Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

In the Champion Garden

Today I ticked off another item on my bucket list...visiting the gardens during the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers!  (Yes, I know, and that's from my OFFICIAL bucket list, I have another private one I'll never blog about!)

We've been back in Brissie for almost 10 years, and every year I say I will go and something always comes up. It took Graham's sister to get me going with the lure of...a bus tour!! Yep, it was full of old people (God love em) but it took you to 10 of the winners gardens, including the champion one.

Magnolias are one of my favourites 

I couldn't believe how much enjoyment I got from just going from garden to garden, with the town bursting with Spring colour. What was really lovely though, was the pride each of these winners had in their garden. They'd obviously put hundreds of hours into their beautiful gardens and were genuinely chuffed to have (literally) bus loads of people tromp through them. Some even had cups of tea for people.  

Mass packed cliveas, bursting with colour

Everyone on the bus was in such a happy mood . The bus driver was a jovial Italian man who gave us random tidbits of Toowoomba trivia, making the trips between each garden seem much shorter than they probably were.

Gorgeous banksia roses

The champion garden was something to behold. I think it was probably an acre just bursting with colour over various terraces. Next year I'm going to bring my Mum, she is the horticultural nut and I know she would love this.

Next on my horticultural bucket list - Floriade in Canberra, then the Chelsea Flower Show.