[category]
[title]
Spring is a bloomin’ beautiful time to visit Canberra, when it plays host to Australia’s largest, most extravagant flower festival. While we’re big fans of Floriade, there’s a far more tranquil floral spectacle hiding just 20 minutes north of our nation’s capital. It’s one of the Southern Tablelands’ best-kept spring secrets, overflowing with more than 1 million vibrant blooms.
For just one month each spring, Tulip Top Gardens opens its four glorious hectares of landscaped gardens to the public. This family-run gem is the culmination of a 30-year dream for founders Pat and Bill Rhodin, who bought the valley farmland in the early 1990s when it was little more than a bare grassy field. Having already won several national gardening competitions, the couple were searching for a larger canvas.
Today, this beautiful estate features more than 1,000 flowering trees – from weeping cherries to ornamental peaches, plums and pears. Beneath their canopy, well over 80 varieties of vibrant blooms come to life, including more than half a million tulips, violas, pansies, poppies, daisies and stocks. For the ultimate view, climb up to the 1,000-square-metre cascade lookout to enjoy sweeping panoramas over the entire valley.
Remarkably, this massive display is planted entirely by hand. Over six weeks, Bill, Pat and their son Dallas personally transfer every seedling from trays into pots, and finally into the garden beds – ensuring the landscape bursts to life when gates open in mid-September. Their daughter Molly is also involved behind the scenes, making it a full family affair.
You can easily make a full day out of it. Hit up the Dutch pancake parlour for a sweet treat and a coffee, relax among the blooms at the garden café, or pack a picnic to enjoy in the fresh country air while listening to live local tunes.
Tulip Top Gardens’ 2026 season runs from Saturday, September 12 to Sunday, October 11, coinciding with Floriade – so you can tick off both in the one trip. Tickets (payable on entry) are $24 for adults or free for children 16 years and under, with dogs welcome too. You can find out more here.