Maranoa Gardens
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Maranoa Gardens is located next to Beckett Park in Balwyn, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is a fine collection of diverse plant species spread over 3.5 suburban acres created in 1901 by a private individual, Mr. J. Watson. It featured Australian and New Zealand plants, which was unusual in this colonially influenced time in Australia, and may be seen as one of the many products of the nationalism that accompanied the Federation of Australia in 1901. Over the years the New Zealand plants have been removed. Camberwell Council purchased the gardens in 1922 and doubled their size in the 1960's and enlarged again in the mid 1980's. It has undergone many changes resulting in the botanic garden you see today.
The light grey stoney loam over compact mottled clay is poor and the topsoil sets hard when dry while it is soft when wet - and is thus suited to native plants. With some 5000 plants, Maranoa Gardens are a haven for many. They have inspired poetry, ecologists, boyscouts making botanical collections, adolescents pondering the meaning of life as well as, increasingly, the aged.
Don't be disappointed- please check the opening hours!
[edit] Gallery of Photos from the Garden
 Twin buds of Banksia blechnifolia |
 Isopogon anethifolius |
 Stenocarpus sinuatus inflorescence |
 Banksia media inflorescence |
 Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), Variegated form with Acacia cognata groundcover |
