Floral and festive long weekend launched

PREPARATIONS are in full swing for the seventy-first Ballarat Begonia Festival, which will be in bloom next month.

The program for the Labour Day long weekend event on Saturday 11 to Monday 13 March was launched last week at Botanica Ballarat.

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Des Hudson said attendees can expect to see more than 1000 begonias, of over 500 varieties on display in the Robert Clark Conservatory, alongside a celebration of gardening, food, and music in the Botanical Gardens.

“Begonias have been synonymous with Ballarat since the late 1800s and to this day, we still celebrate this magnificent genus,” he said.

“The festival will return to the three-day format. The Green House Ballarat main stage will be programmed to feature Nature Saturday, Food Sunday, and Music Monday.

“With creativity at the centre, leading entertainment for the festival will be Bloom by performing arts company SWAY. This is an aerial spectacle performed atop 15-foot sway poles.”

High profile green-thumbed presenters on the main stage will include Gardening Australia’s Jerry Coleby-Williams, and landscape architect Natasha Morgan, who was part of design and construction of the Australian Garden at Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne.

“As an avid flower, plant and garden design lover, I couldn’t be more pleased to be involved,” Morgan said.

“Ballarat Begonia Festival is an inspiration for people of all walks of life in developing skills, fostering passions and loves for gardening, from the smallest people to those later on in life.

“Some of my fondest memories are spending time in botanic gardens, and the curiosity and awe that’s stirred in exploring their plant collections. What an incredible collection there is here at Ballarat Botanical Gardens.”

Chef, Mark Olive, is set to deliver cooking demonstrations, as is local Toastie Tsar Tim Bone.

A partner of over 25 years, Central Highlands Water will be a key part of the festival, providing drinking water and selling their Choose Tap reusable metal water bottles, with 100 per cent of sales benefiting a local not-for-profit.

“The Begonia Festival showcases the best of Ballarat, which is why we’re so excited to continue as a community partner,” CHW chair Angeleen Jenkins said.

“We will continue to showcase our delivery of water that’s smart, safe and sustainable… We’ll have a native animal and water art display as part of an education competition.”

Di and Daniel Hannon, the owners of Delacombe’s Botanica, and The Green House Ballarat, said they were thrilled to be major sponsors for the first time.

“We’re so honoured,” Mr Hannon said. “The opportunity for our name to be on the main stage is fantastic for us, as we continue to grow our business in Ballarat.

“We love the Begonia Festival, so we’re really excited to be there, to tell our story, and share our joy of plants and creating spaces with them.

“We’re going to have a stall with Munash Organics all weekend, and we’ll do talks on stage with them about plant care.”