Wellington’s Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush is the only botanic garden dedicated solely to the collection and conservation of plants unique to Aotearoa.
The bush reserve also has over a 100 hectares of regenerating forest and some of the Capital’s oldest trees. For writer and historian Bee Dawson it’s a place of stories – of both national botanical heroes and local community. She has brought them together in Ōtari: 200 Years of Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush.
Ōtari-Wilton has become a ‘Living Plant Museum’ associated with plant legends like John Gretton McKenzie, Walter Brockie and Leonard Cockayne. Today it’s home to a laboratory dedicated to the study and preservation of our native flora.
Listen to Bee's Interview
