Every garden in this year’s Auckland Garden Showcase tells its own story. Created by some of Auckland’s leading landscape designers, each display offers a unique vision for outdoor living – from peaceful retreats and family-friendly spaces to contemporary entertaining areas, lush planting and clever solutions for gardens of every size.
No two gardens are the same, so take your time exploring each one. Browse the gardens below to discover the inspiration behind every design, meet the designers, and explore the products and ideas that bring each garden to life.
Jill Rice - Get Outside Ltd
A garden about connection. Woven timber panels represent the different cultures that make up Aotearoa, opening into a sheltered “whare” space at its heart. A mauri stone trickles water into a rill and pond. Kids dig in the sand pit, crawl through the ponga tunnel, and mix potions at the carved slab table. An orchard and vege patch ring the outside — a nod to the joy every culture finds in growing their own kai.
Woven together, not apart.
Nick Robinson Landscape Architecture
A garden built around stillness. At its heart sits a circular reflecting pool, ringed by raised natural stepping stones and timber boardwalks that spiral you in toward the water.
Flowering kōwhai specimens anchor the corners, with low native and spring-flowering planting mounded gently between the paths — a calm, contemplative counterpoint to the busier zones of the Showcase.
Val Puxty Landscape Design
Built for long evenings outside. A Jetmaster outdoor fire anchors the space, framed by a simple black batten pergola and contemporary outdoor furniture set into a generous crazy-paved courtyard.
Corten edging and a wrought iron fence and gate frame the garden, with layered planting, vertical decking and steps, and a built-in firewood box rounding it out — a polished, low-fuss space designed for entertaining.
Bartleet Landscape Studio
A garden zone built around water, at a scale that suits smaller sections. Two raised decks connect via timber boardwalks to a central pool and a curved corten-edged raised garden, with a second raised pool platform tucked alongside.
Native planting does the heavy lifting throughout — pōhutukawa, nīkau, and native tree ferns in varying heights sit among mass-planted native grasses, with pebble and screen elements framing the space and creating a few quiet viewpoints along the way.
Mel Robinson
A calm, central gathering space built around structure and symmetry. Paved paths lead into a quiet green heart, framed by clean lines and considered planting that gives the whole area a sense of order and ease.
Built for lingering — whether that’s a slow coffee, a place to sit with friends, or just a breather between the busier zones of the Showcase.
Tori Arundel
A compact, beautifully considered space that proves size isn’t everything. Every element earns its place, with layered planting and thoughtful detailing packed into a smaller footprint.
A great example of what’s possible in a modest backyard — inspiration for anyone working with a tighter section.
North Shore-based, with over 20 years of combined experience. Parrot is the team bringing the entire Garden Showcase to life this year — turning ordinary backyards into thoughtfully planned, built-to-last outdoor spaces.
From paving and retaining walls to planting and water features, no project is too big or too complex — which is exactly why they’re building this year’s showcase from the ground up.
