Melbourne Flower Show & Garden / Permaculture Tour

7 - 10 Days
DIFFICULTY

Easy

MIN. AGE

18 years

4000 $

Stimulate your senses with a dose of botanical inspiration admiring new trends, world-class show gardens and an exhibition hall full of fresh cut flowers. It’s the southern hemisphere’s biggest garden festival. We’ll sample a few of Melbourne’s flowery and operatic treats on a four-day break.

Day by Day

 

DAY 1: Arrive Melbourne (D) and meet up with your Tour Leader. Check into your luxury hotel later this afternoon, the Marriott, perfectly placed in the heart of Melbourne. Welcome dinner included tonight at the hotel.

 

DAY 2: Head to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne for a guided tour through this green city oasis. More than 8,500 plant species from around the world are presented in a kaleidoscope of colour and texture with sweeping lawns, tranquil lakes and majestic trees. Melbourne City Tour. Yarra River Cruise / Goboats.

 

DAY 3: Spend a full day exploring the famous Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS), which is staged within the world heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding Carlton Gardens. MIFGS is ranked in the top five flower shows in the world; a ‘must see’ event. Breathtaking floral displays, spectacular Show Gardens plus avenues of specialist growers and garden suppliers where you can buy everything from bulbs and plants to tools and trinkets. Be inspired by the designs, discover new plants. Take home great ideas for your own garden or business.

 

DAY 4: We are off to the Yarra Valley this morning. First stop is Alowyn Gardens with a series of cleverly designed garden spaces; parterre, perennial border, dry garden, edible garden, wisteria arch and French garden. Finish in the plant nursery. Coombe Estate is next, the former home of world-famous opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. The garden was established over 100 years ago by William Guilfoyle, the architect of the Victorian Royal Botanic Gardens. There is an enormous 600 metre Cypress hedge and an ancient English oak spanning the breadth of the courtyard. Lunch is a treat in this elegant setting. Winery visit.

 

DAY 5: This morning a guided house and garden tour at heritage listed Rippon Lea Estate, built by Frederick Sargood in 1868, as a self-sufficient farm with imported plants, elaborate underground watering and independent electricity supply. Lake, flowering shrub borders, orchard, fernery, along with architectural elements make this a historically significant garden. Evening free QV Night market.

 

Day 6: Heading to Heronswood this morning, the home of Diggers Seeds, showcasing flowers and plants for Australian conditions. The garden changes throughout the year with inspiring planting combinations of perennials and heirloom vegetables. Lunch will be served in the historic Heronswood House built in 1864.

 

Day 7: Attila Kapitany’s garden of succulents is our first stop this morning. Architectural aloes, agaves and yuccas complement colourful ground-covering succulents. Next stop is Cruden Farm, one of Australia’s most iconic and beautiful country gardens. It’s the garden and former home of the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who arrived here as a young bride 80 years ago. Dame Elisabeth loved this garden that she carefully designed and planted with head gardener Michael Morrison. There are many garden rooms; borders, picking garden, shrub walks and the famous avenue of 100 lemon-scented gums that leads to the house. Lunch is included today.

 

Day 8: Catch the morning ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff then take the Great Ocean Road to a unique coastal garden created by landscape designer Peter Shaw. Peter is widely admired for his coastal landscapes that are distinctively Australian. Travel on to Ballarat, one of the most famous gold-mining towns in Australia.

 

Day 9: A spectacular display garden and one of Australia’s finest is Burnside, the garden of David Glenn at Lambley Nursery. Enjoy this masterful garden, filled with bees, butterflies and birds, and learn about dry climate gardening. Next stop is lunch at Ceres Homestead in Learmonth. As soon as you enter the estate, you are enveloped in a sense of history, romance, capture and connection. Jane’s warm welcome and generous hospitality is legendary. Afternoon visit to Clunes, a picture perfect gold mining town from 1851.

 

Day 10: Departure.

GALLERY

Tour Map