Level IV

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah is located just under two hour’s drive west of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, and is one of three botanic gardens operated by the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust. Sitting atop a rich basalt capped mountain at 1,000 m above sea level, the garden is located within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Wilderness Area (UNESCO

The stunning wilderness surrounding the site provides geographic isolation and the Garden’s altitude, basalt soil and cool climate make it one of the few locations in Australia well suited for the collection and conservation of cool-climate, high altitude plant species.

With over 1,100 tree taxa in the collection, the garden has one of the best collections of cool climate trees in Australia. Specific collections such as the maples, dwarf conifers, conifer species and southern hemisphere species, are unrivaled in Australia.

The collections of North American and Eurasian Woodland species, as well as the conifer collection can play a key role in conservation and within these collections we hold several species listed as threatened or critically endangered by the IUCN. The garden is host to the first ex-situ planting of the famous relict Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) and played a key role in the identification and conservation of the species which was discovered in the wild and rugged Wollemi National Park to the north.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, founded in 1913, is world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom it displays as well as its incomparably magnificent setting against the eastern buttress of Table Mountain. The Kirstenbosch estate covers 528 hectares and supports a diverse fynbos flora and natural forest. The cultivated garden (36 hectares) displays plant collections mainly from the winter rainfall region of the country.

Unique species include the threatened Prunus africana, Ocotea bullata, Widdringtonia wallichii, Widdringtonia schwartzii, Warburgia salutaris, as well as Kirstenbosch historic trees such as the 360 years old Brabejum stellatifolium in the arboretum the Camphor trees in the avenue dating back to 1898 and ancient gymnosperms species of Podocarpus and Afrocarpus at the Dell (the heart of the garden).

The University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum (referred to collectively as OBGHA) is the oldest botanical institution of its kind in the British Isles. The plants  curated form a unique collection, representing more of the World’s plant diversity than any other collection of comparable size. It has been created over nearly four centuries and is an irreplaceable asset for teaching, research, and plant conservation. The University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum consist of three different collections. At the Botanic Garden there are the hardy collections in the Gardens and the tender collections in the Glasshouses. At the Harcourt Arboretum there are the hardy collections of predominantly woody plants plus larger areas of native vegetation. The collections form the foundation and  provide the inspiration for all activities at the Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum.

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Arboretum Wespelaar grows a number of trees and shrubs from the temperate regions of the world. The Arboretum is well known for its extensive collections of Acer, Magnoliaand Rhododendron as well as some less familiar genera such as Clethra, Franklinia, Lindera, Malus, Stewartia etc.. These collections have been planted throughout the 20 hectare of the Arboretum.

The collection was started in 1985 by Philippe de Spoelberch, a passionate dendrologist, and is today owned and managed by the Foundation Arboretum Wespelaar. It has become a world class Arboretum and scientific institution.

Botanical explorations around the world resulted in the introduction of many plants from known wild provenance. Of the 2023 different taxa (species and varieties) represented in the collections, 177 appear on the Red List of threatened plants.

The 112-acre garden is open year-round and contains a diverse ecosystem of meadows, upland and bottomland forest, and wetlands, as well as a variety of specialty gardens and native plant collections. The Mathews Nature Trail contains the largest accredited Trillium collection in the U.S., and the Anderson Education Center is home to the nation’s largest open-air butterfly house. The Native Plants Teaching Garden is a public space that highlights how Alabama plants, soil, pollinators, and birds create distinct communities, together forming a diverse, sustainable, and attractive landscape. The Children’s Garden consists of eight themed areas and is a popular destination for play, pretend, and hands-on learning.

They are committed to elevating the community by maintaining living plant collections, offering strong educational programs, and participating in specialized research. They inspire citizens to explore their connections to the natural world and encourage them to join us in creating a community-wide garden that celebrates the unique biodiversity of the region.

The UC Davis Arboretum was founded in 1936 to support education and research at the University of California at Davis. The Arboretum's collections are displayed in 96 acres of gardens along the old north fork of Putah Creek, and comprise 33,000 plants representing more than 2,500 species and varieties from Mediterranean climate areas throughout the world. The collections represent an enormous repository of information on plants that grow and thrive in California's Central Valley, where extreme summer heat, drying winds, heavy soils, and often poor water quality pose challenges to gardeners.

During the late 1950's and 60's, extensive taxonomic collections, most notably of oaks, acacias, and eucalypts, were established, and the Arboretum's curatorial record-keeping system was instituted. In the 1980's and 90's the Arboretum established several demonstration gardens of California native plants and drought-tolerant flowering shrubs and perennials. These continue to be developed as sites for horticultural trials of new plant selections and demonstration gardens illustrating landscape design, cultural techniques, and plants appropriate for low-water-use gardens in the arid West.

Located in Southern California, the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is a unique 127-acre botanical garden and historical site. Serving the over 300,000 annual visitors, the Arboretum is dedicated to cultivating our natural, horticultural and historic resources for learning, enjoyment and inspiration.

The Arboretum landscape is distinguished by its heritage, as told through historical structures and features. A reconstructed Gabrielino/Tongva Indian structure called kiy reflects the heritage of the original occupants of the land. Scotsman Don Hugo Reid acquired the 13,319 acres of Rancho Santa Anita from the Mexican government in 1839 and a year later built an adobe home on the site of today's Arboretum. The elaborate Queen Anne Cottage and matching Coach Barn were constructed on the grounds in the 1880s by the colorful and eccentric E.J. "Lucky" Baldwin. Both Victorian structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A Santa Fe train depot built exclusively for Baldwin and dating back to 1890 was relocated to the Arboretum grounds in 1968. The Arboretum has a number of historic trees and landscapes that are part of the plant collections.

The Fullerton Arboretum is a 26-acre botanical garden with a collection of plants from around the world, located on the northeast corner of the California State University, Fullerton campus in Fullerton, California, in the United States. It is the largest botanical garden in Orange County, with a collection of over 4,000 unique plant species. The garden provides a learning space for students at California State University, Fullerton, and schools from Orange and Los Angeles counties, as well as a recreation space for the community, and is a tourism destination.

The Arboretum’s garden paths wander through four major collections: Cultivated, Woodlands, Mediterranean, and Desert Collections. Highlights include Southern California native vegetation, Rare Fruit Grove, historic Citrus and Avocados, Channel Islands Garden, an extensive Cycad Collection, Conifer Collection, Palm Grove, Subtropical Collection, Community Gardens, and a Children’s Garden.

In addition to the gardens, the Arboretum is home to The Heritage House, an Eastlake Victorian-style structure, built in 1894 that showcases the family life and medical practice of the 1890s. The garden is also home to The Orange County Agricultural and Nikkei Heritage Museum, which highlights the region’s agricultural history as well as the contributions of the local Japanese American community and other pioneering farmers.