With thousands of plants, expert presenters and judges and Noosa chef Matt Golinski, the three-day Queensland Garden Expo — the Sunshine Coast’s largest annual event — took place at Nambour Showgrounds last weekend, attracting a crowd of gardening enthusiasts and plant lovers.
Event manager Marion Beazley said the Expo continued to be a massive drawcard for tourism on the Sunshine Coast, with approximately 65 per cent of visitors travelling from outside the region.
“The economic impact of this event is estimated to be more than $10 million, and the queues at the gates on Friday morning were testament to how popular the Expo is,” she said.
The Expo saw the return of crowd favourites on the eight speaker stages, including Costa Georgiadis, Jerry Coleby-Williams, Claire Bickle, Sophie Thomson, Millie Ross, and Phil Dudman.
“There’s not much that beats connecting with fellow gardening enthusiasts, discussing new ideas, and contributing to the gardening community,” Mr Coleby-Williams said.
“This year was my 19th year at the Expo and what we as speakers enjoy is the opportunity to connect with Queensland’s largest audience of gardening lovers, answering all kinds of gardening-related questions and inspiring future generations with our love of gardening – the enthusiasm at the event is just incredible.”
Landscape architect Costa Georgiadis thrilled his enthusiastic following of supporters with his energetic talks, encouraging them to “put your nature goggles on” as he weaved his story about collaborative gardens and the power of plants.
He talked about work he had witnessed communities doing including a group of NDIS clients who had established a Veggie Empire by growing seedlings which were now being distributed to market gardens and landcare gardeners in Pittwater who had returned grazing land back to native bushland.
“There’s so many ways that we can see the power of plants as a collaboration with community, with the community you live in at home and the community within the garden and how you bring biodiversity in and how you create that space … like those land carers did in Pittwater to bring the wildlife back. We can do that and when we collaborate like that on a bigger scale we can throw a blanket on that on an inclusive scale and include everyone of every ability and whether that’s edible gardens or growing for the therapeutic aspects that we all need,” he said.
“That’s a little flavour of the collaborations that I see and the power of plants.”
International award winning floral art judge Mark Pampling said visitors were wowed by the Australian Floral Art Association’s National Convention ‘Nature’s Expressions’ competition hosted for the first time at this year’s Expo.
“This year’s competition offered Expo visitors a showcase of extraordinary and innovative designs that you would be unlikely to see with everyday floral arrangements,” he said.
“We are thrilled to announce that Ngaire Gamack has emerged as the winner of the 2023 Australian Floral Art Association’s National Convention ‘Nature’s Expressions’ competition taking home the $300 prize.”
National poultry judge Brian Bennett shared some of his knowledge of poultry collected over 60 years involvement with them.
He told guests the best backyard fowl were heavy, soft feathered birds such as Australorps and Rhode Island Reds and to purchase them from reputable breeders.
Mr Bennett said feeding them well, making sure they had fresh, clean water and being mindful of parasites and mites were essential to keeping backyard poultry.
This year’s event also saw the Expo announce a new partnership with Queensland Country Bank.
“Events like the Queensland Garden Expo would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors,” Ms Beazley said.
The Queensland Garden Expo is an annual event held in July. To find out more visit www.qldgardenexpo.com.au.
