Begonias bloom on long weekend

THE Ballarat Botanical Gardens were awash with people and colour over the Labour Day weekend with the return of the Ballarat Begonia Festival.

Now in its 71st year, the three-day event saw thousands flock to the region with more than 500 different types of the titular flowers on display at the Robert Clark Conservatory.

The event returned to a traditional three-day offering after running for 10 days last year and a month in 2021.

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Des Hudson said the more compact delivery made for a stronger festival.

“It’s made it much easier for external businesses to come here and having the farmer’s market for the two days has helped as well as the children’s carnival,” he said.

“The atmosphere’s really positive here. The crowd on Saturday was one of the busiest first-day crowds I’ve seen for a long, long time.

“Equally on Sunday afternoon, there are lots of families and visitors. The line-up to go see the begonias has been steady all day.”

Mount Clear resident Julie Aquilina headed to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens on the Sunday morning with her daughters Emma and Michaela.

A self-proclaimed avid gardener, she said she’d been meaning to go the Begonia Festival for years after moving to the region in 2020, and that the event certainly didn’t disappoint.

“It’s been wonderful,” she said. “I’ve been learning a little bit too and being able to see the other traders is great.

“The megawatt begonia was definitely a highlight which I want to go and get.

“I also want to learn about the different types because there’s the tubulars which tend to die off and there’s the others that stay green the entire time which I didn’t know.

“We came up to Lake Wendouree on Saturday but we wanted to take advantage of all the begonias the day after and also the farmer’s market on the other side.

“This is my first time here. My girls came last year when I was interstate and for years I always missed it. It’s definitely been worth the wait, I just wish I’d come years earlier.”

Anna Franco came from Point Cook with her daughter Eliana on the Sunday to attend the festival and said she still had plenty to see after more than an hour of wandering.

“We’ve looked at the different types of begonias and checked out the market at the beginning where Eliana learned about recycling from bottle caps and zero waste,” she said.

“We enjoyed the fairy performers. She really loved seeing them on their stilts.

“There’s so much colour here. It’s really stood out, and there’s still heaps for us to do. I’d definitely go again.

“We initially got the idea from the Tulip Festival when a friend from Ballarat said we should come check this out.”