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Biomes and Gardens

Designing a garden by biome is a creative task that can be a lot of fun. What does this mean and what might it look like?

What are biomes?

A biome is a distinct community of native plants and animals adapted to the specific features of the area where they live, such as temperature, climate patterns, geology and soils. Similar biome characteristics allow regions to be grouped globally. 

How many biomes are there?

LOTS! In fact, there are many ways to classify biomes. Find out more below.

Tropical Rainforests
Tropical rainforests are found close to the Equator and are very hot, wet biomes with many different species of animals and plants. The trees keep their leaves all year round.  
Temperate Rainforests
Temperate rainforests occur in oceanic regions with high rainfall and when it’s not raining it's often misty and cool. These rainforests have four distinct seasons and some trees lose their leaves during the winter.
Taiga
Taiga or ‘circumpolar snow forest’ is characterised by long cold winters and is the largest land biome in the world. Many of the trees are conifers. 
Arid Deserts
Arid deserts are extreme environments experiencing both high and low temperatures and very low rainfall, so plants and animals need to be adapted to survive without water for a long time.  
Grasslands
Grasslands are areas of continuous grass cover and few trees, such as prairie and steppes. Grasslands are the largest biome on Earth and occur on all continents except Antarctica. Fires, floods, altitude, seasonal rainfall, human intervention, large herds of grazing animals and ice ages all influence the creation of grasslands. 
Savanna
A savanna is a mixed woodland with grasses and an open tree canopy. Savanna receives enough seasonal rainfall to allow trees to grow and often has fires in the hot dry season. Large animals living in savanna such as giraffes have adapted to escape predators by having long legs. 
Tundra
The tundra is cold, flat and treeless, located in arctic and alpine areas with extremely low temperatures. A layer of permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost prevents trees from growing as they cannot anchor their roots. Plants and animals of the tundra are adapted to the tough conditions and the very short growing season. 
Map of World Biomes
Many different biomes exist on planet Earth. 

Why create gardens based on different biomes?

Our natural world shows huge variation. Temperature, soil, rainfall and topography all vary, and plants are adapted to these different conditions. Even small gardens have different microclimates - shady, windy or sunny areas, as well as different soils and climates. Gardeners can use a knowledge of biomes to select suitable plants for different locations in the garden. People also love to create gardens with many styles, themes and plant collections such as the crazy shapes, spikes and textures of cacti and succulents, or the lush greens of palms, ferns and vines from the tropics.  

Biome Gardens with the Greater Sydney Botanic Gardens

Botanic gardens are living collections of many types of plants from different climates, altitudes and latitudes from all over the world. How many gardens based on different biomes can you identify in the following film clips? 

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah 

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

The Australian Botanic Gardens, Mount Annan

Activities - Biomes and Gardens

1. Matching Game

Can you match the plant to the biome it would be found in?

2. Propagating plants

One inexpensive way of creating a garden is by propagating your own plants. Watch this video on Propagating a Plant then try it yourself.


 

3. Create a map

Create a world biome map with the help of this activity sheet. Decide on a key for the different biomes, such as colours or symbols. See if you can name and label the seven continents too.