Packed with Kangaroo Island native plants, including many threatened plants, this garden is a beautiful living laboratory.

Two years after the extensive fires in 2020, the Kangaroo Island Rare Plant Garden was founded to safeguard the many threatened plant species indigenous to the island, some so rare they are found nowhere else on the planet! The garden contains eighty endangered plant species and showcases the diversity of habitats on the Island. It is beautiful, inspiring and multi-purpose with a conservation, research and educational focus. In spring many of the plants are flowering and garden is colourful with splashes of pink, blue, yellow, red, purple and white – the perfect time to visit!

Located 20 km from Kingscote, the 5000 square metre garden is part of Cygnet Park Sanctuary, a 310-hectare former sheep grazing property, now revegetated with around 1million native plants that provide habitat for local wildlife including Glossy Black Cockatoos.

An herbivore-exclusion fence softened with a hedge of more common KI species surrounds the garden and protects the plant collection from native grazing animals. Raised beds and irregularly shaped garden beds, several small ponds of water plants and an ephemeral wetland are linked with meandering paths. An architect-designed shelter provides shade and a place for contemplation with amazing views to the gallery forest along the nearby Cygnet River.

The Kangaroo Island Rare Plant Garden is of ecological importance, contributing to conserving the unique flora of the Island and future proofing their survival - it is a beautiful living laboratory!

The Garden aims to establish more populations of threatened plants on KI, so there will be sales of selected plant species to encourage their use in gardens and in the broader landscape.

Talks on the hour from 11am, including:Michelle Haby, native plant specialist, grower/botanist
Professor David Paton, bird expert
Richard Glatz, local insect expert