TLDR 10-04-25
Opened in early 2025, the Test Garden at Federation Square in Melbourne is a research-driven pop-up created in collaboration with Fed Square, Hassell, Super Bloom, James Hitchmough, Nigel Dunnett, and the University of Melbourne. It offers a living preview of Laak Boorndap, the future 18,000m² urban garden planned for the Melbourne Arts Precinct. Featuring over 1,000 trial plant species, the Test Garden is a densely planted, naturalistic style landscape testing how vegetation responds to Melbourne’s shifting climate. As a public-facing research space, it invites visitors to engage with seasonal change, climate resilience, biodiversity, and evolving ideas about what future urban landscapes can look like.
University of Melbourne Faculty of Science
Originally developed for the 2022 Manifesta 14 Biennial in Pristina, this project by Spanish architects Lluís Alexandre Casanovas and Lys Villalba imagines a future where green infrastructure is mobile, adaptive, and self-sustaining. The work features three experimental units—a garden, a forest, and a wetland—mounted on wheels and designed to move through the city, collecting rainwater, harnessing solar power, and supporting biodiversity. Blending speculative fiction with functional ecology, the project challenges the static nature of traditional landscape design in response to climate volatility and rapid urban change.
This year’s Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show highlighted a shift towards native and pollinator-friendly landscapes. Moving away from traditional Eurocentric garden styles, this year’s standouts celebrated indigenous plants, naturalistic design, and climate resilience. The best in show garden əskāp by Distinctive Gardens merged naturalistic planting with modern hardscapes and structures. Another memorable design was Paul Pritchard’s nostalgic front-yard garden, created in partnership with Demnetia Australia, which paid tribute to mid-century Australian suburbia while raising awareness of memory loss and caregiving through familiar design elements, vibrant planting, and storytelling. Two plants that captured attention this year were the Runaway Bride hydrangea, crowned Plant of the Year, and Zoysia Sir Grange grass, celebrated for its low-maintenance and no-mow aesthetic.
Get concise summaries of the latest news, projects, and trends in landscape architecture, delivered straight to your inbox.