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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Kerem Doruk

Sunny spring gets Floriade 2023 off to bloomin' good start

As families marvelled at Floriade's beautiful blooms, award-winning Australian gardener Jamie Durie shared his gardening tips.

Mr Durie said budding gardeners could improve their biodiversity by avoiding agricultural pesticides.

He recommended using non-chemical alternatives for pest control, including mulching, cultivation and garden bed rotation.

"We shouldn't be throwing out any of our green waste because that can all be turned into really valuable mulch."

Ashley Hewer, Bethany Nedelkovksi and Laura Nedelkovski travelled from Sydney to see Canberra's Floriade Festival. Picture by Keegan Carroll.

For Canberrans living in apartments Mr Durie said they could plant trees in large heavy pots on balconies or plant native plants into the common landscapes.

"You can also get involved in tree planting sites, through National Tree Day and Greening Australia if you're really passionate about creating more biodiversity," he said.

Young children played with the dirt away from their devices with the warm spring sun shining on Commonwealth Park.

International award winning Australian designer and passionate environmentalist Jamie Durie urged Canberrans to future proof their gardens by creating compost systems and worm farms. Picture by Keegan Carroll.

The 2023 event was officially launched on Friday, Canberra's premier tourism festival running in Commonwealth Park from September 16 to October 15 with the theme Floral Wonderland.

Floriade head gardener Tim Howard said this year's Floriade had been a perfect grand opening.

"The warm weather has really brought people out. Last year we had lots of cold and rainy days but this year with the sun, it feels perfect," he said.

His team of horticulturists are excited for visitors to witness about a million plants flowering across 13 uniquely designed garden beds at Commonwealth Park.

With spring set to be warmer than usual, Mr Howard recommended checking moisture levels in gardens.

"Tulip blooms are generally open for about 10 to 14 days and if you give them lots of water they will hold onto those flowers longer - If you want to make your flowers last longer just giver them lots of water," he said.

His team will be running guided garden tours where Floriade's horticulture team will be guiding enthusiasts around the garden beds and sharing valuable tips on horticulture.

"Monday to Friday we will be running a one-hour garden tour. It's a gardeners' tour so it will tell you all about horticulture and how we built these amazing floral displays," Mr Howard said.

Tickets for the tours are available on the Floriade website.

Floriade has set some ambitious growth projections for this year, the ACT government hoping it will attract more than 500,000 people and generate $60 million for the local economy this spring.

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