreation of the style through Western eyes.

Similarly, the Tropical Garden is a trend that began in the 16^th century where they would try to recreate tropical landscapes in temperate climates. As the temperature would plummet, they gardeners had to be creative, finding ferns and other evergreens that looked exotic but didn't wither in the frost.

The Concept Garden is exactly like Modern and Contemporary Art in that the art created is meant the represent or explore and idea by the artist, sometimes it's abstract and difficult to interpret at a glance, but that's part of the fun. The concept behind the Concept Garden in Hamilton are two Maori proverbs, to be honest, I didn't focus very much on the idea behind the Concept Garden, but more on how it made me feel. The Concept Garden is a courtyard with at its centre a large square consisting of nine smaller squares, the eight outer squares were filled with foot-high greenery, while the middle square was an artificial pond. Each intersection of the squares' lines was punctuated by a young tree.

I found the straight lines and even square peaceful, the water in the middle would sometimes ripple with the wind and it just felt nice. As much as more natural gardens are beautiful, this garden's sense of bold order was charming. But already you can see the uneven layers in some of the growth, which is the entire concept behind this garden. No matter the lines, boarders, masks, eventually nature (in a garden and a person's true nature) will rule out.

From left to right: focus on a stylized doorway in the Chinoiserie Garden, the Concept Garden and a fern in the Tropical Garden. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020.

I think the next three were some of my favourites, they are gardens that may have actually been a trend at some point, but were designed with specific works of fiction in mind.

The Mansfield Garden was designed with Katherine Mansfield's short story The Garden Party in mind. Katherine Mansfield is from New Zealand and is considered a founder of modern literature. The Hamilton Gardens recreated several elements described in the story, feeling like a snapshot in time. All one needs are the people in their summer petticoats gossiping about who was seen dancing together and the picture is complete!

The Picturesque Garden was designed with the opera The Magic Flute in mind. We walked through it backwards by mistake, encountering the flute, snake and other sculptures after walking through the three doorways to an open pasture of ruins. It was fun, but might've made more sense had we done it the right way around.

The Surrealist Garden is suggested to be inspired by Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll with the statue outside depicting a scene with the Mad Hatter. However, the plaque confirms that the unusual proportions of the displayed garden tools and moving topiaries were based on Freud's essays on dreams. It was the sort of place that, for me, made me run around and giggle.

From left to right: Entrance to the Surrealist Garden, would you trust that tile floor? The big green things behind it are the topiaries. The tent from the Mansfield Garden and a glimpse at a ruin from the Picturesque garden. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020.

I'll quickly go through the functional gardens, they were the Herb Garden, Kitchen Garden and Sustainable Backyard Garden. The latter of these was interesting, it's a reasonable size to have as a backyard garden, it allowed for a small patch of grass, just enough to have a small picnic in. The rest is raised beds in triangular formations, creating a criss-cross of pathways. The garden is meant to be aesthetically pleasing and self-sustainable. Designed with a family of two adults and two kids in mind, it wouldn't provide all of the produce or food needed by the family, but it would promote responsibility and understanding of where food comes from and the work that needs doing to grow it. I think it's really nice in theory, but I did not warm up to the garden itself while walking through it. Maybe it's just because I didn't find it very pretty, it also didn't allow enough room to play in my opinion. They also implemented Azollas in an old bath in the garden to use as mulch and chicken feed and it grossed me out.

Where the Kitchen and Herb gardens are concerned, they're lovely, just not as lovely as the rest. As such, I did not spend that much time in them. In my defense, they were also the last on our journey and we were ravenous, just walking by the Herb Garden and catching a whiff of the fragrant herbs therein was enough to have us power-walking for the exit.

In hindsight, I come from a family of foodies with green thumbs, so I feel like I should have been taking notes. Hum... The vegetable patches were raised but not raised high enough to prevent backaches...?

Here is a picture of the Kitchen Garden, its design is based on the sort of garden that would have fed big estates. Photo credit: E.D. Meilutis 2020.

After wandering through all these lovely gardens, or more like, after walking by the Herb Garden, we realized we hadn't had food yet, and it was lunch time.

We used our map to find our way back to the Hamilton Gardens cafe and enjoyed brunch by the river. From there we went to the Waikato Museum in Hamilton (Waikato being the region that Hamilton sits in) and learned more about the town and how it had been shaped over time. I'll admit that I didn't absorb a whole lot, despite the interactive exhibit they had on display (at various points throughout the exhibit you were encouraged to make decisions that would impact Hamilton's future – at the end you could tally the decisions against what happened). My feet were tired and my brain was too, so we were happy to end our slow-walk through the museum a little early.

That is roughly how I remember that day, a whole lot of gardens, a smidge of museum. Oops.

Events described took place on February 27, 2020.