Introducing ... Plant your history

A gathering of flowers: the Florilegium collection

Finely detailed botanical artworks reveal the range of plants introduced to Sydney’s gardens over the past 200 years

A harvest of melons and pumpkins

Learn how to care for your cucurbits with horticulturist Anita Rayner, read about the great watermelon heist of 1811 and discover some forgotten heirloom varieties

A mossy analogy for Susannah Place: small but mighty

Mosses are everywhere! They are small, mighty, unsung and inhabit the most unusual places. They can be found in all our museum outdoor spaces if one looks closely enough

A new weapon in the war on weeds

A black and yellow sign warns me there is “Spraying in Progress”, and I wonder for a moment why no one is wearing a mask, or even gloves. But the dangerous looking mist enveloping these men is not what it seems

Acanthus - an apt symbol for The Mint

Look at any classical building today, anywhere in the world and chances are you will find an acanthus leaf lurking somewhere

Aloe arborescens ‘candelabra aloe’

Tours at Elizabeth Farm often start alongside a large bed of succulents, dominated by towering cactus

An accidental fernery at Susannah Place

Deep in the basement of one of the terraces at Susannah Place in The Rocks grows a small patch of vibrant green native Maiden Hair Fern

Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia arborea) at Vaucluse House

Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia arborea) is a beautiful perennial shrub native to South America. It was introduced to the colony from Rio de Janeiro for its attractive trumpet flowers

Arthur Phillip’s gardener

Much has been written about our first Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip. A lot less is known about the other members of his household, which included his own personal French chef and his personal servant, Henry Dodd (1748-1791)

As the seasons turn

As the seasons turn there are those plants we look out for, those changing leaf colours and flowers that punctuate the year and remind us that time is rolling on

Autumn Blooms at Meroogal

Our local horticulturist, Gail has been doing a fantastic job of taking care of the gardens at Meroogal and the plants are showing off their colours in appreciation

Autumn bonanza

As summer’s heat finally fades, autumn’s lengthening shadows and burnished golden sunsets signal the start of a busy season for the Horticulture team at MHNSW, with many garden plants bursting into colourful life

Beautiful & tasty

One of the stars of the kitchen garden is the pineapple plant (Ananas comosus), which do not fail to surprise and put a smile on our visitor’s faces

Beautiful bountiful bamboo

One of the most recognisable plants growing at Museums of History NSW today is bamboo. This colourful plant has a long history in colonial gardens

Billbergia nutans 'Queen's tears'

As it's bursting into bloom right now in MHNSW gardens, we are revisiting a bromeliad with the evocative name of ‘Queen’s tears’

Busy as a bee at Rouse Hill Estate

We like to organise working bees at our MHNSW properties throughout the year to get staff involved & out of the office

Camellia blooms at Vaucluse House

With the autumn leaves still falling, winter is the time to come and see our large collection of stunning heritage camellias at Vaucluse House

Camellia japonica 'Jean Lyne'

A beautiful medium-sized, late-season cultivar, Jean Lyne was one of the most popular Camellia cultivars – although now only rarely seen in gardens

Camellias light up the winter garden

Camellias put on a spectacular display of flowers through autumn and winter and are deservedly popular garden plants

Cape honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis)

The Cape honeysuckle is currently in its magnificent full bloom at Rouse Hill Estate. This erect scrambling evergreen shrub has been widely planted on the property

Conservation in Action: Vaucluse House bush care

The gardens team undertake important work on the ecological restoration and recovery of the Olola Avenue boundary bushland

Extending the olive branch

Just over a year ago we started a project to ensure the survival of the Elizabeth Farm European olive tree (Olea europaea), which is believed to be Australia’s oldest living cultivated olive tree

Feathered friends at Rose Seidler House

We visited Rose Seidler house at Wahroonga and were joined during morning tea by two Kookaburras eager to steal some food

Fireworks of garden colour

For the past week several our gardens have been lit up by vivid colour – firework bursts of hot scarlet and pink. These are the flowers of a bromeliad called billbergia pyramidalis – a great ‘garden performer’ also known by its apt name ‘flaming torch’

Florilegium: plant stories from our gardens

Native plants and exotic species from abroad have shaped Sydney’s gardens from the earliest days of the colony. Through the tales of their discovery, collection and exchange, and the horticultural trends that drove their popularity, our gardens reveal captivating stories spanning more than 200 years

From across the seas: the gardenesque at Vaucluse House

The pleasure garden at Vaucluse House replicates one of the pinnacle movements of 19th-century horticulture – the gardenesque

Fruit & vegetables with a history

The kitchen garden at Vaucluse House boasts an impressive variety of fruit & vegetables year round. Here are just a few varieties currently growing & an insight into their back stories

Furcraea foetida - Mauritian Hemp

Usually metres in the air, we get a rare glimpse of the sweetly scented flowers attached to the Furcrea's flower spike as a result of the recent strong winds

Garden renovations at Meroogal

During November 2016 we visited Meroogal in the south coast town of Nowra for two days to undertake a much-needed garden renovation

In good hands

A week with the Gardens team shows historic garden conservation at its most hands-on

In the pink at Elizabeth Farm

Amid the late summer bounty in the garden at Elizabeth Farm, the crepe myrtle is the undoubted star of the show

It's Tecoma time again

This heritage staple flowers in mid-Autumn and can be used as a fantastic hedge when maintained

Jewelled tears

Currently flowering on the verandahs at Elizabeth Farm are exotics from South America – Billbergia nutans, a type of bromeliad. They remind us that colonial gardens contained botanical riches from all around the world

Jubilant jacarandas

Sydney's suburbs are turning purple, it’s that fantastic time of the year when the Jacarandas blossom. Check out the images of our 'dream trees' currently in bloom

Look out below, Bunyas above

Wednesday’s heavy rain has given me some down time to show you the size of our Bunya Tree (Araucaria bidwillii) cones that have fallen

Lord Howe Wedding Lily – Dietes robinsoniana

Now flowering at The Mint this little-known species of Dietes is endemic to Lord Howe Island. It features large white flowers and is the tallest of the Dietes genus

Magnolia denudata - Yulan Magnolia

The Yulan Magnolia originates from south-eastern China and is documented in Sydney as a species Alexander Macleay received at Elizabeth Bay House in 1836

Nightmare with our elm tree

Our Chinese Elm tree at Elizabeth farm had a rough time during recent storms, discover what happened

Old Garden Stalwarts Unfazed By Heat, Provide Colourful Summer Displays

Prairie nymphs at Rouse Hill

The recent rain has brought out one of Rouse Hill’s tiniest garden jewels – the bright blue flowered Herbertia