Places to visit in and around The Royal Botanic Garden NSW

Find yourself in a whole new world in the Royal Botanic Garden’s Southern African Garden.

Southern Africa is a global hotspot for cycads, ancient non-flowering plants whose ancestors date back to the time of the dinosaurs. Of the 65 cycad species that occur in Africa, many are threatened in the wild. What you’ll see when you visit represents around a third of the world’s cycad species, and we’re hoping to expand the collection soon.

You will find plantings of 2 types of cycad in this new garden: Encephalartos, which has coarse, often spiny fronds and, under the shelter of a large fig tree, Stangeria, which has soft lime green leaves. The fine older specimens of Encephalartos demonstrate how the trunk forms with age, as well as the large cones that occur on separate male and female plants.

Some of the surrounding plants may feel familiar – these are proteas, which are very similar to Waratahs, Banksias and Grevillias. They’re all part of the same family and are evidence that Australia and southern Africa were once joined as part of the Gondwanan supercontinent millions of years ago.

The Cadi Jam Ora – First Encounters Garden - was built between 1997-2001. It explores the relationship between people and plants and acknowledges the site of the first contact between an Aboriginal cultural group, the Cadigal, and the permanent European settlers who arrived with the First Fleet in January 1788.

Enter the garden to find, at the very centre, a large sandstone meeting area, which interrupts the straight lines that mark the layout of the footprint of the garden as it was when it was first designed in 1816.

We’ve peeled back one era of history to reveal and explore another, more ancient story that lives on in contemporary Australia.

Stretching from the Royal Botanic Garden creek to the Lion Gate Lodge, the Spring Walk is – as the name suggests – best enjoyed in Spring. Its mix of Spring flowering perennials, shrubs and trees burst into flower from the middle of August through September to early October each year.

Your walk is lined by standard and shrub-like Wisterias from China and Japan, their branches emerging from contorted trunks and holding tight to abundant clusters of purple, mauve and white fragrant flowers.

You’ll also enjoy a variety of Rhododendrons from warmer parts of eastern Asia that echo the original plantings, and you’ll smell the sweet fragrance produced by Osmanthus and Rondeletia in the lovely late winter and spring air.

The Calyx is the garden’s hub of activity. Not only will you see one of the largest green walls in the Southern Hemisphere, you can enjoy a break at the café or some al fresco dining, you can also take part in an exciting range of events and workshops.

The award-winning design of The Calyx extends the outdoor space from the indoors, reinventing the way guests engage with the garden. From stargazing or high tea to fitness classes or live music, you’ll find this is a hotspot where you’ll be immersed in the very best of the garden.

Discover the Succulent Garden, built on the site of Australia’s first zoo and home to some of the garden’s strangest and most beautiful plants.

Bathed in morning sun, the Succulent Garden is an ideal place to warm up in winter. Feast your eyes on the bright yellows, oranges and reds of the large African Aloe collection.

The beds featuring plants from the Americas include similar rosette-forming plants called Agaves. They owe their similarity to convergent evolution – where distantly related plants independently evolve yet in a similar way to each other. Although they have not shared an ancestor for more than 90 million years, we can compare how the plants have responded to a similarly harsh environment.

Over the past few years the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has trialled and tested hundreds of cultivars from plant breeders across the globe to understand what plants will grow best in Sydney.

You can come and see this fascinating array of plants yourself in the Trial Garden, near the Conservatorium Gate. From this work, the garden produces a guide around the top 40 performing annuals, perennials and natives that have flower power, vigour and pest resistance best suited to the Sydney climate - information essential to Sydney’s plant-growers.

Come and discover Mrs Macquarie’s Point, a beautiful promontory where you can sit and look out over the busy harbour. Take in the grandeur of the Harbour Bridge and Fort Denison, in a setting where you’re surrounded by the beautiful Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Domain.

There’s a rich history to this popular area - Governor Lachlan Macquarie directed convict teams to build a road for his wife Elizabeth’s recreation and enjoyment, starting from the original Government House (now the Museum of Sydney) to the point now known as Mrs Macquarie's Point.

The road followed the Macquarie Wall, which divided the government domain from the town – a wall that still exists in part today. However, the only part of the road left today is the convict bridge over the Macquarie Culvert.

The road gave Mrs Macquarie easy access from the house to the point where she liked to sit and watch the ships come into the harbour, and so a seat was carved in the rock for her.

Now anyone is welcome to come and appreciate a more contemporary outlook that was once only available to a few, on the shores of one of the world’s most beautiful harbours.

The Harbour View Lawn is the most iconic wedding lawn in Farm Cove, given its lovely water views framed by a large shady fig tree. You can relax in the shade of the fig tree while enjoying the sights and sounds of Sydney’s magnificent harbour.

You can easily get there from the Victoria Lodge Gate, and the Mare & Foal or Yurong public toilets are just a 5 minute walk away.

Explore the sensory delights of the Herb Garden – or sit and enjoy the garden view – to learn more about the many herbs used by people from many cultures and backgrounds who have made Australia home.

Not only a place of stories, scents and colour, the Herb Garden is a reflection of the changing nature of Australian society, showcasing the history and traditions of the use of herbs as food, medicine and dyestuffs.

Take a walk around the garden to learn how people from different cultures use herbs, or simply surrender to the sights and smells while you relax in the sandstone pavilion.

The Sensory Fountain will delight children of all ages and the Armillary Sphere Sundial, modelled on the many objects in the sky, offers an insight into the history of the telling of time.

The Palace Rose Garden in part of the old Palace Gardens is a romantic symphony of colour and aromas.

You’ll find the best time to visit is from September through to May, when the flowers are in full bloom – and this romantic aesthetic of roses and beautiful views is appreciated by the many couples who are making the Palace Rose Garden one of Sydney’s most popular venues for garden weddings.

Roses are planted in ‘Formal’ ‘Romantic’ and ‘Flamboyant’ themed beds, interspersed with plants that will complement the colour while increasing biodiversity and attracting beneficial insects such as lacewings and predatory ladybirds.

You’ll see how the garden’s horticulturalists and scientists have worked together to adapt to the challenges of growing roses in Sydney – the rose garden is now brimming with vibrant colour and buzzing bees.