Wrights Watergardens, though slightly off the beaten track (but well-signposted), has been well patronised from day one.
Wrights Watergardens, though slightly off the beaten track (but well-signposted), has been well patronised from day one.
Building their Pukekohe gardens 13 years ago as a hobby, owners Malcolm and Dael Wright happily accepted visitors from the very beginning.
“We were growing and picking flowers for the export market, and people would come back and ask where all the flowers had gone. So we decided to keep them all for the public,” says Malcolm.
The six-acre gardens are built around an old quarry (the rock’s believed to be over 600,000 years old) and surround the 10-metre Mauku waterfall.
The 60-70 varieties of lilies are the garden’s main attraction. Other features include a wishing well (the money goes towards guide dog training), a small Buddhist temple, eels, fish and turtles.
Criss-crossing boards are built over the lily ponds, so you can walk across the lilies and peer down into the water.
“A Chinese guy came once and explained that the zigzagging pattern of the wood is to avoid evil spirits, which travel in a straight line. I just built it that way because I liked it,” laughs Malcolm.
Although the gardens are open year-round, the best time to visit is between December and April. The Lotus Festival in late January, when flowers bloom to the size of dinner plates and emit a pungent odour, attracts the most visitors.