Botanic gardens play a major role in plant conservation in New Zealand. They provide a primary interface between people and nature in a largely urban environment. Botanic gardens are:
- Expert growers of native plants and undertake research on germination and propagation
- Involved in plant species recovery work
- Ex-situ repositories for native plants
- A showcase for native plants and how they may be used in horticulture and urban amenity plantings
- Leaders in native plant education
For more information about botanic gardens:
- Botanic Gardens Conservation International
- Auckland Botanic Gardens
- Hamilton Botanic Gardens
- Waikereru Ecosanctuary - located near Gisborne, contains the 1769 Garden which features plants that grew in the Tairāwhiti, and were familiar to local Māori at that time. Many of the species collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander from the Royal Society party of artists and scientists on board the Endeavour are now rare or endangered.
- Napier Botanic Gardens
- Wellington Botanic Gardens
- Otari-Wilton’s Bush
- Christchurch Botanic Gardens
- Dunedin Botanic Gardens
- Queens Park Invercargill (contains the Laurie Metcalf Native Plant Garden and a Subantarctic Plant Garden)
- Motu Moana Rakiura Stewart Island (a native plant garden started by Noeline Baker in 1953, now managed by the Department of Conservation)