Street Gardens

Ballarat has a proud heritage of presenting floral displays in the Citys main streets.

Street Plantings

Gardens in the streets and boulevards represent a diverse range of plantings ranging from native grassland plants, display beds of annual plants, rose beds, perennial plantings and shrub plantings.

In Sturt Street, Victoria Street and Albert Street there are 42 flower beds each having two bedding plant displays per year. Up to 64,500 seedlings are planted per year and the displays are timed to peak in Spring and Autumn. Most of these seedlings are grown at the City of Ballarats nursery located along side the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. In recent years while a full Spring display is prepared each year, a reduced Autumn display has been prepared in response to drought conditions and water restrictions.

 

Roses

There are over 100 rose beds in the streets and parks containing a total of some 4,500 roses, many of which are planted in single variety plantings. While most of the rose beds have been in place for many years, a replacement program has seen most beds replanted in the last ten years. The majority of replacements are newer type floribunda bush roses with some classic varieties replanted. All new roses are named varieties that have been sourced mostly from Victorian growers. Roses are chosen for their display colour, extended flowering, hardiness and disease resistance.

Native Grasslands, Shrubs & Exotic Varieties

In recent years plantings of cultivated varieties of native grassland plants have been used in some streets and roundabouts. The Victoria Street centre median, from Woodmans Hill to Princes Street, has recently been revegetated with grassland plants. Some of the varieties used include Lomandra Tanika, Lomandra Katrinus, Poa Eskdale and Dianella Little Rev. Plants were selected for their landscape effect, their hardiness and importantly for their low water use.

Shrub plantings in the streets include a range of native and exotic varieties. An ongoing program of revitalisation of older plantings will see some replacement of plants that have become over mature. Several roundabouts have also been planted with low growing shrubs to provide interest to the urban streetscape. Shrubs are chosen for their hardiness, flower or leaf colour, growth habits and low water use.