But be warned: if you want to check all this season's vibrant new blooms in the rose garden, then allow plenty of time.
There are, after all, 1682 individual rose bushes, representing 744 different varieties, spread over 0.2ha, collections supervisor Barbara Wheeler says.
The rose gardens were in the headlines earlier this month when vandals trampled four bushes while taking a night-time shortcut through the grounds.
But thankfully, such incidents are rare, says Ms Wheeler, although the red roses generally come in for some unwanted attention when Valentine's Day rolls around each February.
While the Dunedin Botanic Garden was established in 1863, making it the first in New Zealand, the origins of the rose garden are a little less clear.
According to the garden's history, written by Eric Dunlop, Scotsman David Tannock proposed splitting the garden into four sections, including a special rose garden, soon after his appointment as superintendent in 1903.
The rose section was extended almost every year thereafter and stretched from the Main North Rd end to the Winter Garden by the time the latter was opened in October 1908.
The realignment of State Highway 1 in the late 1980s forced the rose garden to be moved to its present site.
Redesigned by landscape architect Lois Binnie and incorporating the Oamaru stone pillars from the previous garden, the new area was opened in October 1989 as the central feature of the lower garden.
This season's blooms are a reminder that annual rose shows are just around the corner. The National Spring Rose Show and Convention will be held in Timaru on November 27 and 28; the North Otago Rose Show is on December 3 and 4; and the Otago Rose Show on December 4 and 5 will be held at St Mary's Hall in Mosgiel, the first time in more than 75 years it has not been held in Dunedin.
• Top row, from left: Madame Lauriol de Barny, Compassion, Just Joey, Ingrid Bergman, Purple Beauty.
• Middle row: Golden Celebration, Leaping Salmon, Dublin Bay, Erfurt.
• Bottom row: Amazon, Autumn Delight, Strawberry Ice, Golden Showers, Old Master.
