Blooms, scary vegetables and expert advice this weekend at Garden Expo

Event manager Marion Beazley in the pavilion at Nambour Showgrounds on Friday… Gardening trends come and go but the Expo is a mainstay. “We are the biggest gardening event in Queensland.”

by Janine Hill

DYED-in-the-compost gardeners are counting down the sleeps until the Queensland Garden Expo.

The three-day gardening extravaganza, the highlight of the green thumb’s year, will be held at the Nambour Showgrounds from this Friday, 7 July, until Sunday 9 July. 

Event manager Marion Beazley said gardeners who had come to know and love the expo program could expect a return of everything that had made the expo a popular annual event for decades.

The speakers program is an integral part of the expo and some people travelled great distances to plant themselves in front the likes of Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis, above, Jerry Coleby-Williams and Sophie Thompson, below.

“We don’t feel like we’ve got to reinvent the wheel every year for this kind of event,” Marion said. 

“Having 55 nurseries in one place is enough for a lot of people. It would be difficult to find that many nurseries and that number of plants in any one place at any one time.

“We are the biggest gardening event in Queensland and we’re the second biggest of the kind in Australia.”

Marion said gardening trends came and went but the expo offered something for all plant lovers, no matter what their taste in plants. 

“Originally, people were only interested in planting palms, then everybody wanted 100 percent native gardens, then there were orchids and bromeliads. At one stage, I think half the stalls were broms,” she said.

“You’ve got the young set now who are very into their indoor plants and succulents, and young families interested in growing their own food and planting habitat gardens and keeping bees, like the stingless bees.”

Marion said the speakers program was an integral part of the expo and some people travelled great distances to plant themselves in front the likes of Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis, Jerry Coleby-Williams and Sophie Thompson. 

“It’s an opportunity to actually talk to these people. No other gardening event in Australia has a speakers program anything like ours,” she said.

Celebrity chef Matt Golinski will be part of the program, demonstrating how to use the “scary” unusual vegetables that people are unsure how to cook.

The national floral art conference and competition will be held within the expo this year.

“People will have the opportunity to see the work of top amateur floral artists and designers,” Marion said.

• A day pass to the expo will cost $25 at the gate or can be bought online for $22.50. A two-day weekend pass is $40 and a three-day pass is $60. Admission for children under 15 is free.