Flower festival fever: see Australia in bloom

Don’t be late for a very important date in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges, with the Mad Hatters High Tea being held during the Tesselaar Tulip Festival.

The theme of this year’s festival – now in its 65th year – is ‘Tulips in Wonderland’ and new to the annual event are the high teas which are being held four times a day.

The festival runs from September 15 to October 14 at Tesselaar Flower Farm, 357 Monbulk Road, Silvan and is the chance to see a rainbow of 900,000 tulips in flower. 

It kicks off with a Turkish weekend celebrating the origin of the tulip, with belly dancers and Turkish foods.

Wonderland week celebrates the classic tale Alice in Wonderland and there’s also a Dutch weekend; Superhero Children’s Week; Food, Wine and Jazz weekend and an Irish weekend.

Tulipmania is the last chance to tiptoe through the tulips before bidding them farewell for another year.

If roses are more your thing, head to Renmark in South Australia’s Riverland region next month.

Since its beginnings in 1994, the Renmark Rose Festival has evolved into one of the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere.

The 10-day festival runs from October 19-28 with Renmark’s immaculate rose gardens providing a spectacular backdrop. 

The 51 garden beds with more than 3500 rose bushes are spread throughout the town, and it is well worth taking a walking tour to discover them.

Other attractions include a floral display in the Renmark Institute building, the festival fair and grand opening and Riverland open gardens.

Also check out the national rose collection at Ruston’s Roses, the Woolshed Brewery at Wilkadene Station and the historic Olivewood Homestead.

In Victoria’s Grampians, wildflowers will be front and centre as the local show returns for its 80^th year. 

Held this year on the last weekend of September, the show concentrates on showing visitors flowers in their natural setting, but there will also be a great display in the visitor information centre, with experts on hand to identify flowers. 

Plants used by local Indigenous people for food and other uses will be on display, as will works from photographer John Tiddy and textile artist Lynne Stone. 

There will be guided walks through the Grampians Flora Botanic Garden, as well as a couple of tagalong tours further afield. 

Spring is the perfect time to visit the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains in NSW particularly the cool-climate gardens of Leura.

Leura Gardens Festival, now in it’s 54th year, will feature 10 spring gardens which will be open over two long weekends; September 30-October 1 and  October 5-7.

On show will be rhododendrons, azaleas, tulips, bluebells, peonies, and cool-climate trees such as maples, dogwoods and ornamental cherries. Tickets $25 (all gardens), $8 per garden. 

Read more: Bloomin Beautiful: Be a friend to fauna

Read more: Say konichiwa to Costa