03 Jul Darwin’s Tropical Garden Spectacular
The Tropical Garden Spectacular in June this year inspired my first trip to the Northern Territory. Held in the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens the engagement and community spirit of the event was an absolute standout.
The first day heralded a steady contingent of Northern Territory politicians to help officially open the event. Many also competed in what’s called the ‘Landscape Olympics’. This event was a great drawcard with groups from government, councils and schools joining together to compete in a 30 minute challenge to create a garden using the same core items. We saw a selection of plants, blocks, pavers, mulch, letterboxes and statues arranged in what seemed like an endless array of designs.
Costa, Leonie and I commentating on the Landscape Olympics
It was all great fun. Costa Georgiadis helped me provide a running commentary as well as judge a winner. The vocal public happily helped us confer a popular People’s Choice Award. Top End gardening personality, Leonie Norrington also assisted with the judging on day two, which saw local schools competing against each other to take out the title.
It was terrific to see school and local community gardening groups working together to demonstrate their garden activities and share knowledge. In the designated kids’ area, local schools constructed displays using items ranging from disused pallets to the more innovative banned-at-school denim mini shorts! Mosaic making was another popular activity.
Banned ‘Short-shorts’ planted out.
The expansive Community Village area featured delicious tasting platters of locally-sourced produce. The Community Gardens Network’s platter menu included smoked mackerel with homemade mayonnaise, roasted jackfruit seeds, roasted green pawpaw and macadamias, snake gourd frittata, pawpaw and cucumber salsa. With these tasty treats it’s no wonder this area was buzzing all weekend. It also provided another presentation area for discussions on topics such as permaculture, sustainability and community gardens.
It’s great that the Nursery and Garden Industry Northern Territory stages a gardening event that engages so well with the public and inspires people to get outside and improve their plant/life balance.
The Tropical Garden Spectacular is held annually on the first weekend of June.
(Article appears in HMA News)
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