Australia's biggest flower festival returns to Canberra

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Spring has sprung and with it comes Australia’s biggest celebration of the season - the annual Floriade Festival in Canberra. The theme for this year's event, which opens to the public tomorrow, is 'science and nature'.

Transcript

00:00Well, it's the festival that really marks the end of winter and the start of warmer

00:06days in Canberra.

00:07The air smells like fresh flowers and everywhere you look are just vibrant, colourful flower

00:13beds.

00:14There are over one million flowers that have been hand planted here in Commonwealth Park

00:18in Canberra.

00:19And I'm told that this is probably the strongest opening for Floriad they've had in a few years.

00:24Obviously, the rain and the cold days have been brutal for Canberrans, but flowers really

00:29love that.

00:30Something that's really exciting for our team is we've conducted three science experiments

00:34in our modules where we've tested different fertilisers and different soils and different

00:38planting depths.

00:39We've got them on the display for the public and we have them all labelled.

00:43So we're super excited to see how those experiments turn out.

00:46Each year, Floriad marks the peak of Canberra's tourism season.

00:50They expect about $60 million to be injected into the economy and 500,000 visitors.

00:56Over half of those people will be coming from outside of Canberra, so the hospitality sector

01:01definitely breathes a sigh of relief.

01:03Come tomorrow, as long as the weather's a day like today, they're expecting up to 35,000

01:07people to walk on through the gates for Floriad in its 38th year.

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