The Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden, formerly known as the National Rhododendron Gardens, is a botanical garden in

Olinda, Victoria Olinda is a town within the Dandenong Ranges in central-south Victoria, Australia, located east of Melbourne's CBD, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Olinda recorded a population of 1,773 at the 2021 census. ...

, Australia. The gardens are known for their

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nativ ...

s, azaleas,

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controvers ...

s, cherries and

daffodils ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', ''Is ...

. The collection includes more than 50,000 plants, some of which are rare or endangered. There are also some smaller gardens, like the

Japanese Garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

. In September and early October, the

cherry blossom A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

s are in bloom in Cherry Tree Grove.

Setting

The gardens are located adjacent to the

Dandenong Ranges National Park The Dandenong Ranges National Park is a national park located in the Greater Melbourne region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated from at its westernmost points at Ferntree Gully and Boronia to at it easternmost point at ...

, near Olinda, at an elevation of almost above sea level. The site faces north-east and receives around of rainfall annually. The soils are mostly volcanic, free draining and mildly acid. These conditions are ideal for rhododendrons.

History

The Australian Rhododendron Society was established in Victoria in 1960, and in that same year it approached the government seeking the allocation of land for a rhododendron garden. A site in the Dandenong Ranges was chosen because it receives between two and three times the annual rainfall of Melbourne, and is on average five degrees cooler. The society was granted a lease of of State Government land adjacent to the town of

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state capital. It has a population of 393,115 people, covers ...

, by the State Premier

Henry Bolte Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG (20 May 1908 – 4 January 1990) was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Victoria. To date he is the longest-serving Victorian premier, having been in office for over 17 consecutive years. ...

. The area of the gardens was largely destroyed in a major bushfire in the Dandenong Ranges and the outskirts of Melbourne between 14 and 17 January 1962. Most of the mountain ash (''Eucalyptus regnans'') trees in the area were burned to the ground, and the trees now present in the garden have grown since the time of the fire. Although the initial plantings were largely destroyed in the fire, the area where the gardens were to be developed was cleared of bush. Members of the Rhododendron Society contributed to many of the early plantings using cuttings from their own collections and from plant material and seeds sent from other national and international collections. Some further specimens were collected during visits to Nepal, India and New Guinea. The ornamental lake in the gardens was built in 1969. The Cherry Tree Grove was officially opened on 13 October 1995 with a ceremonial planting of a tree by Prince and Princess Akishino of Japan. In 2013, the State Government published plans for the garden that included a proposed name change to include the word "botanic" in the title. In 2017, it was announced that the former Olinda golf course that had been abandoned for 5 years, would be converted into parkland and become part of the gardens, and the name of the gardens would be changed to Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden. In 2021, it was announced that the State Government would fund the construction of an Australian Garden immediately adjacent to the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden, on of land that was part of the former Olinda Golf Course. The new garden is to be a large scale replica of the exhibit at the London Chelsea Flower Show in 2013 by landscape designer Phillip Johnson and his collaborator Wes Fleming that won the best in show title.

References

External links

Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden Visitor Guide
{{Coord, -37.8522, 145.369, display=title Gardens in Victoria (Australia) Yarra Ranges