besides the usual parks and gardens, there is a secret garden which grows in a tropical rooftop environment in malaysia. it has more than 500 species of tagged plants. entrance is free and it is open at weekends only. it's one of my favourite gardens. there is a write-up and some photos in my blog - link given below. Here is a link that might be useful: Typicalgardener's Blog

Hello and Welcome all new ones to this website. Sorry, I'm not a frequent visitor to this forum due to limit of free time but when I do visit it, I learn so much from everyone. Thanks members! Mainly, I learn names of certain herbs and plants that I'm familiar with in my native language but have no idea what its botanical or English common names are. I'm sure you, new ones, will enjoy and learn/share from this forum too. To my collection, I just added a Kaffir Lime tree (for the leaves), some common asian herbs, an all white bloom camellia and more sweet kumquat trees. One of which I may plant it on the ground (I'm curious how hight it'll get). The other 2, I'm going to train them as bonsai. Oh no, I'm not a pro, just try to see if I can do it. I live in Houston and have been visiting JRN Nursery (NW area) for years but more just recently because now I have a garden of my own. They carry so many exotic varieties and the nursery is only minutes away. I must confess, I've been weak lately;-) If you go there, you wouldn't be able to resist buying something neither. I only have 1 dilemna now, I hope I can find courage to fight mosquitoes in the hot summer when my plants need me the most. As we say here in Texas: Happy Planting Ya'll :)

re NZ and Oz - some favourites you may like to try are: NZ - auckland domain - wintergarden - glasshouse/fernery complex - edwardiana auckland regional botanic garden, south of the city wellington - botanic garden, in thorndon, in the city wellington - Otari native plant garden (need a day here!) new plymouth - pukeiti rhododendron trust /native bush as well as rhodos galore, a day trip new plymouth - Tupare garden, large private valley garden new plymouth - Pukekura Park, in the city Christchurch - botanic garden Oz - Canberra - Australian National Botanic Garden - natives only - need a day here too Canberra - gardens of Old and New Parliament House (insist on a courtyard tour of the New - v. interesting) Canberra - sculpture garden of the National Art Gallery (all native and quite something) Canberra - Commonwealth Park, north side of lake Sydney - Botanic gardens - need all day here Sydney - Bicentennial Park - brand new parklands next to the site of the 2000 Olympics at Homebush Bay Syd - Mount Tomah botanic gardens - cool climate plants including interesting Gondwanaland garden and formal use of Oz native plants Syd - Mount Annan bot gardens - natives only Mount Wilson, Northern Blue Mountains - many private gardens, very lush hill station - atypical for Australia Cairns - botanic garden in the tropics Brisbane - botanic garden in the subtropics Brisbane - Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens - relatively young and fascinating Cooktown - botanic garden in the hot tropics! This list looks very institutional - apologies, there are thousands of private gardens in both countries which are open to the public, some all the time, some only for certain days etc. I have a guidebook to Oz open gardens if you want me to look up certain places - happy to - it depends what sort of thing you're interested in really - as well as horticultural show-off pieces there are many historic gardens open too, often only known about by locals... enjoy! Adelaide - botanic gardens Perth - King's Park, botanic gardens (not to mention wildflowers) Hobart - botanic gardens Melbourne - Royal Botanic Gardens Melb - Fitroy Gardens Melb - Cranbrook botanic gardens - new and native only Mount Macedon - half an hour's drive north west of Melb - a Victorian hill station with lush, bush girded gardens, & the Dandenongs, similar but to the south east... Dromana garden, large private garden on the Mornington peninsula - about 45mins drive from Melb - Rippon Lea, suburban Mansion garden - boom era gold/merchant's paradise Victoriana - National Trust icon Thailand/ Bangkok - visit Jim Thompson's house - not far from the city centre and quite charming - the house is worth a look too - tropical plants and intimate scale, water much in use /blended traditional thai architecture/ silks and antiques galore - a heady mix and an oasis in a busy city... Vietnam/Hanoi - visit the Temple of Literature - a 1200s university with again very tranquil courtyard gardens, in the middle of the...

I just noticed that forum - itÂs starting out well. It looks like there will be posts on tropical fruit trees which I hope will continue.