Garden enthusiasts from as far afield as Australia are converging on Auckland this weekend, to get a peek behind garden walls and into some of the city's most impressive outdoor spaces.
The bi-annual Auckland Garden DesignFest gives visitors the chance to meet designers responsible for 20 private residential gardens, 19 of which have never been open to the public.
Selected by a professional panel from the Garden Design Society of NZ, they range from pocket size urban gardens through to grand, expansive spaces.
Organiser Deb Hardy says: "This year there’re a lot of vegetable gardens, bees and chooks."
"There are lots of gardens with art and sculptures in them, and outdoor living," she says.
Over 1000 people are expected to attend the event over the weekend and Ms Hardy says it's good for anyone needing inspiration.
"People take so many photographs, and basically, I wouldn't say steal ideas, but get ideas.
"It's one thing seeing a plant in a garden centre or seeing it in a nursery or kind of like a show, but seeing it in a garden and seeing how it grows with other plants is really interesting," she says.
Proceeds from ticket sales go the charities Ronald McDonald House, Garden To Table, and Rotary Newmarket Charitable Trust.
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