The inaugural event was located at Melbourne Showgrounds, 9-11 October 2015, and focused on Growing, Gardening and Cooking. We had everything from rare plant growers and specialist plant nurseries to gardening tools and products. And with an array of experts to share their knowledge, it was a rare opportunity to have so many key industry figures at one event. ABC Organic Gardener's Peter Cundall, formally opened the festival. He later provided a crop-rotation d

With a range of stalls selling plants and gardening equipment, there were opportunities to buy new release, rare and hard-to-find  plants - and get good advice to help your garden grow. There was the opportunity to visit exhibitor stands and find out more, or sit and interact with our on-stage panels who answered questions, entertained with stories, gardening anecdotes and practical ideas. Here's just a sample of the enormous array of quality exhibitors: Read more

Our sincere thanks to those supporting organisations and sponsors who got behind us for the inaugural event. From small acorns, great oak trees grow! (more…)

Carolyn Priest’s One Gardener’s Journey is the Gold Medal winner of the inaugural Display Garden Awards in the Horticultural & Gardening Festival 2015. Head Judge, Ian Barker of Ian Barker Designs said, “The garden has a design sophistication that would hold it’s own anywhere. The stories the designer told us were told so subtly that it takes time to find them, but if you do, you will be rewarded.” Read more

An Urban Food Forest by Edible Eden Design won the Silver medal. Head Judge, Ian Barker of Ian Barker Designs said, “This garden showed great design and attention to detail. It portrayed great messages and was inspiring.” In addition, the HMA award for Best Planting Design went to An Urban Food Forest by Edible Eden Design. Judge, Noelle Weatherley said, "This garden embodies the whole spirit of the show, growing, gardening and cooking." Read more

The Bronze medal went to Lisa’s Garden by Ross Goodman Design. Mr Barker said, “This garden showed great scale and it was very inviting. We believe the colour palette will be a show pleaser.” (more…)

One of five highly creative and inspirational gardens, this design gave plenty of ideas for small garden or courtyard owners, as well as for an element of a larger garden. 'Friendship garden' by Tom's Secret Garden. (more…)

One of the five display gardens was ‘Gardener’s Creek’ by Ben Harris - this enticing garden with a cleverly created stream, looked like it was completely natural, and not crafted within days of the festival opening. ‘Gardener’s Creek’ is about being in the garden. It is about listening to the sounds of water rushing over pebbles and rocks. It is about watching and waiting for new flowers to bloom, and hearing the wind rustle leaves in a tree. Read more

Costa Georgiadis and Sarah Curry of Majors Mulch provided a practical session on pH, soil testing and understanding how to unlock nutrients so plants can use them. (more…)

If you're looking to learn about backyard chooks, growing roses, bottling fruit, green roof planting, new planting trends and more... come along and listen to a fantastic array of gardening experts. There's on-stage cooking demonstrations too! Click here to find out more.

National Organic Week Australia (NOW) is 10 days of targeted media and locally-held activities designed to increase awareness of the benefits of organic products and farming production systems and accelerate the uptake of these in the wider Australian community and environment. “As consumers, you want food you can recognise and trust. Buying organic products supports food safety, health, good nutrition and the environment. Products that carry the logo of an accredited organ

It's not easy designing and then winning awards for landscape garden displays. One person who does it well after years of hard work, is Ian Barker. So we were really excited when he accepted our invitation to be our head judge for the Display Gardens. “Being asked to be a head judge at the upcoming Horticultural & Gardening Festival is a real honour. Having designed and built a number of dis

I am a garden designer, landscaper and horticulturist based in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. My speciality is the design and construction of natural water features – garden ponds, pondless streams and disappearing waterfalls, and ornamental and functional dry creek beds. (more…)

Supporting Business opportunities for Display Gardens

We are calling for expressions of interests from supporting businesses (retail nurseries, wholesale nurseries, allied trades) to support designers of Display Gardens. Don't stay 'behind the scenes' - be part of this Festival and showcase your business. Please email keran@exhibitionsgroup.com.au for more details.

We have five double passes to give away to 'A Little Chaos' a new movie about landscape design. The world’s greatest landscape architect – Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) – designer of the Versailles gardens – is unfulfilled in love. Madame Sabine de Bara (Kate Winslet) is pioneering and fiercely independent – her visionary ideas for design seem anarchic to King Louis’ (Alan Rickman) formal court. It takes a little chaos for nature to blossom and love to heal and

In support of the 2015 International Year of Soils, we are calling for expressions of interest for speakers who can provide talks or workshops that include this important topic.

The International Year of Soils 2015 aims to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of soil for food security and essential ecosystem functions.

The specific objectives of the International Year of Soil