Te Parapara Gardens . .

The recently finished pre-European Maori garden, Te Parapara, is an amazing example of our NZ heritage. The only garden of its type ever built since the original ( pre 1800`s), the garden is situated on the bank of the Waikato river in Hamilton Gardens, the site of an ancient Maori pa . The top photo is the entrance to the actual garden, before that you walk along a path through plantings which are really getting tall, another couple of years and it will be a mini forest !

The vege garden itself is surrounded by a tall manuka spiked fence, typical of the kind used by Maori, it makes a formidable barrier, lashed together with a strong plant material. There are a series of wooden carvings along the pallisades which portray the many Maori dieties of this area, Tainui. The small building on legs is a Pataka or traditional store house for the food, kept out rats etc. Always elaborately carved and well guarded, these small buildings were an important part of the garden, if food was not stored properly, the people would starve.

The last photo is of the Kumera mound, the earth mounded with ash or gravel added and the plants planted in a symbolic way,usually by the women of the tribe - all connected to the fertility of women .. Kumera or sweet potato, were brought to NZ with the first Maori, over 1000 years ago. Taro and a number of other tropical plants were brought here also, but most died in the harsh winters, taro is grown in the northern areas, especially around Auckland which has a large Polynesian population.