Our flowering trees and shrubs garden puts on an amazing display of colour.
Set in a secluded area sheltered from the wind, this collection includes 13 exotic plant families, including:
- Roseaceae
- Malvaceae
- Solanaceae
- Apocynaceae
- Fabaceae
- Bignoniaceae
- Sterculiaceae
- Acanthaceae
- Caprifoliaceae
- Theaceae
- Verbenaceae
- Lamiaceae
- Lythraceae.
The Camelia (Theaceae) collection includes many specialty varieties not commonly found in cultivation. There are now restrictions on importing Camelias into Australia, which makes these examples extra-special.
Trees in this collection include Prunus, Jacaranda, Lagerstroemia and Cassias.
Many of these flowering plants are useful as well as beautiful. The foliage of the Lemon Verbena (Lippia citriodora, from the Verbenaceae family) is useful as a tea. The Bignoniaceae family includes the Fiddlewood Tree (Citharexylum spinosum), which is a useful timber for making musical instruments, and the Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa bignonioides) is often used for wood and cabinet work, as well as medicinal purposes.
The Flowering Trees and Shrubs Garden was designed and planted in 1981. Tonnes of organic matter was brought onto the site because the selected area had poor soil quality.
Plantings have been designed to be viewed from both sides of the garden beds, with trees in the middle, then shrubs, ground covers and smaller plants on the edges.
This collection is beautiful year-round, but at its best in spring and summer.
Location
The Flowering Trees and Shrubs collection is in the middle of the eastern side of Wollongong Botanic Garden.
Map reference O-6 on our Garden Map PDF, 76 KB