Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

I love how they get to put ‘royal’ in front of things here.  It makes it sound very official, like it’s received a special distinction.  I don’t know if the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens ever have received any kind of special award, but they sure deserve it.  They are magnificent!  The gardens were founded in 1818, which means they have some awesome mature trees.  This one is the biggest in the park, a Wellingtonia or Big Tree native to California.  Last time it was measured it was 36 metres, but these can grow up to 100 metres tall.

The conservatory was built in 1939. It is beautiful.

There is a beautiful fountain inside and a multitude of plants.  The light is amazing.

The kids were drawn immediately to the fountain, as most kids are.  I promise none of them fell in, though it looks like JitterBug is thinking about it!

It was so peaceful inside.  We spent a fair bit of time in here.  At one point I found SkeeterBug quietly enjoying the fountain.  Such a tranquil spot.  I sat down on a bench with a plaque on it that was in memoriam of someone who had loved the gardens and the conservatory.  So lovely.

Outside was a row of sunflowers with heaps of bumble bees buzzing around.  We don’t see these all that often, we usually see honey bees, so we watched them for awhile.

There’s just such a varied collection of trees and plants here.  Pictures don’t do it justice.  I am not a huge fan of botanical gardens.  We don’t seek them out wherever we go.  I’d read great reviews for this one so we stopped in on our way home from the chocolate factory.  I’m so glad we did!

I saw these and thought they looked familiar, and they were birch trees from North America!

I wanted to see the palm collection, I love palm trees.  I’ve always wanted to live somewhere with palm trees.  And now I do- our town in Victoria has them.  As we headed toward that section we came across this floral clock.  I assumed the clock hands would be stationary, but I was wrong.

As the kids climbed on the wall around the clock we realised the hands were moving!  

This is a Monument to the Blue Gum, according to the sign.  I can’t read the small print, but I think it came from a tree that had been cut down for some reason.  The colour of the wood is gorgeous.

I did not know that palm trees are not trees.  I’m shattered.

But I’ll survive.  Sigh.  I love palm trees.

Is this post long enough yet?  Does it have enough pictures yet?  No?  Here’s a couple more.

 

Once again, I’ll put more pictures in another post!