Garden Location
Visit the gardens
Pukeiti is located high on a saddle between Taranaki Maunga and the Kaitake Ranges. The area was virgin rainforest for thousands of years, until most of the rimu was removed through logging in the 1920s.
When Douglas Cook first viewed the property, he could see all the way to the coastline, and to Mount Ruapehu in the middle of the Te Ika a Maui, the North Island. The old house on the block also had a garden with several old rhododendrons, which were still thriving despite having being neglected for some time. As the plan for Pukeiti was to create a garden of international importance, featuring rhododendrons growing to perfection in New Zealand’s native rainforest, he was sold.
Getting there
Visit the Garden at 2290 Carrington Road, New Plymouth. If you are driving, follow Carrington Road for about 23 kilometres out from town.
Send post to The Secretary at Taranaki Mail Centre, PO Box 1066, New Plymouth 4340
Taranaki Regional Council
Plant hunter Station
The PRT always kept detailed records on the location of plants in the garden. In the past few years, Trust members have worked closely with TRC staff to load the thousands of plants in the garden into an on-line database. The Plant Hunter Station contains plant and species information, photographs and/or illustrations of the plants and a geo-physical map reference. Using the database you can pinpoint the location of the garden plants at Pukeiti, as well as many native New Zealand rainforest plants which occur naturally in the garden. Even if you cannot visit the garden in person, using the Plant Hunter Station means you can still quite literally find out about specific plants in the garden.
Walking trails
If you want to plan your visit ahead of time, check out the TRC’s garden map, showing the location of all the walks and other attractions in the garden.