ARS Victoria Newsletter – April 2024

• Date: 7th April 2024
• author: Andrew Rouse

CLOUD FOREST GARDEN at Dandenong Ranges Botanic Gardens

The Cloud Forest Garden landscaping is close to completion, with irrigation and mulch application the final tasks to be completed by the contractors. The Cloud Forest Garden will be the public display of the North Queensland mountain-top endemic plants collected by the ARS and other partners in the Tropical Mountain Plant Science Project (TroMPS). Andrea Proctor Landscapes has designed the garden to include rocky outcrops that mimic the habitat of R.viriosum and R. lochiae in the wild. Visitors will walk through large rocks cleaved in two with the rhododendrons featuring prominently on island beds and areas close to the path.

In addition to the rhododendrons, the nursery at Dandenong Ranges Botanic Gardens is holding about 40 species of other North Queensland mountain-top endemics collected by the TroMPS partners.

The ARSV Tuesday Group have been busy preparing the North Queensland plants, currently held in pots in the nursery, for planting out. There are about 240 specimens of R. viriosum and R. lochiae, grown as cuttings from the original specimens collected on the 10 mountain-tops targeted by the TroMPS partners. In addition to the rhododendrons, the Cloud Forest Garden will contain specimens of other North Queensland mountain-top endemics collected by the TroMPS partners. In all, about 40 other species are awaiting planting out, including Agathis robusta, Flindersia oppositifolia, Eucryphia wilkei, Cryptocarya bellendenkerana, Leptospermum wooroonooran and Micromyrtus delicata. The planting out is planned for mid-autumn, with a launch sometime in Winter.

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