This Community-Built Botanic Garden Just 1.5 Hours from Sydney Is Blooming This Spring

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This Community-Built Botanic Garden Just 1.5 Hours from Sydney Is Blooming This Spring

Tucked on the edge of Bowral, the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens spans 13.5 hectares of cool-climate greenery — and it has a remarkable story behind it

Sydney is spoilt for green spaces, but if you want to escape the crowds this spring, point your car towards the Southern Highlands. On the outskirts of Bowral sits a 13.5-hectare cool-climate garden with a difference: it was built from the ground up by the community rather than funded by government. Opened in 2013, this not-for-profit project still relies on volunteers, grants, donations, memberships and fundraising to keep growing — and that's exactly what makes it so charming. You're not just visiting a finished garden; you're watching one unfold, season by season.

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Where is the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens?

You'll find the gardens at 1 Old South Road, Bowral, on the north-eastern corner of Kangaloon Road and Old South Road. It slots neatly into a Southern Highlands day trip, especially if you're already exploring Bowral's storybook streets. The site covers 13.5 hectares and is still evolving, with established areas sitting alongside spaces earmarked for future planting.

What to expect on arrival

As the name suggests, this is a cool-climate botanic garden shaped by the Highlands' four distinct seasons. Spring and summer bring colourful blooms, autumn delivers that signature fiery foliage, and winter reveals interesting bark, berries and winter-flowering plants. Picnic shelters, open lawns and a fully fenced playground make it a fantastic family-friendly outdoor destination. What truly sets it apart is the community ethos: it's run by a not-for-profit organisation, funded and operated by locals rather than ongoing government money. The result is a living, evolving project you can revisit again and again — and always find something new.

What you'll see inside

While the full vision is still taking shape, there's already plenty to explore — including four nationally recognised plant collections on the National Plant Collections Register. Highlights include a Birch Grove with 23 varieties of Betula (silver birch), 21 types of Buxus (boxwood), a collection of dwarf Cornus (dogwoods) and the Tony Davis daffodil collection. The gardens are also restoring the endangered Southern Highlands shale woodland that once covered the site. Keep an eye out for wildlife too: blue fairy wrens, eastern spinebills, thornbills, lizards, native bees and more call the gardens home.

Is entry free?

Yes — general admission is completely free. The gardens open daily from 9am to 5pm, including public holidays, with free parking on site. Occasionally, special events carry an admission fee, so it pays to check ahead if you're visiting for a festival.

Prefer a guided experience? Walking tours run Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays), led by volunteer guides who share deeper insight into the gardens' plants, wildlife, history and ongoing development.

How to get there

From Sydney, drive south-west towards Bowral via the Hume Highway. Once in Bowral, the gardens sit at the corner of Old South Road and Kangaloon Road, with off-street parking accessible from Old South Road near the Kangaloon Road roundabout.

Don't fancy driving? Berrima Bus Services' route 815 runs from Bowral and passes the gardens along Kangaloon Road — just note it doesn't operate on Sundays.

The fenced garden is entered via pedestrian Gate 2 from the Old South Road car park, while the unfenced eastern precinct can also be reached from Kangaloon Road, Alice Avenue and Robinia Drive.