The funding, part of the Victorian Government's Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens Grants Program, will reshape the existing kindergarten area and surrounds with a white cypress climate-ready garden and grassland.
Euroa Arboretum project manager Cathy Olive said the announcement came as a "major surprise".
“It was like hitting the big-time,” she said.
“I'd been having a really crummy day — this was the fourth year I'd applied for a grant.
“I opened my email and thought `I bet I didn't get it’ and almost deleted it.”
But once she read further on, Ms Olive discovered the garden had been one of the major recipients of the $2.4 million program.
“I was pretty ecstatic . . . as a program dedicated to botanical gardens in regional Victoria . . . I'd been so keen to make it happen.”
The site was originally a depot for freeway works; however Ms Olive and a volunteer committee have slowly transformed the space since 1990 to become a recreational park and indigenous plant nursery.
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With the funding, Ms Olive plans to create vegetated nature play mounds and hanging nests for children, a winding boardwalk weaving through grassland, wildflowers and wetlands, a shaded deck made from recycled structures and an education centre planted with indigenous species.
Ms Olive said the "climate-ready" garden would celebrate the "tough and hardy, yet beautiful flora" of the Goulburn Broken catchment, with species selected for their tolerance of conditions in the "more extreme" future of climate change.
“We've done grassland work with wildflowers and lots of diversity . . . we're looking to recreate more grassland in patches and create tracks and links between the bush kindergarten area,” she said.
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“By curving the garden across mounds we'll create a sound barrier from the Hume Hwy and some privacy.”
She said the aim was a garden that could face tough conditions while requiring a minimum of water.
“For Euroa, when water restrictions are tight the trees and plants are all quite thirsty. We want to produce something gorgeous, that still holds visual appeal at a fraction of the water cost.”
The native low-growing silvery ruby saltbush, the shrub saloop with its vibrant green leaves, goosefoots with their fine silvery foliage, and vibrant daisies in hot pinks and creams will all weave a patchwork of colour throughout the mounds.
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“We're thinking of local native species that still look great in hot summer,” Ms Olive said.
“When they blend together it looks like a handsome carpet.”
Ms Olive said she felt "very fortunate" to be able to deliver — at long last — the garden she had envisioned for her community.
“We have a lovely bunch of people come to visit us — gardeners, Landcare groups, schools,” she said.
“People just wander in walking their dogs, have a fish, get some inspiration.
“It will be lovely to be able to provide this nice space and create something where people can come sit and enjoy their visit . . . to keep getting people out to come and visit Euroa."
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