This week, Roy decided he would like to share a visit he made recently to a truly spectacular garden. Roy loves gardens and nature of all sorts, and he has visited many spectacular gardens in his time. There is one, the Rhododendron Gardens in Blackheath, which he has been wishing to visit for years but he had never been there at the right time of the year to see the spectacular flowers in bloom. This year though, he managed to be there just at the right time, and he was awestruck by the beauty of the gardens.
If you would like to visit the Campbell Rhododendron Gardens, they are located in Blackheath in the beautiful Blue Mountains of NSW. The gardens are located in Bacchante Street, and there is parking available both inside the gardens and on the outside. The gardens are also apparently an easy walk from the Blackheath Station, so you can visit by rail if driving isn’t your thing. Roy thinks the gardens are the perfect place to enjoy a picnic, or simply to wander around and enjoy the fresh mountain air and beautiful scenery.
The Rhododendron Gardens are so expansive and beautiful that you could be forgiven for thinking they were much older than they actually are, yet the gardens were established in the 1970s! The Blue Mountains Nurserymen’s Association held the very first meeting of the Blue Mountains Rhododendron Garden in early April, 1969. Not long after, in fact just 5 months later, the newly formed group decided they wanted to create a Rhododendron Garden in the Blue Mountains. They looked at a number of different locations, searching out the perfect place for the garden to be formed, and on March 13, 1970, 18 and a half hectares of land in Blackheath was officially gazetted to be used as the gardens.
The land belonged to the Land’s Department, and a condition of using the area was that as much of the landscape as possible be retained in its ‘natural state’. This condition was a challenge for the society, but led to the unique and stunning combination of natural bushland and exotic plantings which the gardens are famous for. Another famous feature of the garden is the tranquil lake which reflects the colour of the spectacular blooms so beautifully. The lake was excavated in December 1971 and by 1972 had been filled and landscaped, with the first nine rhododendron’s, all ‘White Pearls’, planted. A picturesque stone bridge was built over the lake in 1974 by Bob McCollough. The Gardens are today known as the Campbell Rhododendron Gardens in honour of the driving couple behind the establishment of the gardens, Norm and Olive Campbell. In 1973 Norm Campbell became the first Gardens Supervisor, and he continued to work several hours a week on their upkeep for the next 30 years. Olive was secretary of the Rhododendron Society from 1970 until her death in 1994.