The Beautiful Gardens of the Dandenong Ranges
Our beautiful gardens, both our home gardens and our famous larger gardens are bountiful due to our fertile soil and our rainfall. The Dandenongs have a mix of soil types, from black to reds, all seem to promote amazing growth.
Early on in our history, the Hills were full of berry farms requiring clear felling (chopping down heaps of trees to create fields), followed by an abundance of nurseries, selling stunning rhododendrons, maples, azaleas and camellias.
Many varieties/species of rhododendrons were created in the Hills and named after family members of the growers.
The Ferny Creek Horticultural Society was founded in the 1930s for the purpose of holding horticultural shows. If you are a rare plant person or a person interested in plants at all then head along to one of their Plant Collectors Expos.
In Monbulk, the soil was perfect for tulips (Tesselaars), Fruit and ornamental trees (Flemings) and a proliferation of bulb wholesalers.
Emerald had Nobelius Nurseries and the once famous Bill and Marie’s Plant Farm (Hello, Hello and the guy in the Tutu) began here too.
There are many, many others, creating a wealth of outstanding private gardens. If you get an opportunity to explore some of these in the Open Garden Tours then I highly recommend you do so. If we are even luckier, the Secret Garden Tours may recommence. I was a Local History Tour Guide on this magnificent experience once and would love to do so again.
Famous gardens were created including the Rhododendron Gardens in Olinda, now known as the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Gardens, Pirianda Gardens, George Tindale, Nobelius, Alfred Nicholas, Cloudehill.
Visitors to the Hills (as the Dandenongs are often referred to, also known as the ‘nearby hills’ due to our proximity to Melbourne) fall in love with our gardens and often become residents. The colours are spectacular and it’s difficult to find a season that is the most beautiful. Even in Winter, the textured layerings are stunning.
Autumn is probably one of my favourites as the trees and shrubs turn into amazing colours. It’s the time of cooler days and even chillier nights, the chestnut season is upon us (first weekend in May is the Chestnut Festival held at Kalorama oval) and morning mists mingle with the smoke from our chimneys.
Spring attracts overseas tourists to our cherry blossoms, the banks of kurume azealeas and towering rhododendrons at the Botanic Gardens and the tulips at Tesselaars at Silvan.
Winter, we may have snow and we are so close to Melbourne that the excitement is palpable (“is there snow” a constant refrain). Everyone wants to be here and see it, some for the first time. Locals love it because our children get to experience it before the vistors arrive. The trees may have lost their leaves but there is still plenty to see.
Summer in the Dandenongs is blissful. Cooler than Melbourne, the eucalypts leave a haze of oil in the air, turning the Dandenongs blue from a distance, our trees and gardens are shady relief often with a slight breeze. A stunning season to experience the Hills.
Our beautiful gardens will take years to explore fully. Wandering through and if you are lucky you will spot a true local or two, with echidnas, wombats, wallabies and lyrebirds on ground level and the occasional eagle soaring the sky.
You may also see deer, foxes and rabbits. Cute as they may be, they are an introduced nightmare, destroying the land and the foxes killing off our native wildlife. So, yes, admire the sight of a stag or a ‘bambi’ but please also be mindful of the beautiful environment and do not encourage them.
