Today I went to the Perth Garden Festival 2015. With Chris home sick and the boys at school I spent the entire 9.30am until about 3.30pm in the Garden Festival and I took my time. I probably did at least 3 laps of all the exhibits and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Anyone considering going I would highly recommend it and I would also say make use of the parcel pickup feature. I was carting around bags of plants and the awesome people at Tass1 Tree's filled me in as I bought two Midyim Berry Bushes... they popped them in a box along with my purchases from oh so many places, filled out a card and ta da! No more heavy bags... they were waiting to be picked up when it was time to go from outside the show with a drive in facility so no heavy carting. Brilliant idea! The other tip I will give is the waterwise people were giving buckets near the turf display. The bucket was awesome for putting all the pamphlets and seed packets in and even had some freebies in!
There were heaps of exhibits, lots of stalls, lots of plants and a library of free information. I even attended some talks. There were plenty of ornamental plants but also a huge range of edibles - which we know is my passion!
I loved the bright colours and the sizes of these pots... I just need a different garden for them to go into!
One of the garden displays .. this was ornamental but completely spectacular! I so need a bigger block! (click the photo's to see them bigger)
Did I mention I was in paradise? Plants in all directions... some just pretty... some edible... so many plants, so little money!
I was so tempted to get the Dwarf pear however I did not see a dwarf pollinator so I left that for further investigations...
These guys had an awesome range of other things including lots of edibles!
There were some cute displays! Some got right to the point. (Sorry even I groaned at that!) Plenty of roses were on offer.
If only I had a bigger garden... I would LOVE some Heritage Apples but having to make room for two may be a bit much right now... it might be time to lose some more ornamentals!
Tulips With A Difference are great and there were so many varieties of bulbs. I got mine a while ago for my Birthday via mail order from them... Saffron Crocus. I am waiting patiently for my flowers... Ok not so patiently but I am waiting!
There were stalls a plenty, garden tools; turmeric to make your joints less achy and you more mobile in the garden; shoes to wear in the garden; gloves to garden in; cook pots to cook your home grown veges in; wine to drown your sorrows when the caterpillars eat your brassicas before you do! You get the idea... lots of stuff to go "Ohhhh" at! Even some big mulchers , mowers and I did droll over a mini-digger / dingo that I would love but I know it would be wasted on such a little garden... but the mulch would be moved! lol I restrained myself!
Hot Chilli Peppers anyone? I actually brought a few plants from here for Chris' Chilli addiction. They had some of the super duper, knock your socks off chilli plants. The sort that I cannot eat but Chris and Brandon... I guess they like breathing fire!
It was around here I was given my bucket with water wise timer, information sheets and fertiliser... while I admired the gorgeous sods of lawn and considered how my Granddad would frown upon the people walking all over it!
I then proceeded to admire some more garden designs... I do love the architectural aspects of this one... if only it had edible plants ;-)
The wood on these feature boxes looked quite rough.. I guess if you were on a budget you could make them out of old pallets and give them a lick of paint. I thought this looked really smart!
Click to see larger images.
I loved some of the structural techniques! I think the corner triangle beds would need to be bigger in reality.
I LOVED the Yates Beyond Blue garden.... and Brandon (my Junior Gardener) saw the photo of the seeds available and was totally blown away! Lots of Edibles, lots of flowers... lots of structure and form. Did I mention I really liked this one? Oh and lots of competitions too (and have you all signed up for the free garden club Yates run? It has some interesting tips in the emails.
Now I would love this filter for my aquaponics set up but its a little beyond me at the moment and I love the living walls! I so could live with this at home.
The Shire of Victoria Park's entry was a waterwise front garden and verge. Sadly it does not contain edibles but it's nice to see a variation on lawn.
While all of these edibles were still in pots it does go to show what effect edibles can have as landscaping elements. So many ideas and some of these looked like they were knocked up from old pallets.. which I know many people are into for recycling.
I love this archway with seating... I soooo can see this in my garden!
One of the award winners... I showed Junior Gardener this photo and he wanted to know why I took a photo of a dog! hehe
Did I mention there were plenty of beautiful flowers including roses?
There were plenty of good deals including on raised beds on several stalls.
Benara Nurseries put on a pretty display of ornamentals. There was some gorgeous use of structural plants and features.
I fell in love with Tass1 Trees! I must admit I went back 4 times to drool over the various fruit trees! Many I hadn't seen here in Australia and some I hadn't heard of so I took photos for future research. Noni Fruit being one of them!
Medlar Fruit we had seen on River Cottage but I definitely don't have room for this one!
There was Arrowroot which I would love in the garden... a little later perhaps. Juniper Berry... again another day... I couldn't fit it in the i20!
Paw Paws Galore and a grove of never ending citrus surrounded by a wall of Pome Fruit trees... I think I went to heaven!
Now I am certain in the future I will find room for two of these somewhere in the edge of my garden in half barrels. When an Avocado costs between $3 and $5 I am sure they will pay for themselves.
The Custard Apple would be welcome addition to my garden too... did I mention that Tass1 Trees was fabulous? I need to research the Black Apple Tree... again I hadn't come across it before.
I nearly got the Tamarillo for Chris... again the cost would quickly pay off with the price of individual fruit here.
Fickle Prickle had a very busy stall with very cheap succulents and cactii. Some of their displays were amazing! They were also very informative - I bought two venus fly traps for the boys and were great about care instructions!
There were some great Native Plants if that is your thing!
The Muchea Plant Farm had Proteas as well... I had to get a white one for a lovely friend. This way when its flowering time she will have both pink and white.
Did I mention there were lots of edibles? Including lots of organic grown seedlings? Lots of variety too.
The Guildford Garden Centre was beautifully represented. I missed out on wasabi so I will have to go visit! They had lots of pond plants, ornamentals and edibles.
There was a beautiful elephant!
Swan Valley Nurseries is generally wholesale but they had a stall open to the public... so I made hay while the sun shone and got a fair few pots.
Eat early or eat late... it gets busy! Oh and the Crepes were devine O:-)
I found the frogs information brilliant.
There were Dinosaurs, Cicads and Palms.
Stunning sculptures that I would love in a bigger garden!
Since I was by myself I even sat through 3 talks; One on Garden Design; One Question time that I learned a lot in, including to maybe rethink using Dipel as it contributes to Alzheimer's! and a final segment on Aqua and Hydroponics. So all in all I had a brilliant day.
Did I mention I brought a few plants? In my defence they are not all of me... all except 4 are for me! hehe. The tree is a Black Sapote, I have tried to grow this several times from seed but been unsuccessful so I splashed out since this is my very, very, very favourite fruit... it is also known as chocolate pudding fruit!
I bought some organic pest control for the kitchen and the boys think they are Fang-tastic! (Sorry!) Apparently you should never touch the plant with your fingers as the oil kills them so I giggled last night watching the boys putting flies they caught in tweezers to feed their new "pets".
I added a new mint to Brandon's collection... Lemon Mint. I added some unusual Romanesco and italian broccoli varieties to our garden... now to keep the bugs off. I got land cress as the caterpillars are supposed to go eat that and die (please!).
I got some super hot chillis for the hot heads in the house and some purple sage as we use sage a lot so the more the merrier right?
Perpetual Spinach and corn salad, liquorice, land and water cress (maybe I can keep my watercress un-caterpillared this time! and two midyam berry bushes.
These are for a friends garden... she has a beautiful bush block full of flowers and eucalypts. She is installing a slate walkway with gaps in between so creeping thyme meandering between the slate will be just stunning. A white Protea to go with her existing Pink one.
A few seeds... Red Russian Kale, Chioggia Beetroot, Clemsons spineless Okra, Dragon Carrots, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Borage and Pumpkin - Turks Turban. I thought I was very well behaved!
Did I mention freebies?
Fabulous information about so many products...
My very favourite freebie - a bucket! Sounds funny? Well when you get handed something at nearly every stall its nice not to have to juggle everything. Then you start shopping... oh look... ohhh *put it in the bucket*... I need one of those... and one of those... hands full again... in the bucket we go! *chuckle*
I almost forgot... I got garlic too... which went in the ground this morning while I waited for my extraordinarily slow internet to upload all these pictures... well I hope you enjoyed my trip to the Garden Festival! Have you been? Happy Gardening!
*hugs* Sarah
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