Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory

Fitzroy Gardens in East Melbourne began as a reserve in 1848; from 1860 Clement Hodgkinson planned and developed its layout. The 26-hectare park is now run by the City of Melbourne and is heritage-listed.

The City of Melbourne opened the Conservatory in March 1930. It belongs to a period of change in the gardens through the 1930s and 1940s: in 1934 the Grimwade family paid for Cooks' Cottage, the home of Captain James Cook's parents, to be shipped from England and rebuilt in the park, and in the 1940s Edgar Wilson added a miniature Tudor village. The gardens also hold the Fairies' Tree, carved by the sculptor Ola Cohn and given to the children of Melbourne.

The Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory is built in the Spanish Mission style, with an adobe-coloured palette.

Outside, the setting is punctuated by sculpture, including a sundial and an ornamental fountain known as Boy with Serpent.

The Conservatory holds no permanent botanical collection; instead it stages floral displays that change five times a year, following the southern-hemisphere seasons: hydrangeas from November to February, tuberous begonias from February to April, tropical plants from April to July, cinerarias and cyclamen from July to September, and schizanthus, the so-called poor man's orchid, from September to November.

Each changeover brings a short closure of a few days while the beds are replanted.

The Conservatory stands in Fitzroy Gardens, a few minutes' walk from Melbourne's central business district, with its address on Wellington Parade. A visit is short and fits naturally with Cooks' Cottage, the Fairies' Tree, the miniature Tudor village and the Scarred Tree, which bears marks of use by the Wurundjeri people.

The season decides what is on show: hydrangeas in summer, begonias in autumn. It is worth checking the changeover dates, when the building closes for a few days.