Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival

12/10/2026

Warm welcomes, friendly faces, hospitable hosts… that’s what the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival is all about.

But we need your help.

Festival manager Jessica Parker is calling on volunteers to help greet people in some gardens during the spring event, which runs from October 30 to November 8.

“It’s a wonderful festival that brings lots of people to our region and celebrates Taranaki and the beauty we have to offer.”

Volunteers can be the friendly folk at garden gates, greeting visitors, checking tickets and helping them find their way.

“People really enjoy being volunteers, welcoming visitors to the beautiful gardens and supporting our dedicated gardeners. It’s fun and everyone is in a great mood because they’re outdoors and doing something they love.” says Jessica.

“It’s just a really positive experience for everyone.”

These helping hands also give garden owners more time to chat with visitors plus share their knowledge, stories and gardening secrets.

People keen to spread goodwill and manaakitanga to all garden visitors can contact Jessica at [email protected].

11/10/2026

Te Rongohua, owned by Steph and Brent Cockerill, is a garden nestled among native woodlands. This suburban New Plymouth garden offers an incredible bush outlook, blending natural beauty with artistic expression.
Thoughtfully designed with good bones, it features handcrafted horse-shoe sculptures by Brent and elevated platforms to view the serene valley below.
A perfect perch (Te Rongohua) for abundant birdlife, the garden provides harmony of structure and wilderness with a tiny stream, inviting Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival visitors to connect with nature. That's just 18 days away!
Featured in NZ House & Garden magazine. Photos: Jane Dove Juneau

09/10/2026

https://www.gardenfestnz.co.nz/post/keeping-it-fresh-q-a-with-june-leeds-from-cairnhill-in-toko

Q: Is there a part of your garden you’ve changed, refreshed or even added, since the last time you were in the festival?Yes, we have made a change to the way visitors will enter the garden from the driveway, changing the shape of the gardens on either side. We have added to the liriope bed and, on...

08/10/2026

Dee Turner has created Korito, an extensive permaculture garden in suburban New Plymouth – and she is passionate about inspiring people to grow food. Dee will be in teaching mode at 11am every day of the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, which kicks off in three weeks today! As part of the Mitre 10 Garden Speaker Series, she’ll talk about creating a Permaculture Food Forest – and more. The talk is free with your garden entry fee.
Korito is a place to learn about self-sufficiency and producing edibles in abundance. It is planted with annual, biennial and perennial crops that provide food year-round. Dee’s garden has mandalas, mosaics, stepover and espaliered fruit trees, a herb spiral, food forest, productive subtropicals and an ancient bush block.
For those who have been before, you’ll find a surprise new addition to Korito, open from 9am to 5pm during the 10-day festival (30 Oct – 8 Nov).

08/10/2026

https://www.gardenfestnz.co.nz/post/keeping-it-fresh-q-a-with-judi-gopperth-hirst-cottage

Q. Is there a part of your garden you’ve changed, refreshed or even added, since the last time you were in the festival?While mostly keeping to original structure, I make small changes from year to year and where needed. For example, this year I lost two huge branches from protected oak during Jul...

06/10/2026

Pukeiti is celebrating its 75th birthday. So, when you stroll through the rhododendron haven during the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, stop for a moment and think of a man called Douglas Cook. He had the vision to create this extensive rhododendron garden and, with the help of Tūpare creator (Sir) Russell Matthews, chose a bush block on Upper Carrington Rd.
Cook bought the land and donated it to the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust and the “gut-busting” work began to create the 360ha park embraced by a rainforest. The official opening of Pukeiti was held on 1 November 1951.
As well as the diverse rhododendron collection, there are other exotics, an all-weather visitor centre, walking tracks, covered vireya houses and the treetop viewing platform over the waterwheel. Pukeiti is owned by the Taranaki Regional Council.
It’s all go at Pukeiti during the festival (30 Oct – 1 Nov) with many events: Yours Faithfully art exhibition by Jana Branca, Fri 30 Oct-Sun 8 Nov, 10am-3pm; Guided Walk with the Head Gardener, Sat 31 Oct, 10am-11.30am; Discover Rare Plants, Sun 1 Nov, 10am-11.30am; Gardener’s Guided Walk, Wed 3 Nov, 10am-11.30am; A Walk with the Rhododendron Collections Officer, Fri 6 Nov, 10am-11.30am. Free rides for limited mobility visitors, daily 10am-2pm.

05/10/2026

Thirty-five years ago the only feature on this suburban New Plymouth property was a lone Tītoki. Now this special tree is the namesake and centrepiece of John and Janet King’s garden sanctuary in Merrilands. Wandering down steps and paths, visitors will find a garden that opens out to reveal a variety of plantings and features, including camellias, rhododendrons, roses and a terraced vegetable garden, all with a backdrop of stunning native bush. This is the second year the Kings have opened Tītoki for the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, just over three weeks away (30 Oct – 8 Nov). It's also a destination on the Twilight Tours, along with neighbouring garden Te Rongohua and country garden The Yews. The Twilight Tours are led by Terry Parkes from the Nice Boutique Hotel and run from 5-8pm on Friday, 30 October, and Saturday, 7 November. Photos: Jane Dove Juneau

04/10/2026

We're in The Listener talking about collaboration, inspiration and spring celebrations! Sharing the best of our region are Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, Taranaki Arts Trail and Taranaki Sustainable Trails. The Taranaki Fringe Garden Festival is also in the mix. You can buy The Listener in stores and supermarkets, and have a look online at: https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubid=9da9be64-7ff3-4cfa-9696-fdb226d13927

04/10/2026

New Monday: There are five first-time entrants in this year’s Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival – and you’ll be able to check them out in just 25 days’ time!
Two inner-city, one rural and two town gardens have joined the fold.
In New Plymouth, Christine and Leigh Hucker are opening Floreat, a semi-formal garden with a view, where symmetry, clipped buxus and espaliered specimens combine with mature magnolias and camellias, roses, hydrangeas and edibles.
Closer to the sea, you’ll find Margaret Parker’s La Ultima, an eclectic cottage Garden in Development created in under two years, filled with flowers, shapely trees, and sculptures made by her late husband, Terry Parker.
In Stratford, step into Portia’s Place, where Zach Caskey and Mitchel Alexander have created a romantic woodland-cottage Garden in Development with 100-year-old bones, winding paths, stonemason-style steps, unusual plants, wild topiary and hidden treasures.
Beyond Bell Block, you can escape to Rural Haven, the peaceful country garden of Yvonne Geeraedts and Len Houwers, where flowing curves, colour and texture meet an abundance of homegrown food.
In Waitara, wander through Nicola and Murray Fabish’s Dovehaven, a Garden in Development, where old-fashioned flowers take centre stage, with roses, sweet peas and fuchsias, arches smothered in blooms and a driveway edged with a “hedge” of petunias.
The five fresh faces are among 40 gardens opening for this year’s festival, on from 30 October to 8 November. See you there!

01/10/2026

Kahikatea is a peaceful, secluded garden with large sprawling lawns in a hidden urban retreat. Katy and Willie Roach’s rustic New Plymouth haven has a natural setting surrounded by native bush, which has a QE II covenant. Sustainability and resourcefulness are key gardening practices at Kahikatea. Maples, specimen trees and natives are interspersed with colourful annuals, perennials, roses, hostas, hydrangeas, irises and subtropical plants.

Fruit trees and vegetables provide organic produce. Stroll through the bush paths, view old farm collectables or Willie’s collection of American cars. Devonshire teas and home-baked classics are available 10am - 2pm in the garden cafe during the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival (30 Oct – 8 Nov). People are also invited to picnic on the lawn. Woodcraft made by a local wood turner is for sale. On-street parking is preferred, but there is parking available down the drive for those less mobile.

For the first time this year, Katy is part of the Mitre 10 Garden Speaker Series. During her Edible Plants for the Beginner's Garden walk-and-talk tours, she will share her delight in growing and harvesting organic fruit and vegetables, which are proudly incorporated into her culinary endeavours and preserves. She works with the mantra: “Keep it simple and practical, and make it happen.”
Join Katy at 1pm on Sat 31 Oct, Sun 1 Nov, Thu 5 Nov & Sat 7 Nov.
These talks are free, but the garden entry fee still applies.