About

Birchwood is a beautifully peaceful Queenstown garden set against a magnificent mountainous backdrop. It was designed by renowned Australian garden designer Paul Bangay and is an excellent example of his signature style. It has been judged a Garden of National Significance by the NZ Gardens Trust.

The garden features a serene green, white and mauve colour palette and is set out as a series of rooms, each with their own character, that grow less formal as you move away from the house.

Mass-planting of hundreds of white ‘Sally Holmes’ roses, catmint, lavender and ‘Snow Hill’ hydrangeas is spectacular but deliberately simply, to avoid competing with the landscape and views of Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cecil Peak and Cardrona.

Visitors will find plenty of paths to wander and places to sit and soak up the garden’s beauty. Enjoy the curved walkway framed by Portuguese laurel hedging, the orchard where each apple tree is surrounded by buxus balls, the woodland area where bluebells abound in spring and the wisteria-covered pergolas. One of the garden’s loveliest elements is its pond, which features white water irises and water lilies.

The garden is still young and Paul Bangay visits most years and collaborates on further developments with owners Margot and Bruce Robinson.