Victoria Esplanade

Garden Overview

The Camellia collection is located within the Victoria Esplanade, which is a vibrant and diverse public park within the city of Palmerston North.   Palmerston North has a population of 92,500, and is located in the North Island of New Zealand. It is a 2 hour drive or 30 minutes by air travel from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand.  Palmerston North has a favourable climate for growing camellias. They are popular garden plants and many streets have camellias on the verges.

The 16ha Victoria Esplanade incorporates mature planted gardens, walking trails that wend through native forest, an arboretum, a conservatory for tropical plants and beds of colourful annual flowers. Other attractions include: a Wildbase Centre for the recovery of injured native birds, an adventure playground and one of the country’s premier miniature railways that takes visitors for rides through the gardens. The Dugald Mackenzie Rose Garden is internationally acclaimed and is home to over 5,000 roses spread across 96 rose beds.  Surrounding the roses is the Camellia collection, accessed by the ‘Camellia Loop Walk’. The complementary blooming seasons of roses and camellias provide visitors with a colorful spectacle all year round.

Our Camellias

The main plantings of camellias commenced in 1968 to form a windbreak for the newly-established Dugald MacKenzie Rose Garden. Additional significant plantings of camellias took place in the 1980’s and 90’s, in themed beds according to species.  This included an impressive selection of reticulata camellias.  Subsequently the collection has been further enhanced and there are now a total of well over 1000 camellia plants belonging to 300 cultivars, with 25 species represented. These later additions have focused on camellias that were bred in the Manawatu and other southern regions of the North Island, New Zealand. Examples of these include the hybrids bred by Dr. Brian Doak, and the Jury family.

Brian

Kate Sheppard

Elsie Jury

A 750m concrete path that meanders through the camellia collection is known as the Camellia Loop Walk. It provides excellent access to the camellia collection, allowing all visitors to view blooms at close range. The path is well suited to those using wheelchairs and walkers, and mobility scooters are available for use from the nearby aquatic centre. There are 7 colourful information boards located along the walk that give a comprehensive overview of the Camellia family. These boards are illustrated with photographs of blooms from the garden. Many of these photographs may be viewed on the International Camellia Register. 

A map of the garden showing the position of the camellias

• For further information a downloadable flyer is available to view:
  https://www.pncc.govt.nz/files/assets/public/v/1/documents/parks-amp-recreation/camellia-collection-and-loop-walk.pdf
• A short promotional video of the Camellia Loop Walk is available to view: 
  https://www.pncc.govt.nz/News-Events/News/Discover-the-new-Camellia-Loop-Walk-at-Victoria-Esplanade

Contact Details

Victoria Esplanade
1 Palm Drive
Palmerston North 4410
New Zealand 

Tel: (06) 3568199
Email: info@pncc.govt.nz
Web: https://www.pncc.govt.nz/Parks-recreation/Parks-and-reserves/Victoria-Esplanade