WHILE the Begonia Festival won\u2019t return until March next year, a new event to be held at Barkly Square this weekend is aiming to tide people over with a different sort of floral display.<\/p>\n
Running Saturday and into Sunday, the first-ever Ballarat East Floral Arts Festival will showcase more than 20 non-tuberous begonias, and other species of flowers as part of the free event.<\/p>\n
The festival is an initiative from begonia grower Kevin Moneghetti, the City of Ballarat, and Melbourne Begonia Society secretary Norman Gerraty who said it\u2019ll highlight species not typically seen in Ballarat\u2019s signature floral event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Begonia Festival plants are only a small part of a very large family of begonias,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to expose Ballarat to the others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe significant number of them other than what\u2019s seen at Ballarat are in flower now and at their best in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it\u2019d be a good idea to highlight some of them. These are types of begonias that wouldn\u2019t normally be seen here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Gerraty, Mr Moneghetti, and chrysanthemum grower Chris Smith will host workshops on topics like indoor planting, terrariums, and propagation, with the latter presenting on Sunday only.<\/p>\n
Members of Creswick Garden Club will host a display for both days, while many plants will be for sale.<\/p>\n
Mr Gerraty said the aim of the festival is to show people in Ballarat how easy it is to cultivate non-tuberous begonias.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re an attractive proposition for patio and potted culture. We want to show people how easy non-tuberous begonias are to grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tuberous ones at the Begonia Festival, probably 80 per cent are going back to Melbourne because it\u2019s a tourist attraction. They\u2019ll be enjoyed for six to eight weeks whereas the begonias we grow survive 12 months of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no independent begonia society functioning here in Ballarat as well so if this is successful the Melbourne society is likely to take positive steps and help in some development of ongoing begonia culture here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ballarat East Floral Arts Festival will run from 10am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHILE the Begonia Festival won\u2019t return until March next year, a new event to be held at Barkly Square this weekend is aiming to tide people over with a different sort of floral display. Running Saturday and into Sunday, the first-ever Ballarat East Floral Arts Festival will showcase more than 20 non-tuberous begonias, and other […]<\/p>\n