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Love our Local Parks and Gardens
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Parks and Gardens play a vital role in shaping our community. Not only are they a place for residents and visitors to relax and meet with friends, they are also used to host events, festivals, and gatherings that reflect the suburb’s diversity. Here are some green spaces to explore within a few minutes’ walk from Acland Plaza.
St Kilda Botanical Gardens
The St Kilda Botanical Gardens has its origins at the very beginning of St Kilda, when the first St Kilda Council set aside 16 acres of land (located on the former site of a gravel pit and rubbish dump) for the purpose of a Botanical Garden. It was formally opened in 1861.
The Gardens have evolved over the years, and now have an Eco-Centre, a conservatory, a rosary with a gazebo (think weddings!), a chess area with a giant board, an ornamental pond with a Rain Man Fountain and a children’s play area. The gardens are beautiful, well maintained, and are much loved by locals and visitors alike. It is a perfect place to meet, picnic, read and relax and to enjoy the magnificent displays of native and exotic plants. Sit back, look up and enjoy those trees! and now have an Eco-Centre, a conservatory, a rosary with a gazebo (think weddings!), a chess area with a giant board, an ornamental pond with a Rain Man Fountain and a children’s play area. The gardens are beautiful, well maintained, and are much loved by locals and visitors alike. It is a perfect place to meet, picnic, read and relax and to enjoy the magnificent displays of native and exotic plants. Sit back, look up and enjoy those trees!
The Gardens are open between sunrise and sunset seven days a week. The conservatory is open between 10.30 am and 3.30 pm all weekdays and from dawn to dusk Saturday to Sunday and public holidays. Enter via Blessington, Tennyson, Dickens and Herbert streets. (If you are locked in after closing, there is a turnstile exit into Herbert Street.)
Please note that there are no barbecue facilities in the Gardens.
For more information and maps, please visit St Kilda Botanical Gardens website.
O’Donnell Gardens
At the other end of Acland Plaza, in front of Luna Park, is O’Donnell Gardens – a favourite meeting and resting spot and home to night markets and music festivals.
The Gardens are named after Edward O’Donnell, a local businessperson and a St Kilda Councilor for 44 years. He was not only instrumental in the construction of the park but was also member and then chairperson of the St Kilda Foreshore Committee from its inception in 1906. The work of the committee, gave St Kilda its unique foreshore parks and gardens and the landscaped Esplanade, which add to St Kilda’s unique charm.
Every Thursday in summer, the Gardens hosts the St Kilda Twilight Market with an eclectic mix of stalls including vintage clothes, jewelry and bits and bobs, alongside a tempting variety of street foods.
The O’Donnell Gardens Stage, part of the annual St Kilda Festival, traditionally hosts Indigenous acts and performances is on Day One (Saturday of the Festival) as part of First Peoples First, a showcase of established and emerging First Peoples artists.
The central fountain in O’Donnell Gardens was installed in 1933 as a memorial to Edward and his contribution to St Kilda.
For more information, please visit O’Donnell Gardens
The Peanut Farm Reserve and Veg Out
Running parallel to Acland Plaza on the beach side is The Peanut Farm, which encompasses an oval used for both soccer and cricket, a basketball pitch, an open-air gym, children’s playground and an off leash dog area. It is home to both St Kilda City Football and Cricket Clubs and is regularly used a venue for local school and charity matches. For more information on sporting and recreational activities, please visit The Peanut Farm website.
It is also host to the Veg Out Farmers Market – which has been running for over 20 years. It is on the first Saturday of each month between 8.30am and 1pm and offers an abundance of seasonal and organic vegetables, free-range meats and eggs, olive oils, honey, wines, cakes, biscuits and much more.
Alongside the Peanut Farm (at the corner of Shakespeare Grove & Chaucer Streets) is Veg Out itself, an organic, chemical free community garden run by volunteers and on the former site of the St Kilda lawn bowling green. There are also artist studios located within the grounds.
It’s a fantastic place to explore with children. Visitors are free to wander and view the art instillations that decorate the veggie plots. There are plenty of spots for a picnic, with well-placed benches, tables, and chairs, a shaded sandpit play area and toilets with change facilities.
Veg Out is open Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm and Friday-Sunday 9am-4pm.
About the Author: Fiona Drury is a corporate writer and editor who has lived, worked and shopped (almost exclusively) in St Kilda since emigrating from England in 1988.
About the Photographer: Trudy Kelder is a commercial photographer and St Kilda local who works with some of Australia’s leading brands, creative services and arts organisations. For more information, visit trudyphotography.com
