Cairns Botanic Gardens

Edge Hill, Queensland, Australia, Australia

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Cairns Botanic Gardens, located along Collins Avenue in Edge Hill about 6 km north of Cairns city centre, is Australia's premier tropical botanic garden and one of Far North Queensland's top visitor attractions, established in 1877 and now covering over 40 hectares of lush tropical paradise.

The gardens feature the heritage-listed 2.35-hectare Flecker Garden as its focal point, showcasing extensive collections of palms, heliconias, gingers, trees, and useful indigenous plants from wet tropical regions worldwide with emphasis on Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Far North Queensland.

At the centre of Flecker Garden sits the Watkins Munro Martin Conservatory, a glasshouse displaying spectacular orchids, carnivorous plants, ant plants, tassel ferns, palms, and the bizarre corpse flower (amorphophallus), while the surrounding precinct includes the Gondwanan Evolution Garden with native Far North Queensland trees, the exotic palms and trees of Fitzalan Garden, the Zhanjiang Friendship Garden (Chinese Friendship Garden), and the Centenary Lakes area with freshwater and saltwater lakes surrounded by mangroves and lowland tropical swamp forest.

The gardens are open every day of the year with free admission, offering 7.30 am to 5.30 pm hours for Flecker Garden and conservatory, while other areas remain open around the clock, and visitors can enjoy guided walking tours, bird walks, rainforest boardwalks leading to Centenary Lakes and a nature playground, plant trolley sales, and the nearby Tanks Arts Centre.