Visit to Bright Street Community Garden

June 2026

Last month I went to visit Bright Street Community Garden in Eden Terrace, Auckland. It is a few minutes' drive from my place of work, across the sprawl of main roads coming into the city centre from the west and south. I had seen it in 'Flourish' by Juliet Nicholas and Barb Rogers, a book about extraordinary women and the New Zealand gardens they had created. It featured Lyn Barnes who started the transformation of a piece of wasteland into a Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust (MBNZT) certified butterfly garden.

Whilst the immediate area is still tired semi-industrial space abutting pretty villas, the community garden created a mini-renaissance and the trust Lyn formed with her neighbours fund-raised and commissioned mural artist Kate Millington to turn the huge concrete wall opposite into a beautiful work of art, "Kōwhai Butterfly". I read that the huge concrete wall helps create a warm micro-climate beneficial to insects.

The garden is on a corner plot opposite a large wall with Kate Millington's "Kōwhai Butterfly" mural

Many gardens are very neat and tidy - the opposite of what is useful to lepidoptera - and this wonderful project, whilst carefully weeded and tended, is a magical sprawl of shrubs and flowers. You cannot help but feel your shoulders relax and your heart rate slow once you have entered this sloping corner plot.

The path leads you up past Mexican bush sage, lantana and Tagetes lemmonii

It features a wide range of butterfly and pollinator plants sheltered by native trees. I saw lion's tail, calendula, fennel, lantana, Mexican bush sage, Pride of Madeira, Tagetes lemmonii, swan plants, lavender, bog sage and more. A wooden shelter with a table, chairs and a community library encourages visitors to linger, and a chalkboard welcomes visitors. The MBNZT certificate is proudly displayed in the shelter, decorated in colourful bunting reflecting the design of the wall mural.

I did not see any butterflies on the day I visited, which was cool and windy, and it will be interesting to re-visit in summer. It seems perfect for butterflies.