[image]
[title]With the recent influx of warm weather, it feels like spring is eager to start blooming in Sydney. With the cold giving way to colour, we’ll soon see Mother Nature throw off her winter coat and unleash the vibrancy that makes these warmer months so special. One of the best places to capture all the shades of spring is at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan.
This botanic garden is a sibling of Sydney city’s Royal Botanic Garden – one that makes the most of the open space afforded on the edge of the Sydney basin to cover 416 hectares of flowers, trees, meadows, rivers and lawns. It’s bigger than New York City’s Central Park, in fact; it’s the biggest garden in the country.
This spring, the garden is playing host to seasonal festivities, including the Paper Daisy Spring Festival. This pretty festival is inspired by the annual bloom of its namesake: a hardy, papery, pale pink wildflower that’s native to the dry and sandy soil of inland Australia. Despite its usual home turf, the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan has the biggest display of these flowers in the country.
The festival runs from September 4 to October 11, and will see several events pop up across the gardens. Think food trucks, lawn games and a new spring retail pop up; then live music, $5 face painting, pop-up florists and kids crafting zones on weekends from 12-3pm.
Should you crave the insights of the botanists who know them best, you can learn how to grow your own paper daisies in an expert-led workshop on September 12 or join one of the volunteer led Connections Garden Tours.
If you’re looking to stretch your legs, you can do so and take in the views of the gardens (and panoramic views from the Blue Mountains out to Sydney) in full colour from up high on the newly opened Mount Annan Summit Lookout on the Muru Nangamai / Pathway to Dreaming walk.
And if you’d like to flex your creative muscles, paint ’n’ sip extraordinaires Pinot & Picasso will be leading floral painting classes, giving you the chance to capture that spring splendour on a canvas or tote bag to take home. Bookings for these classes are essential, priced at $65 for adult sessions and $45 for kids, and they’ll be running on select dates between September 6 and October 11 – book yours here.