Auckland Wintergarden

This week, our Travel pics series is G for Gardens.

Some people have a green thumb. In fact, my grandfather was once reputed to have stuck a dead, dry stick in the ground – and have it grow.

Me, I’m the opposite.

If I plant something, it’s almost guaranteed to die.

Although I suspect that’s partly because I don’t treat plants right.

I don’t feed them, or even water them, regularly – and Shirley and I like to go away on holidays and leave our poor gardens to fend for themselves while we are away.

But I have a solution.

I encourage Shirley to take as many photos as she likes of gardens around the world, as we travel – so even if our the hanging baskets on our back deck are as denuded as a desert, at least our computer screens are replete with flowers and foliage 🙂

Which brings us to the first of the pictures in this week’s collection.

These were flowers taken in Auckland, at the Domain Wintergarden – two large glasshouses built on the site of the 1914 Exhibition.

Right next to the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Wintergarden is a must-visit if you are in Auckland and like plants. And that’s especially so if you come from a colder climate, and rarely see tropical flowers.

Of course, we see them quite regularly here in Queensland – but even so, the Wintergarden is beautiful, and a lovely balance between tropical temperate.

These were in the hothouse, as opposed to the coolhouse next door, or the outside gardens surrounding the two Victorian-style greenhouses.