Maryborough, on Queensland’s Fraser Coast, is bucking the COVID-19 trend and celebrating a weekend of open town and country gardens on August 29 and 30 2020.
With at least 15 private and public gardens opening their gates as part of the Maryborough Open Gardens, visitors are encouraged to attend to learn, be inspired and share their love of gardening.
Organisers have assured they will be operating in accordance with Queensland Government Health COVID-19 directives.
Entry to the gardens is free with some offering refreshments as well as fund raising events and plant sales.
Visitors are sure to be inspired by the array of landscapes from large formal to quirky as well as small-acre farms. Here are a couple to inspire:
Food forest
If permaculture is on your radar, then Terra Tribe Farm is the inspiring new operation that has regenerated a bare cow paddock into a self-sustaining food producing system just outside of Maryborough.
With a food forest of more than 170 fruit and nut trees under cultivation, and plantings of annual and perennial garden beds there will be plenty to see. Meet the chickens, ducks and friendly pigs who are helping to cultivate the land and build the soil.
The owners who also run a forest school, a nature based connection program for children aged 2-14 years, will be offering workshops on propagation and vegetable gardening and farm tours throughout the day.
The farm is open on August 30, 2020 as part of Maryborough Open Gardens .
For something more formal
This formal garden has been developed over the past 36 years to complement the federation-style home. With a history stretching back 130 years, the home was built for the Miss Harts, who hailed from the town’s early pioneering saw milling Hart family.
Designed as a series of garden rooms that lead to the terraced banks of the Mary River, there is extensive hedging as well as a selection of hardy plants, with brightly coloured foliage that are well suited to the sub-tropical climate.
But when it comes to growing orchids the owner Pat Davis is an expert. Don’t miss the more than 100 different plantings positioned throughout the garden, with many attached to palm trees. The garden opens on 29 August 2020 from 10.00 am to 4.00pm as part of the Maryborough Open Gardens.