So you’d like iconic desert or rainforest plants in your garden, but your climate’s not appropriate? The solution is to create microclimates – little pockets of land where perhaps the sun bakes the soil, or it can’t penetrate. Melbourne’s Cranbourne Gardens has made multiple microclimates to harbour plants that thrive everywhere – from the sizzling outback and WA’s dry air, to steamy Queensland or cool Tasmania. These mini gardens celebrate the beauty and diversity of our landscapes and the plants that call them home.
GARDENS WITHIN THE GARDEN
SAND GARDEN THE RED
The Red Sand Garden is the drama queen of the gardens, with red sands polka-dotted with grey-blue saltbush and cushioned with crescent-shaped sculptures to represent sand dunes. Just as happens when the desert puts on its seasonal flushes of blooms, this garden erupts with wildflowers in purple, pink, red, yellow and white.
1 AN ARTY START
The Red Sand Garden is a living sculpture on a
