Photo by Kaitlyn Jameson

As the oldest botanic garden and scientific institution in Australia, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne opened in 1846 and has almost 100 acres with over 50,000 plant species (some of which are very rare or threatened). Rainforest flora, Californian species, and plants from Southern China are among some of the plants featured at Royal Botanic Gardens. The garden sees over 1.5 million visitors a year, with 150,000 young visitors taking advantage of the children’s garden. The children’s garden includes a ruins garden, bamboo forest, gorge, plant tunnel, wetland area and more. Along with the children’s garden, Royal Botanic Gardens features an aboriginal heritage walk where guests can experience a traditional smoking ceremony and traditional uses of plants for food, tools and medicine, as well as a herbarium discovery walk, observatory, tropical hothouse and a volcano water reservoir. Unlike many public gardens, entry to the gardens is free.