Ashbourne

In the Macedon Ranges, a patch of cool-climate country given over almost entirely to one genus. Since 2002, this has been a nursery built around Hellebores — the so-called Winter Roses that flower through the coldest months and thrive in the district's chilly, elevated conditions. It is registered with the Plant Trust of Australia as custodian of the national Hellebore collection, a distinction that speaks to decades of careful selection and breeding rather than a passing enthusiasm. The nursery opens its gates to visitors on Sundays through the flowering season, June to September, when the display beds are at their most theatrical — banks of nodding, freckled, double and picotee blooms in shades from near-black to blush. Outside those months, plants are sent by post from April to October, reaching gardeners well beyond Victoria who can't make the drive. There's an obvious depth of specialist knowledge here: growing guides, notes on the genus, and an evident willingness to talk plant nerdery with anyone who asks. It is not a general garden centre dabbling in a few pretty perennials — it is a single-minded, quietly serious operation, and one of the few places in the country where you can see a national plant collection growing in open ground rather than behind glass.

A rare-plant nursery in the Macedon Ranges hamlet of Ashbourne, near Woodend, run as much for collectors as for everyday gardeners. The list runs to tuberous begonias, peonies, fuchsias, hydrangeas and hellebores alongside climbers, succulents, perennials, fruit and berries. Pre-ordered plants can be collected at the farm gate, and the nursery opens for Sunday retail through the warmer months, closing over winter.