Inside Victoria

Meet your Ross Tour leader at Sydney Domestic Airport for your flight to Melbourne. We’ll head off to Cranbourne Botanic Gardens, a showcase of Australian flora that will give us a whole new appreciation of our unique Aussie plants; all designed with contemporary flair. See the whole garden in the comfort of the Garden Explorer Bus. Drive down the Mornington Peninsula and check into the Flinders Hotel for four nights. Welcome dinner included tonight.

We are heading to Heronswood this morning, the home of Diggers Seeds, showcasing flowers and plants for Australian conditions. The garden changes throughout the year with inspiring planting combinations of perennials and heirloom vegetables. Lunch will be served in the historic Heronswood House built in 1864.

Three private gardens today will challenge your ideas of what a garden means. Each garden sits comfortably in its own special ‘space’. Meet the owners and learn the ‘how and why’, of each of the three gardens. Generous hospitality raises the bar and makes this a happy and comfortable experience.

Attila Kapitany’s garden of succulents is our first stop this morning. Architectural aloes, agaves and yuccas complement colourful ground-covering succulents. Next stop is Cruden Farm, one of Australia’s most iconic and beautiful country gardens. It’s the garden and former home of the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who arrived here as a young bride 80 years ago. Dame Elisabeth loved this garden that she carefully designed and planted with head gardener Michael Morrison. There are many garden rooms; borders, picking garden, shrub walks and the famous avenue of 100 lemon-scented gums that leads to the house. Lunch is included today. Travel back to Flinders

Catch the morning ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff then take the Great Ocean Road to a unique coastal garden created by landscape designer Peter Shaw. Peter is widely admired for his coastal landscapes that are distinctively Australian. Travel on to Ballarat, one of the most famous gold-mining towns in Australia.

spectacular display garden and one of Australia’s finest is Burnside, the garden of David Glenn at Lambley Nursery. Enjoy this masterful garden, filled with bees, butterflies and birds, and learn about dry climate gardening. Next stop is lunch at Ceres Homestead in Learmonth. As soon as you enter the estate, you are enveloped in a sense of history, romance, capture and connection. Jane’s warm welcome and generous hospitality is legendary. Afternoon visit to Clunes, a picture perfect gold mining town from 1851.

The home and garden of celebrity chef, Annie Smithers, Babbington Park, is our first stop this morning. There’s a lot going on in this exciting farm and garden. A cute flower farm is next, then Annie will cook lunch for us at ‘Du Fermier’ in Trentham.

You’ll fall in love with this charming flower garden at Scarsdale. The garden is filled with iris, roses and perennials jostling for space, all laid out with a magic sense of play. Next stop is Ballarat’s Botanical Garden, one of Australia’s most significant cool climate gardens, for a peep into the famous conservatory. Free afternoon. Farewell dinner included this evening.

A perennial gem of a garden in Trentham this morning as we travel to Melbourne and Tullamarine for our homeward flight.