Cranbourne Friends, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Inc.

• Our quarterly newsletter, Naturelink
• Quicklink monthly online newsletter
• Discount rates for both Cranbourne Friends’ activities and exclusive entry to Member-only events and trips and tours to alpine and other places with interesting native flora.
• 15% discount on plants at the Growing Friends Nursery on Thursdays and at Plant Sales at Cranbourne
• 10% discount at the shop (Melbourne and Cranbourne) and the Boon Wurrung Café

Growing Friends Plant Sales are offered twice per year, in March and October. Australian native plants which have been propagated and grown by the Growing Friends group are sold to the public near the kiosk at the Northern end of the Australian Garden.

We also offer Friends events and/or workshops designed to provide a deeper understanding of the Gardens themselves and the bushland surrounding it, as well as the scientific, horticultural and conservation work of our Botanic Gardens.

You can make friends and develop a new interest by taking up one of our group activities:

• Weekend workshops and talks, social activities
• Nurturing plants in the Growing Friends nursery, with your passion for cultivation (Thursdays)
• Joining the gardening team in the Australian (FIGS) (Tuesdays)
• Explore our special interest groups, including photography, botanic illustration, botanical weaving and our fabricators group.
• Joining trips to interesting botanical places, in Victoria and elsewhere.

The Friends Group was officially launched in 1991 by a group of people who were keen to support the Gardens and foster its development. After over 30 years we are a mixture of plant lovers, gardeners, landscape designers, environmentalists, photographers and nature lovers. This enthusiastic group share a love of Australian plants and nature, and raise funds to support the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne.

Our greatest achievement is that with our support and led by the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and landscape architects TCL, the beautiful Australian Gardens was actually built. It shows the wonderful horticultural potential of Australian native plants.

The Cranbourne Friends were set up because a group of plant-lovers were really keen to see a Garden established to celebrate Australian native plants. The land at Cranbourne (a former sand quarry and wasteland) was identified as a suitable location for an annexe of the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. It later became the beautiful Cranbourne Gardens.

Use your enthusiasm and skills to get involved in your Cranbourne Gardens and connect with fellow plant enthusiasts.

We are a specialist group supporting the Royal Botanic Gardens, Victoria. There is also a separate Melbourne Friends group supporting Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, at South Yarra.

The remnant bushland Cranbourne Gardens is also the home of the Southern Brown Bandicoot.

This depends on what the activity is. The propagators work at sites that are physically accessible, and when we hold afternoon talks of presentations they are held in buildings that are accessible. For meetings and events, we also implement virtual participation options where possible.