Part 1: The Magical Hamilton Gardens
Part 2: The Magical Hamilton Gardens - The Paradise Collection
Part 3: The Magical Hamilton Gardens - The Indian Char Bagh Garden and The Italian Renaissance Garden
Te Parapara showcases plants that can be used as resources as well as plants with cultural significance. The plant displays are set in a design that references traditional architectural structures and cultural aspects of horticulture. The garden tells the story of growing food crops in the Waikato, from the landing of the Tainui waka to the days of the extensive plantations described by European visitors in the 1840s. It shows how the first Polynesians who arrived in Aotearoa used the wild plants they found and demonstrates the new techniques they developed to grow tropical crops in a subtropical climate. The garden also shows the cultural context that integrated and regulated the agronomic life of pre-European Waikato/Ngati Wairere society.
Te Parapara is divided into two areas. Te Ara Whakatauki (the proverbial path), located between the square and the waharoa (gateway), is the wild grain kingdom of forest and grassland. The ruler of this realm is Haumia-tiketike, the god of wild edible plants. Te Taupa (The Garden), beyond Waharoa, was the realm of cultivated food, ruled by Rongomatane, the god of Kumara, and all cultivated edible plants.
Te Parapara was originally the name of the former European Maori settlement in the centre of what is now Hamilton Gardens. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the riverbanks of the central Waikato were lined with many Māori gardens, hence the national significance of the Waikato/Tainui horticultural heritage of the area. The Tiparapara/Hamilton Garden site was once the home of the famous Ngati Wairere chief Haanui and is known as a sacred ceremonial site associated with the harvesting of food crops. There is a tuahu (sacred altar or shrine) called Te Ikamauroa associated with rituals in the area.
The Te Parapara Garden project is a joint project between Nga Mana Toopu and Hamilton City Council. It goes beyond physical development to include traditional knowledge, interpretive material and documentation of ceremonies, all focused on heritage and tikanga associated with the local area.
The Fantasy Collection is rather new. There are 7 gardens: Surrealist Graden, Picturesque Garden, Tudor Garden Tropical Garden, Chinoiseries Garden, Concept Garden, and Mansfield Garden.
In general, surrealism in the garden is manifested in distortions of scale, surrealist sculptures, the inclusion of strange biomorphic and incongruous elements or the use of materials that are represented in unexpected ways. Each of these features has been used in this garden. There is a 1930s garden and walkway, but everything in the garden itself is five times the normal scale. Instead of a dozen white roses, the lawn curves around the corners like a sheet of paper, and instead of a dozen white noses.
The Chinese have traditionally been the masters of the surrealist garden. Their gardens usually represent huge fabulous miniature landscapes. They often feature oddly shaped, twisted Taihu rocks that were compared to clouds. (An example of a Taihu rock can be seen in a Chinese scholar’s garden).
There is also a tradition of pruning into strange, surrealistic shapes. Probably the most famous examples of this are Packwood House and Levens Hall in England, which are shown in the picture in the passage into this garden.
The strange life forms in this surrealist garden have come to be known as trons. their shapes were originally inspired by primitive pre-Cambrian life forms and the paintings of British artist David Inshaw, but they have evolved into simpler forms. They are designed to look a little sinister, and you might even notice that they have moved …
