Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

I wonder what it takes to get International into a festival name. It strikes me the Food & Wine Festival has a bigger claim to international given the number of overseas chefs and foodies who participate. In any event I managed to get to this year’s Flower and Garden Show, not having done so last year. I like it a lot. Always plenty to see and lots of ideas to pick up. We started midst the flowers inside the Exhibition Building. Some really spectacular displays. Not all easy to photograph, especially the monumental ones, but here’s a pretty example of some of the smaller arrangements. The floral dresses made by students are always fun. But it’s the gardens you come for. An avenue of achievable gardens this year had some very pretty displays. Information about the plants in the various gardens was better presented I thought. In addition to these posters there were lots of handouts for you to take away.
I really liked the colours in this garden. Grasses are all the rage.
This garden won first prize. It was a bit too monochrome for me, but Fran loved it. I’d love to be able to grow these around my pond. But I fear not enough sun. That’s the frustration of going to this show; I’ve got absolutely no room for more plants in my garden!! That didn’t stop me buying some and depositing them in my already crowded plots. Four fuschias for my hanging baskets: Swingtime, Quasar, Acclamation and Bleeding Heart. This is Acclamation; so pretty! I also bought a hydrangea; Quercifolia Snowflake, two Viburnums, Tomentosum and a groundcover, Pachysandra Terminalis for under my camellias.