The Botanic Garden is a garden of great variety with the Leith Stream on the southern boundary and Lindsay Creek running through the middle dividing the garden in two. From the formal, almost level area of the lower garden with its herbaceous borders, rose garden, camellia collection, herb garden and the beautifully planted Lister Garden, to the major collection of plants in the rock garden on the slopes leading to the upper garden, there are features for all to enjoy.

Eastwoodhill is an arboretum of national and international importance. It holds the most comprehensive collection of woody plants in New Zealand and possibly the largest collection of Northern Hemisphere trees south of the equator including 170 species currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (I.U.C.N.) world endangered list.