Show: Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

An early morning visit to the 22^nd Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show confirmed my long term belief – Melbournians love their gardens.

On the first day of the show there were long queues waiting for the gates to open – something I didn’t expect, especially given the show runs until Sunday April 2.

As the show covers much of the Carlton Gardens the crowd quickly dispersed although the Great Hall of Flowers, located within the Royal Exhibition Building, was quite crowded.

There was plenty to  see here including the RMIT Floral Fashion Display. It was created by  fashion design students –  with each student creating a custom outfit using only flowers and foliage.  There were numerous other `interesting’ designs on show proving yet again beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Also drawing large crowds were the 12 Show Gardens entered in the Show Garden Design Awards.  Designed and built by the most talented Australian and  international designers. the awards recognise excellence across landscape design.

Attracting the great attention was the company who invited me to the show – Phillip Withers Landscape Design. The reason- Phillip’s  ‘I See Wild’  won gold for best Show Garden and also won the City of Melbourne Award of Excellence for Best in Show.

Phillip happily explained and answered questions from members of the public about the philosophy behind the garden and how it was created.

There was also plenty of buzz around the five entries in the Boutique Gardens competition and four in the Achievable Gardens awards. The boutique gardens cover an area of  5m x 5m while achievable gardens are 5m x 3m.

The over 150 retailers selling their gardening and lifestyle products seemed to be doing a roaring trade, with those offering free `how to’ talks especially in demand.

The chairs in front of the Main Stage within the Exhibition Building also filled up quickly with audiences seemingly very interested to hear from the floral artists, gardening experts and landscapers scheduled to speak during the day.

It’s this mixture of experts to listen to, gardens to see and inspire and plenty of product to buy which probably explains why Melbournians love the show and queue early to get in!

The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show is on until April 2. For tickets and more information visit the MIFGS website.

*Jenny Burns attended MIFGS as a guest of Phillip Withers Landscape Design.