The Queensland Garden Expo will celebrate its 40th year with a ‘bumper’ gardening speaker program, the largest of its kind in Australia. The program will happen across an expanded four-day event from 4 to 7 July, featuring over 150 free lectures and demonstrations across six live speaker stages.

The program, which launched yesterday, includes crowd favourites like Jerry Coleby-Williams, Costa Georgiadis, Sophie Thomson, Phil Dudman, Millie Ross and Claire Bickle who headline the 50-strong speaker program. In addition, visitors from across Queensland and beyond will enjoy the 360-plus exhibitors and displays including 55 nurseries across the seven-hectare immersive gardening experience at Nambour Showgrounds.

Event Manager Marion Beazley said attendees can look forward to hands-on gardening advice and practical inspiration from these experts, whose talks reflect decades of evolving practices celebrated at the Queensland Garden Expo.

“As we celebrate 40 years of exchanging gardening ideas, practices and plants, our speakers and exhibitors are focusing on how we can all make our gardens more sustainable and beautiful for years to come,” Ms Beazley said.

“Since its inception in 1985, the Queensland Garden Expo has been reflecting and driving real-word changes in Australian gardening, helping attendees adapt their gardening practices to changing times and needs.”

One of the speaker program highlights will be beloved gardening fixture Jerry Coleby-Williams, a seasoned educator and popular presenter on the ABC’s iconic Gardening Australia, who has been delivering talks at the Queensland Garden Expo since the early 2000s.

Mr Coleby-Williams said he will share his experiences from 20 years of sustainable gardening in Brisbane, which includes everything from starting a garden from scratch to dealing with droughts, floods, heatwaves and a few frosts in the coastal subtropics.

“Since the mid-80s, the Queensland Garden Expo has witnessed incredible changes in how Australians garden over the past 40 years,” Mr Coleby-Williams said.

“As our cities grow and regional landscapes evolve, creating sustainable and productive green spaces has never been more important.

“Over the last 40 years, gardening has evolved from traditional ornamental gardens to a focus on sustainability as we’ve seen a rise in native plants, water-wise gardening and urban food growing.

"This year, visitors can expect exciting displays and workshops, from expert talks to hands-on demonstrations. I’m especially excited to be connecting with fellow gardening enthusiasts."

Alongside Mr Coleby-Williams, the Expo will feature an impressive line-up of speakers including:

• Costa Georgiadis – ‘Kick start your day at the Expo on a walk with Costa as he unpacks the secrets and ideas in the Kitchen Garden.’

• Sophie Thomson – ‘How does your garden rate? Create a 5 star garden which is liveable and sustainable, providing food security for your family and habitat for wildlife’

• Phil Dudman – ‘Prep your patch for Spring – got your spring vegie planting plan ready?’

• Millie Ross – ‘The resourceful gardener. How doing it yourself can help grow skills, confidence and lots of plants!’

• Claire Bickle – ‘Creating a Food Forest – How to create a productive yet sustainable and environmentally friendly food forest in urban and acreage spaces using Permaculture techniques’

• Kate Wall – ‘Learn about the microclimates in your garden and how to exploit them to grow more plants’

• Leonie Shanahan – ‘The green rebellion – Starting your own organic garden at home with 7 steps’

• Arno King – ‘Build a bush house – a great escape on those hot and steamy days’

Ms Beazley said this year’s Expo will also feature a range of hands-on workshops and interactive activities designed for green thumbs young and old alike.

“We’re bringing back last year’s popular Poultry Spectacular, this time with an expanded program and some surprises, which will no doubt attract quite a crowd,” Ms Beazley said.

“You can join our Floral Art Workshops to create a beautiful floral art fascinator with renowned florists.

“We also have, of course, the beloved Kitchen Garden with a range of experts sharing how to grow your own produce at home, and chef Matt Golinski and Sunshine Coast Foodie Martin Duncan will be cooking up a storm on the Cook’s Garden stage.”

The four-day Queensland Garden Expo will be held from Thursday 4 July to Sunday 7 July at the Nambour Showgrounds, Coronation Avenue, Nambour.

Entry is free for children aged 15 and under with a giant kids’ playground to keep them entertained.

To read the full speaker program and purchase tickets online, please visit www.qldgardenexpo.com.au.

FAST FACTS

• Four-day event from 4-7 July

• 40,000-plus attendees 

• 65% visitation from outside the Sunshine Coast region

• More than 7 hectares of gardening inspiration

• 360-plus exhibitors and displays, including 55 nurseries

• 150-plus free lectures and demonstrations

• 6 live speaker stages

• 50,000 plants for sale each day

WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN 1985?

• Bob Hawke is two years into his first term as Prime Minister of Australia

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• Live Aid concerts raise USD127 million for famine relief in Ethiopia

• “Back to the Future” and “The Breakfast Club” premiere in cinemas

• The first version of Microsoft Windows is released

• Boris Becker becomes the youngest winner of the Wimbledon men’s singles at age 17

• “Careless Whisper" by Wham and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” are topping the charts

• Michael Jordan is named the NBA “Rookie of the Year”

• The first mobile phone call is made in the UK by Ernie Wise

• The average median house price in Brisbane was $61,550