Rotorua Festival of Gardens shows off city's natural beauty

Locals opened up their properties and showed off their beautiful gardens to help raise money for great causes this weekend.

The Rotorua Festival of Gardens 2017 ran from Fridayto yesterday

The festival has been running for more than two decades with a committee made up of volunteers.

President Joan Pryde said a booklet was provided which was split up into territories and had maps for those who came from out of town.

There were 42 gardens involved this year.

The festival is a fundraiser for the Bay Rescue Helicopter and St John Ambulance.

Pryde said these were great causes because they were regional and supported all manner of people.

To make the event more family-friendly, admission was free for children.

"It's nice to be able to share your work, and I think it encourages people when they go home and have a new idea."

Pryde said they sold about 1300 tickets and last year raised $25,000.

She was not sure yet if they were going to quite reach that number this year.

This year was Susan and Nigel Yockney's second time with a garden in the festival, though this time they entered both their Wylie St properties.

Mrs Yockney said visitors had been from all over, including Taranaki, Hamilton, Christchurch, and the Wairarapa - "it's amazing how far people come".

She said the weather had been a real challenge this year.

Mrs Yockney said she enjoyed how, once all the work was done, there was a social connection with other like-minded people.

"We do meet a lot of keen gardeners coming through and we compare things."