Spring has sprung and flowers are in bloom!
It's always nice to be a tourist in your own city, it's lovely to explore places that visitors come to enjoy. With some warm weather (finally!) arriving, I headed off to see the rhododendrons flowering in the Mt. Lofty Botanic Garden.
The Mt. Lofty Botanic Garden as the name suggests is on Mt. Lofty (highest peak in the Mt. Lofty Ranges, thank you primary school teacher who had me memorise all the highest peaks in the different ranges in South Australia!) It's a short drive up the freeway and a trip to the Botanic Garden can be attached to a visit to the Summit of Mt. Lofty where there is a cafe and souvenir shop.
This Botanic Garden is the youngest botanic garden in South Australia, having been officially opened in 1977 and the first plantings (in the rhododendron gully) were in 1960. It has been devastated by fires twice in its time as a Botanic Garden, but there's little evidence of the last fire in the 1980s so the garden is also a testament to how the Australian landscape recovers from bushfires. The garden was established as a cool temperate one, it even receives an occasional sprinkling of snow!
Rhododendrons don't really grow down on the Adelaide plain as it's too hot but the cool conditions on Mt. Lofty are perfect for them and they have begun to bloom. Not all are flowering but enough were for me to enjoy them.
These small lilac flowers are rhododendrons according to the sign, not the usual clumps of flowers I would expect.
The azaleas were also in bloom.
I developed a love of sculptured plantings of azaleas whilst in Japan, it's just a lot greener there!
These rhododendrons were just gorgeous, I like the dark pinks and red.
The magnolia trees were also blooming.
Pink magnolia
Pond and gazebo
I entered the garden from the upper carpark, so walked down into the valley, it's quite steep! I watched as families with prams struggled down some quite rough parks, once down by the ponds it's much easier going.
Large grassed area
There's a large open area near the lower carpark and perhaps this might be a better option for anyone with mobility issues.
Sculptured shrubs (again very Japanese to me!)
Small creek
Fern gully
Next to the upper carpark are camellias and they also love a cool climate and have flowered profusely.
Camellias
My favourite camellias, I call them pink fluffy ones, I think the official term is double petalled!
The garden covers 97 hectares so there's quite a lot to explore, I barely scratched the surface today, but I went along mainly to see the rhododendrons. As the garden is on a mountain, you do get a workout walking up and down the paths!
The garden is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am, on weekends and public holidays from 10am. It closes at 6pm during daylight saving (basically the warmer months) and at 4pm Monday to Friday and 5pm weekends and public holidays during non daylight saving time. On Sundays parking is free in the carparks.
It's always nice to be a tourist in your own city, it's lovely to explore places that visitors come to enjoy. With some warm weather (finally!) arriving, I headed off to see the rhododendrons flowering in the Mt. Lofty Botanic Garden.
The Mt. Lofty Botanic Garden as the name suggests is on Mt. Lofty (highest peak in the Mt. Lofty Ranges, thank you primary school teacher who had me memorise all the highest peaks in the different ranges in South Australia!) It's a short drive up the freeway and a trip to the Botanic Garden can be attached to a visit to the Summit of Mt. Lofty where there is a cafe and souvenir shop.
This Botanic Garden is the youngest botanic garden in South Australia, having been officially opened in 1977 and the first plantings (in the rhododendron gully) were in 1960. It has been devastated by fires twice in its time as a Botanic Garden, but there's little evidence of the last fire in the 1980s so the garden is also a testament to how the Australian landscape recovers from bushfires. The garden was established as a cool temperate one, it even receives an occasional sprinkling of snow!
Rhododendrons don't really grow down on the Adelaide plain as it's too hot but the cool conditions on Mt. Lofty are perfect for them and they have begun to bloom. Not all are flowering but enough were for me to enjoy them.
The magnolia trees were also blooming.
I entered the garden from the upper carpark, so walked down into the valley, it's quite steep! I watched as families with prams struggled down some quite rough parks, once down by the ponds it's much easier going.
There's a large open area near the lower carpark and perhaps this might be a better option for anyone with mobility issues.
Next to the upper carpark are camellias and they also love a cool climate and have flowered profusely.
The garden covers 97 hectares so there's quite a lot to explore, I barely scratched the surface today, but I went along mainly to see the rhododendrons. As the garden is on a mountain, you do get a workout walking up and down the paths!
The garden is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am, on weekends and public holidays from 10am. It closes at 6pm during daylight saving (basically the warmer months) and at 4pm Monday to Friday and 5pm weekends and public holidays during non daylight saving time. On Sundays parking is free in the carparks.
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