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It has been a while since I had a walk through the Campbell Rhododendron Gardens. The gardens are open all year round, but really come into their own in spring, when the extensive plantings of rhododendrons and azaleas burst into flower.

This spring has been quite mild in the upper Blue Mountains. There were stretches of days of warm sunshine, with only occasional rain and mist. It was on one of those bright blue sky days that I went for a walk around the gardens.

There are several walks available through the extensive grounds, with a map provided at the information booth near the entrance. Similar to my walks around the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah, I headed off in a direction more on a whim than by design, and looped around the perimeter of the gardens on the Engelbert nature trail.

This track meandered alongside rhododendrons of a wide variety of colours before reverting to bushland. This included red and white waratahs, grevilleas and eucalypts. There were many birds enjoying the gardens, such as grey butcherbirds, eastern spinebills, superb fairy wrens and crimson rosellas. The rosella shown above had emerged from one of the nesting boxes made by the local Blackheath Men’s Shed to help wildlife following extensive fire damage to the gardens.

Butterflies and dragonflies were also visible, flitting about on blossoming flowers or skittering across the surface of the lake. The walking tracks include picnic areas and bench seats, great for taking a pause and enjoying the many delights the garden has on offer.

My last visit was back in 2019, just before bushfires destroyed a third of the gardens. There is a photo of the fire-blackened gardens here which shows the devastation caused at the very same spot as shown above. There are still signs of the bushfire’s wake but the ability of the bush to recover, and the hard work of the volunteers to restore the gardens, is remarkable.

You can find out more about this garden with its collection of more than 2000 rhododendrons and other exotic plantings, alongside the native plants shown above, on the Campbell Rhododendron Gardens website. Have you had a garden wander lately?

Photo: glimpse of the garden from the Dick Harris Lookout