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Waddon Ponds, formerly part of an old estate of c.2000 acres, is now the only place where the River Wandle is visible in Croydon. There was a corn mill from medieval times, and the ponds were formerly millponds. The river was dammed to form a lake but in the late C19th diverted to the north and east, creating an area of watercress beds, later drained for allotments and finally used for industrial purposes. The public park was formed in 1928 when Croydon Corporation purchased parts of two estates, Waddon Court and Waddon Lodge, the remaining land built over for housing. A sundial commemorates Mr Pescott Row, who vigorously campaigned for the park.

Wandle Park was laid out on the site of two old meadows purchased by Croydon Corporation in 1888 and 1889. It opened in May 1890, its chief attraction the River Wandle that ran through it and the popular boating lake formed in the south half of the park, both now gone. Other facilities were a bandstand, tennis courts and bowling green. An open air pool opened in 1913 but had closed by 1979. The Borough's Summer Show was held here during the 1930s; there was fishing in the summer and ice-skating in the winter when the lake froze. In 1967 the river was culverted, its original course now marked by willows, and the lake, by now depleted of water, was filled and grassed over.

Westow Park was originally acquired by the local authority for a children's playground in the 1890s. It was augmented by the purchase in 1969/70 of the grounds of two demolished C19th villas, Windermere and Walmer, together with part of a pre-fab estate at College Green. Windermere had been converted and enlarged in 1873-6 for use as the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind, which also used Walmer. The park includes the remains of garden terraces created for the blind and an ornamental archway, formerly leading to the front door from Church Road. Within the park are horse chestnuts planted in the original gardens. A pond that was once in the grounds has been filled in since the 1950s.

Wettern Tree Garden was laid out from 1919 on by Eric Frank Wettern, whose family had moved to Sanderstead in the 1900s. He and his brother Herbert built houses and later purchased land to create gardens. Eric's garden at Roselands was a series of themed gardens, with specimen and rare trees grown from seed collected during business trips, and Herbert created a rose garden. A lifelong member of the RHS, Eric was a member and later President of the Sanderstead Horticultural Society, which in 1953 held its Summer Show in his garden at Roselands. When he conveyed his garden to Croydon Corporation for the benefit of the public in 1965 the name was changed to Wettern Tree Garden. The gardens now also include the Rose Trellis Garden created in 1967 and a Millennium Gazebo in 2000.

The site of Whitehorse Road Recreation Ground was acquired by Croydon Corporation in 1888 as an informal play area for local children in a densely populated district and work was completed by 1891. It was laid out with a perimeter gravel path, 250 trees and grass, and a clump of trees, seat and drinking fountain were moved. In 1936 an enclosed rest garden was created for the elderly, which had circular raised areas of planting and a shelter, the latter later removed. Opposite the recreation ground there used to be a large fishpond, now grassed over as Boulogne Road Playground.

The Whitgift Almshouses were founded in 1596 by Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift, who gained Elizabeth I's permission to build a hospital and boys school in Croydon. They continue to be used as homes for the elderly with admission qualifications virtually unchanged and Elizabeth II has visited in 1983 and 1996. The buildings were completed in 1599, a 2-storey quadrangle surrounding a central garden, with a small chapel in the north-east corner. The garden layout has little changed since at least the 1880s, a lawn with flower borders and beds divided by a central path between 2 archways, surrounded by paving stones with benches set against the walls. A modern sundial is set into the central path.

Whitgift School occupies former parkland of Haling Park, and vestiges of the earlier planting remain in the school grounds and a copse from the medieval woodland. Haling Park was once the home of Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of the Fleet at the time of the Armada in 1588. The school was founded in Croydon in 1596 by John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, and opened in 1600; it moved to Haling Park in 1931. Andrew Quadrangle in the centre of the main block has undulating lawns, an ornamental pond, collection of bonsai and a Japanese garden, with aviaries and a variety of exotic birds. An Elizabethan-style Founder's Garden was created in 2000 on the site of Haling Park's walled garden. The Water Gardens opened in 2005 with a waterfall between upper and lower lakes and over 500 species of trees and shrubs.

Woodcote Village Green was laid out in 1903 as the focal point for the Upper Woodcote Model Village within the Webb Estate, a high-class residential development by estate agent and horticulturalist William Webb. The Green was provided with whipping post and stocks, a see-saw, pond with flock of geese opposite the smithy shaded by a chestnut tree. The Lord Robert, a Temperance Inn and General Stores opened in 1907. There was an estate blacksmith from 1904-1914 but the smithy, pond and geese are now gone although the stocks remain. A War memorial is located near the Lord Robert. The Green is overlooked by 9 mainly half-timbered houses, intended by Webb for occupation by workmen on the estate.

Woodside Green is a traditional village green, now divided into 3 parts by roads. References to the old hamlet date back to 1662 and the Green is shown on the Croydon Inclosure Map of 1800. In 1870 the north-east part was proposed as a site for a new church but local pressure opposed this and in 1871 the land was granted to Croydon Local Board of Health on condition it was 'forever kept as an open space'. In 1888 the adjacent Poplar Farm was acquired and its land later added to the Green. The Green retains a stone cattle and horse trough, and is bounded by post and rail fencing. The layout has only altered from the late C19th to accommodate road widths and the War Memorial now located at the apex of the Green.