Australian National Botanic Gardens

The Australian National Botanic Gardens sit on the lower slopes of Black Mountain in Canberra and grow only Australian plants, which makes them unlike most botanic gardens and more useful than they first look. The collection is arranged so you can walk from one climate to another in twenty minutes. The Rainforest Gully runs down a shaded valley under a misting system that keeps the humidity artificially high. The Red Centre Garden builds a genuine red sand dune planted with arid species. Elsewhere there are banksias, eucalypt lawns and a wattle collection that flowers in late winter. Birds are a large part of the appeal, including cockatoos and honeyeaters working the flowering shrubs, and free guided walks run most days.

What you actually see

• Rainforest Gully - a shaded, misted valley of ferns and rainforest trees.
• Red Centre Garden - a constructed red sand dune planted with arid-zone species.
• The wattle collection - dense yellow flowering through late winter and early spring.
• Birdlife - cockatoos, parrots and honeyeaters feeding through the flowering beds.

When to go

August to November is the strongest stretch, starting with wattles and running into the spring flowering of banksias and other shrubs. Mornings are best for birds. Canberra summers are hot and dry and winters genuinely cold with frost, so the shoulder months are the most comfortable. Free guided walks run daily and are worth timing a visit around.

Honest expectations

Anyone expecting massed colour beds will find this restrained; Australian plants tend towards fine texture and muted green, and outside spring the impression can be uniformly scrubby. Parts of the site are steep. Some sections carry visible fire damage and regrowth from past years, and the gardens are small enough to exhaust in two hours.

Nearby

Black Mountain and its tower rise directly above, with the national museums around Lake Burley Griffin nearby.