Melton Botanic Garden walk

Melton Botanic Garden walk created by dburtt

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Summary

This walk explores the extensive array of dry climate plants and flowers in the Melton Botanic Garden, recently featured on Gardening Australia.

Description

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Melton Botanic Garden is a surprising find, with a large array of different plants to look at. A bit different to your traditional botanic gardens, this is an exhibition of dry climate plants, mostly from around Australia.

The park includes areas of remnant indigenous grassland and woodland along Ryans Creek, as well as a range of planted garden areas, including Southern African, Bushfoods, West and South Australian Gardens. With more than 100 different species on display, this is a particularly great place for gum trees, which was the focus for the Gardening Australia feature. The wide range of dry climate plants means there are a lot of different flowers, so this is a colourful place to visit.

This is a great walk for winter or a cool day because while there are some shady areas with tall trees, a lot of the vegetation is quite low. This also makes it very easy to get up close to the many different flowers and see the wildlife they attract (most visibly honeyeater birds).

The walk we have mapped takes you around the lake and through most of the garden areas, but this is a good place to just wander around and explore. The paths around the gardens are either concrete or gravel, but all are basically flat, so this is a very easy place to walk suitable for people with limited mobility.

There are good facilities for picnicking next to the lake, with BBQs and picnic tables in large shelters set in a lawn area. Public toilets are available.

Melton's climate is drier than the rest of Melbourne, so if it's wet in the city you might find this is a good option for a walk (check the Melton forecast).

The gardens are maintained by the Friends of the Melton Botanic Garden (FMBG - see 'find out more' website link above) with support from the City of Melton. At the northern end of the garden they have a plant nursery (limited opening hours - see website for details).

This short and easy walk is particularly excellent if you like plants or flowers. Enjoy!

Notes:
- The garden is always open and entry is free.
- These gardens are still being developed - some of the features illustrated on the FMBG brochure are not yet in place.
- Location of some of the points of interest (flowers) are indicative only.
- Dogs are allowed on a lead (no off-leash area).

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Points of Interest

1. Flower frenzy

With such a wide variety of dry climate plants, especially the gum trees featured on Gardening Australia (see link for video), flowers are the stars of the show on this walk.

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2. A walk in the park!

The plants on this walk are highly varied, with taller trees along the creek

3. Main Lake

The main lake is surprisingly big, with grassed picnic areas and covered BBQs next to it. Unfortunately it is next to the freeway, so the noise can be distracting on that side of the lake.