Melbourne in bloom: Where to see spring flowers in the city
The wind came in little gusts and clouds gathered across Melbourne on Sunday.
But people who ventured out on the first day of spring were rewarded with beautiful flowers and occasional bursts of sunshine.
Will Barlow and daughter Isla, 2, check out the cherry blossoms in the Royal Botanic Gardens.Credit: Penny Stephens
The Royal Botanic Gardens was a popular destination for families, and for the young and old, on Sunday, which was also Father’s Day.
The cherry blossoms were a striking feature among flowers blooming inside the site’s Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden, which is soon to turn 20.
Will Barlow, from Footscray, and his daughter Isla, 2, were among the first through the gate when it re-opened from its annual six-week winter closure.
Barlow, who was also accompanied by wife Holly and baby son Rupert, said the sprawling South Yarra urban oasis was “probably the nicest park anywhere in Melbourne”. It was not too cold for a day out.
Father and daughter: Will McCormick with daughter Edith.Credit: Penny Stephens
Will McCormick, of Footscray, and wife Claire said their daughter Edith, 2, was loving her first visit to the children’s garden.
McCormick had the day off from his job as an intensive-care unit nurse, which was “pretty demanding and stressful, and a big mental load so it’s nice to have this time to switch off, to spend with the family”.
Kuldeep Singh, visiting Australia from Amritsar, India, with his wife, Raj Kaur, enjoyed a picnic by the lake with their daughter, Kanwal Kaur, a disability worker who has lived in Melbourne for 10 years.
Father and daughter speak every day by phone. On Sunday, the group ate potato sandwiches and drank masala chai.
Good to see you: Kuldeep Singh, centre, and his wife Raj Kaur, standing behind him in blue, are visiting their daughter Kanwal Kaur, who is sitting behind her father.Credit: Penny Stephens
Across the state this spring, nature lovers can enjoy a smorgasbord of flowers in parks both in and out of the city.
The Royal Botanic Gardens’ acting manager of horticulture, Tim Uebergang, said plants were flowering earlier than usual due to climate change.
At the gardens, wattles including the acacia scarlet blaze, are blooming.
Uebergang said other notable flowers are the nodding blue lily in the Australian Forest Walk section of the gardens and the grassy meadow in the New Australian Drylands precinct was “exploding with colour”.
Flowers at the Queen Victoria Gardens, opposite the National Gallery of Victoria, on the first day of spring. Credit: Penny Stephens
Among flowers at the gardens’ Cranbourne branch, Uebergang pointed to kangaroo paw as well as a banksia species called golden candles, and the wee jasper grevillea.
Parks Victoria has just released its Spring Flowering Guide, which gives a primer on when to see flowers blooming in the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne’s east.
It recommends parks such as the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden, the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden and the RJ Hamer Arboretum.
The guide says that flowers blooming in early September include rhododendrums, camellias and daffodils, hellebores, proteas and magnolias.
Other sites Parks Victoria recommends visiting for spring flowers include Wattle Park in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs for golden wattles, Raymond Island in East Gippsland for orchids, and the Victoria State Rose Garden in Werribee South, although the roses usually start blooming from early October and are at their peak in November.
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