Cross Hills Gardens

Cross Hills Gardens
Cross Hills Gardens
Cross Hills Gardens
Cross Hills Gardens

Cross Hills Gardens is a park-like garden that has been partly modelled on the great English gardens and includes one of the world's finest collections of rhododendrons and azaleas, consisting of over 2,000 varieties.

Cross Hills is situated 540 metres above sea level with free-draining soil and a reliable rainfall, average 1140 millimetres. The water supply for the property comes from a spring, supplying crystal clear water all year round. Winters can be cold with falls of snow quite common. These conditions are similar in some aspects to those found in the Himalayas and China from where the majority of rhododendron species originated.

Development of this area from virgin bush began in approximately 1886. The first settler built a very modest dwelling just inside the cattle stop and surrounded it with Cupressus macrocarpas for shelter. The two massive trees in the front parking area now nearly 100 years old are all that remain. A solitary oak tree, still growing in the café garden, was the only other exotic tree on Cross Hills, when the farm was purchased in 1938 by Eric Wilson the founder.

Since 1938 the 240-hectare property has been fenced and pastures and access improved, until today it is fully developed into a high producing sheep and cattle hill farm. All buildings on Cross Hills have been constructed from Cupressus macrocarpa timber grown on the property. The timber you see in the Garden Café and Plant Centre was milled from trees planted in 1939, grown from seed off one of the specimens in the front car park. Stones from the base of the Ruahine Ranges have been used in the stonework on the front of the Garden Café. The same stone has also been used in the retaining walls throughout the gardens.