About Us
The Australian Rhododendron Society (Victorian Branch) was founded by a group of members from Ferny Creek Horticultural Society in 1959. One of the key ambitions of the new group was to create a garden for the display and living collection of Rhododendrons and to this end approaches were made to the State Government of the day for a suitable piece of land. In March 1960 this resulted in a grant of 40 hectares of land at Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges. This National Rhododendron Garden (NRG) continues today to be a major focus of the Society.
The Society also held regular meetings and annually put on a competitive Rhododendron Show over the first weekend in November at the gardens. In the past these shows attracted attendances of up to 15,000 people although in these frenetic times attendances are much lower.
Some years later, similar Rhododendron Societies formed in other states of Australia and affiliated to become the Australian Rhododendron Society with the Melbourne group becoming the Victorian Branch.
Apart from involvement in the gardens, the Society today is concerned with the public promotion of the genus Rhododendron, propagation of a very wide range of Rhododendrons especially rare species which are made available to members and a meeting forum for gardeners who share a love of Rhododendrons and related plants.
We continue to run an annual competitive show over the first weekend in November at the National Rhododendron Gardens and hold monthly meetings. These meetings include a competitive show bench and interesting speakers on a wide variety of horticultural related topics with of course a strong Rhododendron bias. While the Society is based at Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges the meetings are held at Nunawading (an eastern suburb of Melbourne) for convenience of access by members especially during the winter months.