Melbourne Botanic Gardens - Including Recent Donations

[tim_brissy_13]

Jonathan’s recent topic on Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens has inspired me to do similar for the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens. I’ve been working with some others on increasing their palm collection and will document some of the activity here as well as some of the notable specimens in the gardens. 
 

The RMBG was started in 1846 and is second only to Sydney in terms of age. It occupies a huge 38 hectares (94 acres) with wide expanses of lawn areas and also some more rainforest type gardens. There are some hugely impressive individual palm specimens in the gardens including many planted in the 1800s like a handful of old, huge Jubaeas. However, the palm collection in terms of overall species is relatively modest, recently only around 60-70 species. Melbourne’s climate can be challenging at times, however the gardens have some great microclimates including a large fern gully which is suitable for growing many cool hardy palms like Chamaedorea sp.

In a city of 5 million people and with 2 million visitors to these gardens per year, it is a great opportunity to expand the collection and contribute to conservation of palm species and inspire people that many palms can grow well in Melbourne.

Since the start of this year, we’ve now added over 10 new species to the collection. It’s worth mentioning this isn’t all my work, even of the palms I’ve donated other palm collectors and some Palmtalk members have played a role and can take credit for providing seed and/or growing these plants.
 

Some photos of recent donations and planting:

Oraniopsis appendiculata

 

 

One of these Lepidorrhachis mooreana

 

In this group:

Chamaedorea costaricana

Chamaedorea nubium

Chamaedorea brachypoda

Syagrus schizophylla

Another Oraniopsis

In the effort of getting seed one day, multiples have been given of Chamaedorea woodsoniana, C tepejilote ‘Yellow Inflorescence’, C elatior ‘Fine Leaf’, C ernesti-augustii

 

The first Oraniopsis has been planted at RMBG, and the second will be planted at the associated Royal Victorian Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne in the outer South East suburbs which is exclusively a native Australian collection. The remaining palms are planned to be planted this week at the Melbourne gardens. Thanks to the effort of others I understand that some Linospadix apetiolatus have also been recently planted. 
 

Next time I visit I’ll get some photos of the new plantings in their forever home. We’ll be working on continuing to expand the collection. 

[gyuseppe]

Well done Tim! I too have donated some palm trees to the Botanical Garden of Naples in the past.

(I didn't know Melbourne has 5 million people!)

[tim_brissy_13]

13 minutes ago, gyuseppe said:

Well done Tim! I too have donated some palm trees to the Botanical Garden of Naples in the past.

(I didn't know Melbourne has 5 million people!)

It is surprising to many that a country with such low population density has such populated cities especially Sydney and Melbourne. 
 

I just looked it up and I short changed Melbourne a tad. As of 2024, it is up to 5,350,000 people compared to Sydney’s 5,557,000. Based on recent growth, Melbourne is expected to overtake Sydney as Australia’s most populated city (including the greater area) any time now. 

[happypalms]

Good one Tim keep up the work, get those palms in there asap before winter. 
Iam sure you know the varieties that will perform well in the gardens and have some good ideas as to where and what will be planted. 
I will offer my assistance if needed in the way of a few palms that are currently growing or germinating. Colin has been gifting me seeds for such projects. I will pm you on such varieties for you as they become available. 
Richard 

[Jonathan Haycock]

Congratulations Tim. Hopefully the start of a long lasting relationship between yourself and the gardens, resulting in a substantial increase in palm diversity. If you're after a particular species for this endevour let me know, I'll assist where I can. 

I've found a great deal of patience (not something that comes naturally to me unfortunately) is required when trying to establish relationships with botanical gardens, but once the trust is there, doors open. I had two vans arrive at my place this morning to collect donations, one from each of Brisbane's botanical gardens (City and Mt. Coot-Tha). Grant Larkin was there who you may know. Can't wait to see the palms planted over the next couple of weeks.

The Curator stated yesterday that the gardens are keen to increase their palm collection and look forward to hearing from me regarding future donations. She also gave me the green light to dust their Cyrtostachys loriae with Cyrtostachys renda pollen when it matures, which I'm really excited about!!!

[Jonathan]

Good stuff Tim. Building a better world, one palm at a time.

However, I have to stick up for my local patch....

8 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

The RMBG was started in 1846 and is second only to Sydney in terms of age.

....Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, established 1818!

[tim_brissy_13]

7 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Good stuff Tim. Building a better world, one palm at a time.

However, I have to stick up for my local patch....

....Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, established 1818!

I should know better than to trust ChatGPT! Sorry Taswegians!

[Jonathan]

1 minute ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I should know better than to trust ChatGPT! Sorry Taswegians!

Lol! Apology accepted.

[happypalms]

1 minute ago, Jonathan said:

Lol! Apology accepted.

Either way it’s still damm cold in both states!🤣

[gyuseppe]

The Botanical Garden of Pisa was founded in 1543,
followed by those of Padua and Florence in 1545.
Then the Botanical Garden of Bologna in 1567.
The Botanical Garden of Rome was founded in 1660 by Pope Alexander VII.
The Botanical Garden of Naples on December 28, 1807.

[realarch]

Good on ya Tim! I visited both RTBG the RMBG earlier this year and both were remarkable gardens. Such a worthy endeavor for citizens taking the initiative to contribute to an important public space. 

Our local Zoo was adopted by the Hawai’i Island Palm Society as a palmatum probably 40 years ago and the extensive collection is still regularly maintained by the group. Lots of beautiful specimens donated, planted, and maintained by volunteers. 

There are a couple of impressive private BG’s on the island and a city arboretum, (which has recently REMOVED the palm collection), so the will and foresight by early and current palmaholics are alive and well. 

Tim

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

The Botanical Garden of Pisa was founded in 1543,
followed by those of Padua and Florence in 1545.
Then the Botanical Garden of Bologna in 1567.
The Botanical Garden of Rome was founded in 1660 by Pope Alexander VII.
The Botanical Garden of Naples on December 28, 1807.

We can't compete with those dates here in Australia...Europeans didn’t arrive here until 1788. I wonder which BG is the oldest in the world?

[Jonathan]

3 hours ago, realarch said:

Good on ya Tim! I visited both RTBG the RMBG earlier this year and both were remarkable gardens. Such a worthy endeavor for citizens taking the initiative to contribute to an important public space. 

Our local Zoo was adopted by the Hawai’i Island Palm Society as a palmatum probably 40 years ago and the extensive collection is still regularly maintained by the group. Lots of beautiful specimens donated, planted, and maintained by volunteers. 

There are a couple of impressive private BG’s on the island and a city arboretum, (which has recently REMOVED the palm collection), so the will and foresight by early and current palmaholics are alive and well. 

Tim

I think there was a thread posted on here a while back about a palm collection that was cut down in Hilo, was that the city arboretum? I have a vague memory that it was something to do with the forestry dept or similar??

[Jonathan]

18 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Jonathan’s recent topic on Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens has inspired me to do similar for the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens. I’ve been working with some others on increasing their palm collection and will document some of the activity here as well as some of the notable specimens in the gardens. 
 

The RMBG was started in 1846 and is second only to Sydney in terms of age. It occupies a huge 38 hectares (94 acres) with wide expanses of lawn areas and also some more rainforest type gardens. There are some hugely impressive individual palm specimens in the gardens including many planted in the 1800s like a handful of old, huge Jubaeas. However, the palm collection in terms of overall species is relatively modest, recently only around 60-70 species. Melbourne’s climate can be challenging at times, however the gardens have some great microclimates including a large fern gully which is suitable for growing many cool hardy palms like Chamaedorea sp.

In a city of 5 million people and with 2 million visitors to these gardens per year, it is a great opportunity to expand the collection and contribute to conservation of palm species and inspire people that many palms can grow well in Melbourne.

Since the start of this year, we’ve now added over 10 new species to the collection. It’s worth mentioning this isn’t all my work, even of the palms I’ve donated other palm collectors and some Palmtalk members have played a role and can take credit for providing seed and/or growing these plants.
 

Some photos of recent donations and planting:

Oraniopsis appendiculata

 

 

One of these Lepidorrhachis mooreana

 

In this group:

Chamaedorea costaricana

Chamaedorea nubium

Chamaedorea brachypoda

Syagrus schizophylla

Another Oraniopsis

In the effort of getting seed one day, multiples have been given of Chamaedorea woodsoniana, C tepejilote ‘Yellow Inflorescence’, C elatior ‘Fine Leaf’, C ernesti-augustii

 

The first Oraniopsis has been planted at RMBG, and the second will be planted at the associated Royal Victorian Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne in the outer South East suburbs which is exclusively a native Australian collection. The remaining palms are planned to be planted this week at the Melbourne gardens. Thanks to the effort of others I understand that some Linospadix apetiolatus have also been recently planted. 
 

Next time I visit I’ll get some photos of the new plantings in their forever home. We’ll be working on continuing to expand the collection. 

Tim, do they have many other native palm species out at Cranbourne? They should be able to grow a fair percentage of them I'd think. That's a garden I've been wanting to have a look at for a while now.

[tim_brissy_13]

20 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Tim, do they have many other native palm species out at Cranbourne? They should be able to grow a fair percentage of them I'd think. That's a garden I've been wanting to have a look at for a while now.

Not yet but they’re working on it. I last visited maybe a couple of years ago and from memory they only had Livistona australis. Since then I believe they’ve planted some others like Linospadix apetiolatus and soon the Oraniopsis. It is nice out there though and worth a visit. They’ve got some other notable plants including Macrozamia macdonnellii and Wollemia nobilis. 

[gyuseppe]

6 hours ago, Jonathan said:

We can't compete with those dates here in Australia...Europeans didn’t arrive here until 1788. I wonder which BG is the oldest in the world?

Hi Jonathan, it is Padua (Padova) before the public one. It had a large collection of plants, especially medicinal plants for study.

[tim_brissy_13]

On 10/1/2025 at 3:26 PM, happypalms said:

Good one Tim keep up the work, get those palms in there asap before winter. 
Iam sure you know the varieties that will perform well in the gardens and have some good ideas as to where and what will be planted. 
I will offer my assistance if needed in the way of a few palms that are currently growing or germinating. Colin has been gifting me seeds for such projects. I will pm you on such varieties for you as they become available. 
Richard 

 

On 10/1/2025 at 6:57 PM, Jonathan Haycock said:

Congratulations Tim. Hopefully the start of a long lasting relationship between yourself and the gardens, resulting in a substantial increase in palm diversity. If you're after a particular species for this endevour let me know, I'll assist where I can. 

I've found a great deal of patience (not something that comes naturally to me unfortunately) is required when trying to establish relationships with botanical gardens, but once the trust is there, doors open. I had two vans arrive at my place this morning to collect donations, one from each of Brisbane's botanical gardens (City and Mt. Coot-Tha). Grant Larkin was there who you may know. Can't wait to see the palms planted over the next couple of weeks.

The Curator stated yesterday that the gardens are keen to increase their palm collection and look forward to hearing from me regarding future donations. She also gave me the green light to dust their Cyrtostachys loriae with Cyrtostachys renda pollen when it matures, which I'm really excited about!!!

Thanks for the offer guys. It would be great to expand their collection so I might be in touch if there’s anything you’ve got suitable for down here that I’m not already growing for them. I might monitor how this first batch goes first and see how they are cared for and grow. 
 

@Jonathan Haycock I do remember Grant back from the P4B nursery, been a long time!

[tim_brissy_13]

My first visit to the gardens since the new plantings have gone in. Pleased to report most are doing well. Only one of the 3 Chamaedorea woodsoniana looks like it’s been beat up but all others look to be settling in nicely. Some of the older established specimens are looking great too. 

Chamaedorea woodsoniana

 

Syagrus schizophylla

 

Lepidorrhachis mooreana

 

Oraniopsis appendiculata

 

Chamaedorea brachypoda in the background

 

Chamaedorea costaricana

 

Linospadix apetiolatus

 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa

 

Rhopalostylis sapida

 

Archontophoenix maxima 

 

Hedyscepe canterburyana 

 

Bismarckia nobilis

 

Parajubaea cocoides

 

Caryota obtusa

 

Hedyscepe canterburyana 

 

Chamaedorea sp (maybe potchutlensis)

 

Ravenea glauca (Isalo form)

 

Rhapis humilis

 

Howea belmoreana

 

Livistona saribus

Linospadix minor

 

Chamaedorea elatior

 

Jubaea chilensis

 

Brahea Super Silver

 

Brahea armata

 

Livistona fulva

 

Livistona nitida 

 

Chamaedorea costaricana

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var hookeri

 

Beccariophoenix alfredii

 

 

[Jonathan]

That's a nice collection Tim, although it scares me a bit to see the little Lepidorrhachis hidden in the bushes where it could be squashed by feral child or careless gardener. 

[tim_brissy_13]

39 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

That's a nice collection Tim, although it scares me a bit to see the little Lepidorrhachis hidden in the bushes where it could be squashed by feral child or careless gardener. 

I know what you mean mate it does still look small and vulnerable. It’s a on bit of a slope that is permanently moist and slippery just above the running stream through the fern gully so it’s not somewhere the general public will walk, and if a feral child did they’d risk slipping into the water. I’ve made sure the only gardeners in this area are very aware of how special this thing is so I think it’s quite well protected for now. I might ask why they didn’t put any barriers around it like they did for others like the C woodsoniana. 

[peachy]

On 10/1/2025 at 6:57 PM, Jonathan Haycock said:

Congratulations Tim. Hopefully the start of a long lasting relationship between yourself and the gardens, resulting in a substantial increase in palm diversity. If you're after a particular species for this endevour let me know, I'll assist where I can. 

I've found a great deal of patience (not something that comes naturally to me unfortunately) is required when trying to establish relationships with botanical gardens, but once the trust is there, doors open. I had two vans arrive at my place this morning to collect donations, one from each of Brisbane's botanical gardens (City and Mt. Coot-Tha). Grant Larkin was there who you may know. Can't wait to see the palms planted over the next couple of weeks.

The Curator stated yesterday that the gardens are keen to increase their palm collection and look forward to hearing from me regarding future donations. She also gave me the green light to dust their Cyrtostachys loriae with Cyrtostachys renda pollen when it matures, which I'm really excited about!!!

I have approached Ipswich Council about the Kholo BG not far from my house but they are being arseholes as usual.   Haven't seen Grant in ages, I've known him for about 25 years now.

Tim, glad you have had good communication with the powers that be. More cool climate climate palms on display show people that their choices are not as limited as they thought.

Peachy