These shady green gardens, which started as the vegetable patch for the Dutch East India Company, are a lovely place to relax. They are planted with a fine collection of botanical specimens from South Africa and the rest of the world, including frangipanis, African flame trees, aloes and roses. At the garden's southern end there's a re-creation of the VOC Vegetable Garden.

　　A statue of Cecil Rhodes stands in the centre of the gardens. Get your bearings using a self-guided booklet from the Visitor Information Centre on the Queen Victoria St side of the garden. There's a small exhibit on the history of the garden here as well.