Garden of the Month – November 2025: Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
This month we’re excited to be featuring the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart. Founded in 1818, it’s Australia’s second oldest botanic garden. More than two centuries on, it remains a place rooted in purpose, caring for Tasmania’s native flora while continuing to grow and evolve.
With over 200 years of history and dedication to Tasmanian flora, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens stands as a living example of how gardens evolve, inspire, and conserve. As Tasmania’s only botanical gardens, this 14-hectare site is a vital resource encompassing horticulture, botany, education, tourism, recreation, and culture. We invite you to explore the story of this remarkable institution below.
Where It All Began
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is located in Tasmania, Australia, on land originally occupied by the Muwinina People. Archaeological excavations have uncovered extensive living history sites and stone artefacts dating back more than 5,000 years. Uncountable numbers of shells lie as scattered fragments, all once held with human hands.
In 1818, the Gardens were established as a Victorian-era park. It is Australia’s second oldest botanical gardens and was established as the Governor’s Gardens to supply Government House with food products and to serve as promenades for the upper classes of colonial society.
Originally created to grow food for the colony and trial exotic crops, the Gardens gradually became a haven for botanical research and public recreation.
The Gardens offers the opportunity to experience Tasmania's unique range of native flora, as well as an extensive range of ornamental plants.
Plant Collections
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is known for its diverse living collection, showcasing both native and exotic plants across a stunning landscape. It has a long-standing position in the world network of botanic gardens.
Together, these collections represent a living museum – one that celebrates plant diversity, supports global scientific inquiry, provides a peaceful and inspiring space for visitors year-round.
The living collections at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens are central to the Gardens’ existence, attracting almost half a million visitors each year, appreciating, and enjoying the vast diversity of plants on display.
The Gardens’ collection is comprised of over 6,000 accessions represented by over 78,000 specimens from more than 200 families. They contain over 2,450 species and over 3,500 taxa grouped in themed collections.
Highlights include:
Tasmanian Flora Collection
This is a signature display of endemic species, offering visitors a deep look into Tasmania’s unique floristic diversity.
The inclusion of endangered species in this collection helps to raise awareness about the plight of rare and threatened Tasmanian species in the wild. The high diversity of Tasmanian native plants, including endemic, endangered species, presents opportunities for scientific research and education.
The collection includes plants such as the Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii), King Billy pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides), celertytop pine (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius) and the stunning pandani (Richea pandanifolia). Rare and endangered plants, including native orchids and critically endangered species are represented throughout the Tasmanian collections.
The Subantarctic Plant House
This facility replicates the harsh, windswept environment of Macquarie Island, a remote subantarctic territory of Australia, situated in the Southern Ocean, 1500 km southeast of Tasmania. Inside the display house, mosses, liverworts, ferns, cushion plants, and tiny flowering species survive in simulated fog, wind, and chill – a rare opportunity for the public to glimpse flora of this unique part of the world.
This collection provides the opportunity to secure and research the flora of a unique part of the subantarctic region and to continue to raise awareness about the fragility of this significant ecosystem.
Palm Collection
This collection is listed on the National Trust of Tasmania Register of Significant Trees. The Palm Collection was originally planted in the 1840s. Although the location of the collection changed over time, a mature Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis) and a European fan palm (Chamaerops humilis) still remain in the original location. The collection was moved to its current location prior to World War I to complement several large palms planted in the late 1800s.
Pinetum Collection
Dating back to the mid-1800s, the Pinetum Collection is underpinned by the gardenesque plantings that line the main entrance road. A high proportion of mature conifers make up the collection, adding to the sense of place and uniqueness of the Gardens on a national and international level. Amongst the species represented, some are extremely rare in cultivation, particularly in Australia. The extent and diversity of the collection and the rarity of some of the species within it make the Pinetum one of the most significant collections of conifers in the southern hemisphere.
Pineapple House
This exciting new display house was established in 2023, but the RTBG has a historical connection to growing exotic fruits. In the 1830s, during the tenure of the Garden’s first Superintendent, William Davidson, a lean-to glasshouse was built against a 15-metre section of a large, heated brick wall, the Arthur Wall, the largest heated wall in the southern hemisphere. A collection of 200 pineapple plants flourished in the house for some years. The Pineapple House displays a diverse group of tropical flora not common in cultivation in Tasmania, including pineapple cultivars that are interpreted to tell the story of efforts to grow these plants in the early years of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.
Behind the Scenes
A quiet force in Tasmanian plant conservation, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens play a critical role in ex-situ conservation. Its Seedbank and Conservation Program partner with national and regional groups to safeguard endangered and threatened species.
The Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre (TSCC) was established in 2005 as part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project, an initiative supported by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The Centre stores large collections of seeds for conservation and restoration programs, and provides an extensive, publicly available, databank of germination research. It is regarded as the cornerstone of integrated plant conservation in Tasmania. To date over 55 million viable seeds, representing over 2,100 collections, are stored in the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre.
Heritage Architecture
Superintendent’s Cottage
In 1828, William Davidson was appointed as the Gardens first Superintendent and lived with his family in the Superintendent’s Cottage which was built around 1830. Originally, the northern portion of the cottage was separate to the southern portion which housed the convict workers, with a courtyard to divide the two buildings.
Arthur Wall
This striking wall is one of only two heated walls in the southern hemisphere and was designed to grow espaliered fruit trees. It originally had a hot house attached for the purpose of growing pineapples.
The wall was constructed c1827, two years after Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur sought to have the Gardens developed on scientific lines and coined the term botanical gardens.
It was altered in 1843 with the hot house being converted into a greenhouse and in 1845 part of the wall was demolished to make way for the Gatekeeper’s Cottage.
These structures stand as a reminder of the early days of the Gardens and contribute to the depth and beauty of this special place.
At Hortis, we feel incredibly honoured to support the passionate team at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. It is a privilege to be part of their journey, from preserving Tasmania’s unique flora to engaging the public with meaningful plant stories. Their commitment to conservation, curation, and community is inspiring, and we’re proud to play a small role in helping bring their vision to life.