The Tasmanian Central Highland forests occupy the Central Highlands, or Central Plateau, of Tasmania in southeastern Australia, a glaciated upland whose ice-age depressions hold Lake St Clair and countless smaller lakes and tarns. Lower slopes carry wet and dry sclerophyll forests and woodlands, while higher ground gives way to alpine conifer stands, montane grasslands, and distinctive cushion-plant moorlands, peatlands, and heathlands. Characteristic trees include the endemic conifers pencil pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) and King Billy pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides), the southern beeches Nothofagus cunninghamii and the deciduous Nothofagus gunnii, and tree-line eucalypts such as Eucalyptus coccifera and Eucalyptus vernicosa. This is Tasmania's coldest region, with winter temperatures frequently dropping to or below freezing, snowfall most common in spring, and annual rainfall reaching up to about 2,000 mm in the west but much less in the eastern rain shadow of the plateau. Roughly a third of the ecoregion lies within protected areas, including Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. For cool-climate gardeners, the region is the native home of ornamental genera such as the slow-growing Athrotaxis conifers and the southern beeches (Nothofagus).

Browse other regions with a similar hot, dry-summer rhythm. Their plant lists can suggest species and combinations worth comparing.