The blooming numbers at Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah saw both record their biggest summers ever, while Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and The Domain achieved their second highest summer visitation on record.
The results highlight the growing importance Australians place on nature, time spent outdoors and public spaces.
Research shows visitors are strongly motivated by nature led experiences. This summer's figures show that people are choosing the Gardens not only for beauty and leisure, but as places where science, culture and community come together.
Visitation has already surpassed 10 million visits across the three Gardens and The Domain for this financial year.
Every visit plays a vital role in supporting critical conservation work, including seed banking, genetic research, species recovery as well as community programs and caring for Botanic Gardens' vast living collection.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:
"These record visitation numbers reflect the world class quality of our Botanic Gardens and show just how deeply the community values having access to great public open spaces.
"Every person who walks through the gates is supporting world leading science and conservation, helping protect the plants and ecosystems that sustain life across our state.
"Hopefully these strong visitation numbers will continue as the weather cools off because no matter the season the gardens are great places to visit which are also free."
Member for the Blue Mountains Trish Doyle said:
"Mount Tomah has welcomed more than 54,000 people this summer smashing it's previous record by thousands.
"It's great to see the community and visitors giving these UNESCO World Heritage gardens which play a crucial role in the conservation of plants from Australia and across the world, the love they deserve."
Member for Camden Sally Quinell said:
"This summer almost 220,000 people visited the Australian Botanic Gardens in Mount Annan to explore the 416 hectares of open spaces, gardens and native woodland areas which host over 4000 native and introduced plants.
"Mount Annan has a lot to offer as not just a garden but a scientific hub and even as the weather gets colder it's a great place to visit for a family day out."
Acting Chief Executive, Botanic Gardens of Sydney Gabrielle Collins said:
"The extraordinary visitation we've seen this summer shows how strongly people are connecting with our message that plants sit at the heart of a thriving world.
"These numbers make us one of the most visited cultural and scientific institutions in the country and one of the most powerful platforms for connecting people with nature.
10 million visits mean 10 million moments of people learning, celebrating and reconnecting with nature."
About Botanic Gardens of Sydney
Botanic Gardens of Sydney is the meeting place of people and plants, science, seasons and nature.
Botanic Gardens of Sydney cares for Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, The Domain Sydney, Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah, and leads plant conservation through the Australian Institute of Botanical Science.
