What is Floriade ??????

This weekend we decided to visit Floriade ..... someone will ask me What is Floriade ???????
Floriade is Australia’s premier spring festival, with over a million blooms creating the
stunning backdrop for a month long festival boasting an exciting entertainment
program with local, national and international performers, kids’ activities, garden
workshops, exhibitions, floral competitions and the Craftman’s Corner, featuring
Australian made arts, crafts and produce.

The Floriade story began in 1986 as a vision for the 1988 bicentenary and Canberra’s 75th birthday when the ACT Parks and Conservation Service envisaged a huge floral display for the celebrations. Their inspiration was the annual Dutch Keukenhof flower display and Holland’s Floriade which happens every 10 years. Australia’s Floriade is now the largest floral festival in the southern hemisphere.

When is Floriade?

This year, Floriade is on from Saturday 16 September to Sunday 15 October.
Opening hours are from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 6pm on
weekends and public holidays. Last entry to the event is 30 minutes before closing.
Where is it held?
Commonwealth Park in the heart of Canberra is transformed for Floriade every year.
The Floriade gardens cover about four hectares, the size of two football fields, and are
spread throughout the park.

How many people visit?
Floriade has become more and more popular over the years, with more than 356,000
visits to the event in 2005. The meaning behind the name
The name, Floriade, comes from the Latin word “floriat”, which means to design with flowers. This is exactly what happens every year at Floriade.

How many flowers?
This year more than one million bulbs and annuals will bloom at Floriade, with the first bulb planted on 10 April, and all planting finished by the end of May. Different flowers bloom at different times, but there’s always a good spread of colour throughout the month long event. The displays are constantly changing as different plants flower, so it is a good idea to visit a
few times if you can.


What sort of flowers?
There’s a big mix of flowers and a kaleidoscope of colours at Floriade. Some of the
blooms this year include tulips, irises, daffodils, hyacinths, freesias, violas,
chrysanthemums, ranunculas, English daisies and a special Floral Focus display of new
varieties.

How is Floriade designed?
Floriade is different every year and has a theme that is carried through from the shape
of the garden beds to the type and colour of the flowers. The theme also guides the
entertainment program and on site activities.
This year’s theme is Carnivale – The world on show. The garden beds depict our
worldwide neighbours from near and far in blooms and design elements, with design
features never before seen at Floriade. Many of the flower beds represent countries
that also hold major flower festivals, for example England’s Chelsea Flower Show, the
amazing flower parades at the Nice Carnival in France and the carpet of flowers
created for Sicily’s Infiorata di noto.
The various flowerbed designs depict the countries’ iconic symbols or images.
Canberra landscape architects, LANDSCAPE align, have created the design for
Floriade this year.



I hope to see one day an Egyptian Floriade !!!!!!!!!!