Attractions

The beautiful scenery of the Japanese Garden

In addition to its beautiful parklands and collection of large trees, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is home to an ever-evolving and significant number of specialised collections and gardens.

Especially unique are the extensive Tasmanian native collections, which provide examples that can be used by visitors to identify plants they have encountered in the wild, and includes many rare and threatened species.

Some parts of the Gardens have become sites of significance for people who have made them the scenes of their celebrations and festivities both public and private.

Many areas of the Gardens are available for hire for private functions. For information on hiring, view the Venue Hire page.

  • Japanese Garden

    The Japanese garden was designed by Kanjiro Harada, a landscape architect from Yaizu, Japan, Hobart.

  • Chinese Collection

    Traditional Chinese gardening practice was followed, making the careful, artistic placement of rocks a key feature of the landscape design.

  • The Conservatory

    Wander through the Conservatory to admire the plants, or rest a while on the seats near the sandstone fountain.

  • The Lily Pond

    One of the most recognisable and beloved areas of the Gardens. The garden and Lily Pond Pond was formed in 1840 by damming a natural stream that drained the adjacent hill.

  • Subantarctic Plant House

    One of the most exciting and unusual collections at the Gardens is nestled inside a small, specially constructed building.

  • The Vegie Patch

    Famous for its connection with Tasmanian television gardening guru Peter Cundall, the site regularly hosts ABC’s Gardening Australia program featuring local TV celebrity Tino Carnevale. Tino works his wonders in a specially made vegetable patch designed by Gardens staff.

  • Herb Garden

    Visitors are able to walk along the paths and experience the various fragrances of this collection of culinary and medicinal herbs.

  • Historic Walls

    The walls provide structure and unique heritage value to the Gardens.

  • Easy Access Garden

    The Easy Access Garden was constructed as a project for the Year of the Disabled (1981) and was officially opened in 1983.

  • Cactus House

    The Cactus House displays a range of succulent plants from all over the world

  • The Friends' Mixed Border

    The Friends' Mixed Border has been formed by extending and refurbishing the old herbaceous border along the northern end of the historic Eardley-Wilmot wall.

  • Anniversary Arch

    Just a short distance from the Botanical Gardens Restaurant and Visitor Centre, this romantic carved arch is set at the base of stone steps surrounded by tall shady trees and shrubs.

  • Syme Memorial Fountain

    Situated at the rear of the Conservatory, this beautifully carved granite fountain is set in a level courtyard surrounded by colourful annuals.

  • Greater Hobart Collection

    The Greater Hobart Garden is a great resource for students and members of the public who can come and identify what grows in the native bush around Hobart.

  • Tasmanian East Coast Collection

    The East coast of Tasmania is known for its beautiful beaches and coastal scenery but many people don't realise that it has high mountains in the North East, spectacular gorges and waterfalls and a wide range of plant habitats.

  • Tasmanian Fernery

    The current Fernery was constructed in 1964, replacing Tasmanian Fernery an earlier one on the south side of the lily pond. It was designed by then Gardens Superintendent, Walter Tobias, and modified in 1974 when the cascading watercourse was created.

  • A P May Tasmanian Plant Collection

    This garden was established in 1991 in recognition of the need to develop an area dedicated to the display of Tasmanian Native plants within the RTBG.

  • Epacrid Garden

    Epacrids, representatives of the family Epacridaceae, the southern hemisphere's equivalent of the heath (Erica). Gondwanan in origin, the family extends across the southern continents and have become adapted to a range of Australian environments. They are notable for their attractive, nectar-rich tubular flowers.

  • French Memorial Garden and Fountain

    The French Memorial Fountain was created in 1972 by Tasmanian artist Stephen Walker to mark the bicentenary of the first of a number of French voyages of discovery that visited Tasmania.

  • Salvia Collection

    Salvias comprise over 900 species and cultivars of annuals, biennials and shrubs that are among the most ornamental of plants, providing flowering displays for extended periods throughout the year.

  • Rain Garden

    The Rain Garden at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is a display feature demonstrating innovative and environmentally sensitive ways of reducing the damaging effects of urban storm water runoff on the environment.

  • Foreshore Rehabilitation Project

    The foreshore has been the subject of a major rehabilitation project since the Friends of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens received an Australian Government Envirofund grant in late 2002.

  • Fuchsia House

    The Fuchsia House originally dates from 1958 and was redesigned in 1995. It now displays more than 190 varieties of one of the most adaptable and varied exotic ornamentals.