Merryway
Merryway 51 Euree St, Reid, ACTLocated at the centre of Reid, this well-established garden is enclosed by a curved camellia ‘Yuletide’ hedge. Behind it is a lawn area with leafy borders featuring a variety of maples. In the back garden a formal area near the house features hedges and clipped balls, along with fruit and flowering trees and a small vegetable garden. Autumn brings scarlet tones to the large vine-coloured pergola while in a secluded corner an enormous old fig tree stands proud. At the rear the garden takes on a wilder aspect with bulbs and groundcovers sheltering beneath birch trees. Over time the garden has been adapted to change with family needs, maturing plants and the climate.
Tea Gardens
Tea Gardens 10 Yirawala St, Ngunnawal, ACTTea Gardens Homestead, dating back to the 1860s, is one of Canberra’s oldest residential homes, located on a peaceful half acre block, overlooking the 4th hole of Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club. Since 2021 the garden has been completely transformed from a steep sloping block suffering from drought and overgrown with periwinkle, to a beautiful blend of cottage, native, traditional and productive styles. It perfectly complements the homestead’s historic charm. ‘The Vineyard’ was established in July 2024. The front garden development has been ongoing since the property was purchased in 2020. They are highlights of this truly inspiring garden.
Whitlam Climate-Wise Garden
Whitlam Climate-Wise Garden 3 Klaus Moje St, Whitlam, ACTWith hot summers and cold winters, Canberra’s seasonal conditions affect how plants grow. Gardens also need to be resilient as climate change brings more extreme weather events. Choosing the right plants for Canberra’s climate and soil is key to building a climate-wise garden that will thrive now and into the future. Suburban Land Agency’s (SLA) Innovation Precinct in Whitlam has a thriving climate-wise garden, planted in 2022 and showcasing resilient garden design. The garden has been designed with its natural context in mind- supporting local plants and wildlife while thriving in the local weather conditions across all four seasons. The garden was designed by Place Logic as part of SLA’s Innovation Precinct, a place for demonstrating sustainable homes and gardens to inspire more sustainable living. The plants chosen for the garden were selected from the SLA’s Climate Wise Garden Designs booklet, a key resource for residents in new suburbs and available to visitors on the day for free.
Cook Community Garden
Cook Community Garden Bindubi St, Cook, ACTThe Cook Community Garden, established in 2001, is situated at the southern end of Bindubi St. The 5000sqm garden is leased by Canberra Organic Growers Society Inc from the ACT Government. Currently the garden has 46 very active gardeners of all ages and backgrounds working 55 allotment style plots ranging in size between 50 and 15sqm. The garden is always on the lookout for keen gardeners to join and embrace organic growing principles, especially the younger generation. There is an off street carpark adjacent to the garden. The nearest toilets are located at Cook shops. Entry is free.
Teachers’ Rest
Teacher's Rest Palmerston, ACT, AustraliaThe key to this cottage style garden which surrounds the house, is the large number and variety of roses on beds, walls and trellises. The rose displays are complemented with a wide selection of perennial beds, shrubs and small trees such as maples, magnolias, ginghos and crepe myrtles, most of which have been planted in the [...]
Dhulwa
Dhulwa 5 Boyce Place, Chifley, ACT, AustraliaVisitors’ first experience is a front garden of mature banksias, wattles and other native shrubs, which nicely merge with the neighbouring garden and attract a number of native birds including gang gang and yellow tailed cockatoos and nesting wattle birds. The stonework lined paths takes one on a journey around the house through a series of [...]
Fairview
Fairview 71 Euree Street, Reid, ACTFairview is a professionally landscaped garden planned by its qualified horticulturalist and landscape architect owner to complement and highlight the 1927 heritage cottage. There are water features and a varied and intriguing range of garden rooms with layers and textures created by the plants, many featuring art installations and sculptures, including Japanese elements. The heritage cottage will also be opened to garden visitors, allowing views to each of the outside garden rooms.
Narrawong
Narrawong 17 Astelia St, Rivett, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaNarrawong is a mix of formal and cottage garden styles. It has been designed to make the most of a small area, after the existing garden was almost completely removed when the house was renovated and extended twelve years ago. There are repeat plantings of camellias, osmanthas, magnolias, jasmine, rosemary, lavender and a pittostrum hedge. There is a variety of cottage plants including some unusual perennials. Azaleas and rhododendrons provide a splash of colour in Spring. Large mature tree provides a backdrop with Nimmitabel stone walls encircling garden beds and lawns.resist and indulged herself on whimsical impulse. The owner considers the front her “Arboreal Cathedral” which, more or less, came with the house.
BeaverLea
BeaverLea 19 Astelia St, Rivett, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaThis cottage style garden started in March 2013 with the installation of a three-tiered fountain in front of the outdoor room, and the garden proceeded from there. There are three loosely divided rooms from the entry, a European style area which moves into a large lawn area, surrounded by crepe myrtles and two raised vegetable gardens. Around the side of the house, through an enclosed courtyard one enters the front garden facing the oval. All the plantings come from an eclectic taste of flowers and trees which the owner could not resist and indulged herself on whimsical impulse. The owner considers the front her “Arboreal Cathedral” which, more or less, came with the house.
Hillside
Hillside 49 Sullivan Cres., Wanniassa, ACTVisitors will enjoy garden beds jam-packed with an enormous range of native and exotic shrubs happily blended together, many of them rare or unusual. The fan-shaped 1,200 sq metre hillside block slopes steeply south and offers expansive views of the Tuggeranong Valley and ranges beyond. The slope lends itself to terracing and interesting use of its varying levels, with meandering pathways, stairs, stone retaining walls and a bubbling pond. The owners have spent over 30 years modifying and extending the original 1980 garden, converting all lawns into plant beds along the way. Their aim is to have something interesting happening year round, although mid-spring is definitely one of the peak times, featuring Correas, Rhododendrons, Cliveas, Emu Bushes, Alyogynes, true Geraniums and an enormous Grass Tree - to name but a few. A feast for any plant lover!
My Therapy
My Therapy 13 Geerilong Gardens, Reid, ACTThe visitor’s first experience is the street scape of large trees and the broad front bed of native shrubs and groundcovers on a dry creek line on this large corner block. Visitors may inspect an enclosed Japanese style formal garden at the front of the 1930s house which was renovated around 1970. Circling the house, visitors [...]
Cuumbeun
Cuumbeun 24 Severne St, Greenleigh, Queanbeyan, NSW, AustraliaOver forty years the owners have created a spectacular natural landscaped native garden around the house and maintained the remainder of the two-hectare block as an open dry native eucalypt forest. The plantings are predominantly local species, and many are threatened. A nursery of propagated plants and a worm farm are of special interest. Cleared meandering [...]
My Place
My Place 44 Brookman Street, Torrens, ACT, AustraliaIn the front garden a varied display of well-maintained spring flowering shrubs frame a broad 180 degree view which includes Isaacs Ridge, Black Mountain and Mt Taylor. Over time the owner has established and shaped the beds and shrubs which include a range of azaleas, a large flowering crab apple, a special rose and other roses [...]
An Enchanted Garden
An Enchanted Garden 4 Paull Place, Kambah, ACT, AustraliaAdults and children alike will be enchanted by this delightful garden. The owner, a successful potter and mosaicker, as well as a skilled gardener, has created a garden with surprises and beauty at every turn. This no-lawn and waterwise garden, which has evolved over more than twenty years, combines both natives and exotics to pleasing effect. [...]
The Wright Place
The Wright Place 58 Faithfull Circuit,, Kambah, ACT, AustraliaWork commenced on this almost 1000 square metre property in April 1975 and has continued unabated since, with many changes over the intervening years. The front garden consists of four terraces with the bottom terrace featuring a gabion wall and the top terrace strongly influenced by the owners travels in Asia. Of particular note are the [...]
Woowoolahra
Woowoolahra - Burra 6 London Bridge Road, Burra, New South Wales, AustraliaSweeping curved rock walls divide this relaxing, mature country garden into ‘rooms’ where lovely old trees embrace lawns, frame valley views and provide shade and rich autumn colour. A cypress woodland opens to a dam with abundant bird life and water lilies and crowned by a curving forty metre rose arbour. The house is surrounded by [...]
Lavender Hill
Lavender Hill 155 London Bridge Road, Burra, NSW, AustraliaEnjoy glorious rural vistas in a relaxing setting of rolling lawns and established English park style gardens, all overlooking a lily-pond weir on Tin Hut Creek, which flows eventually into Googong Dam. Stroll through the large and picturesque 8 hectare block with its own dam, numerous advanced trees ablaze with autumn colour, scattered mature gums (some [...]
Terroux
Terroux 88 Rochford Rd, Wallaroo, NSW, AustraliaAn evolving mixed garden with water features and quirky pieces of art. A garden of discovery with many gravel paths revealing diverse plantings. An extensive parkland with the Brindabellas as a stunning backdrop. This very extensive garden and parklands includes many hedges of flower carpet roses, callistemons, conifers and photinias as well as a large dry [...]
Mayo Maison
Mayo Maison 11 Kurundi Place, Hawker, Canberra, ACTA large, rambling cottage garden bursting with lots of typical spring flowers including Larkspurs, self sown Sweet Peas, Lilies, Salvias and Ranunculi. Plants in pots also add splashes of colour. Camellias and azaleas flower prolifically in season. The over 2000m2 block also includes a large productive vegetable plot and a tennis court, and backs on to [...]
Amber’s Garden
Amber's Garden 8 Andado Place, Hawker, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaSet on a gently sloping north-facing block, this richly varied garden is a constant delight, featuring a sequence of courtyards, lawns and garden ‘rooms’ that beautifully showcase a wide range of thriving exotic and native plants, many of which are unusual to find in Canberra. Extended and modified over the past eight years from the 1980s [...]
Cambrey Farm
Cambrey Farm 18 Beltana Road, Pialligo, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaA beautiful avenue of trees leads to Cambrey Farm, a 6 acre Pialligo farmlet established in the 1930s which has been in the owner’s family since 1954. Major tree plantings date from then, comprising majestic pin oaks, ash and liquidambars as well as mature gums. As an ex poultry farm, and now an alpaca farm, the [...]
Els’ Garden
Els' garden 3 Ramage Place, Flynn, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaEls’ garden is on a quarter acre, gently south-west sloping block, and includes a variety of ornamental zones front and back including a substantial variety of native plants. Phyla nodiflora on the nature strip leads to Isopogons sheltering under a Chinese pistacio, near a young Myoporum floribundum and Solanum linearifolium. Mauve Prostanthera and Westringia contrast beautifully [...]
Serendipity
Serendipity 29 Fitzalan Place Kambah, Canberra, ACTNow more than 40 years old, Serendipity is sited on a moderately sloping block with an area of some 2200 m2 in Kambah. Our aim in developing the garden was to have a visually attractive landscape with enough variety and detail to always have something of interest around the next corner. Many, now mature, trees including [...]
Brindabella Views
Brindabella Views 11 Appel Cres Fadden, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaWith commanding sweeping views of the Brindabellas and the Tuggeranong Valley, this engaging garden has evolved with the family for over 40 years. Late spring sees a peak display of around 60 roses nestled amongst clipped hedges. Follow stone staircases and winding paths, through two arbours, to admire many unusual plants and trees, including many staghorns, [...]
Nevertire
Nevertire 1 McEwan Avenue, Queanbeyan, NSWThis large naturalistic garden is a great garden to explore. Plants have been selected for hardiness in this exposed site and suitability for their 1880s cottage, which was moved to this site in 1925. The owners have continually re-developed the garden using a large range of native and exotic plants include spring bulbs, unusual roses and [...]
Yellowbox
Yellow Box 447 Spring Range Road , Spring Range , NSW, AustraliaThis extensive one hectare native garden is located around the owner’s home on a prominent rocky knoll with 360 degree views of the rural countryside. Meandering paths allow visitors to explore the many shrubby planted sections and a production area.
Baker Garden
The Baker Garden 20 Wells Gardens, Griffith, ACT, AustraliaCompletely redeveloped on a 930 sq m Canberra block this gardener’s garden is designed to provide colour and interest all year round. Includes many sculptures plus stone walls and bird baths. Pine bark mulch, drippers and no lawn make it a low maintenance garden. Hidden behind lattice at the rear are productive raised veggie beds, fruit trees, a covered potting area and composting production.
Canceled Finn’s End
Finn's End 2 Finn Street, O'Connor, ACT, AustraliaThis traditional garden features large trees, massed groundcover and prominent hedges framing distinct outside activity areas in summer shade. Well paved paths guide the visitor around this ‘Tocumwal’ dwelling. This is one of the 200 American Army Air Corps homes constructed in 1942, which were moved from Tocumwal in the Riverina to Canberra in the late 1940s. Most ended up in the O’Connor cluster of 8 streets. #Tocumwal Precinct O’Connor. Rachel and Gabriel have rented this property for a short while and, with the agreement of the owners, are progressively restoring the gardens to complement the dwelling, its surrounds and streetscape.
Jewel Box
Jewel Box 27 Raymond Street, Ainslie, ACTFeaturing columnar Manchurian pears and Japanese maples this beautifully laid out garden has a strong structure within which the colourful plantings appear as jewels. This manicured, cottage garden for all seasons has been meticulously developed over the last two years. Surrounded by high hedges, the back garden is a private haven.
Canberra City Farm
Canberra City Farm 2 Dairy Farm Road, Fyshwick, ACTOriginally set up as an educational facility, CCF now has about sixty individual garden allotments as well as communal areas. There is an eighty year old fruit and nut orchard, one hundred year old pear trees, a feijoa orchard, a vineyard, worm farm, and a solar powered composter. Sited next to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, CCF’s vision is the community living in harmony with the environment. Entry free; gold coin donation appreciated . Guided walks and farm stories will be held at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm on both days.
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Opening hours: | Gardens are open from 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday unless otherwise noted in the garden description. |
Member entry: | Garden entry is free for members. |
Visitor entry: | Garden entry is usually $10.00 for visitors 18 years and over, unless otherwise noted in the garden description. |
Memberships: | Join Open Gardens Canberra for only $30 and all gardens are free for the membership year (to end June). |