Open garden: Gardivalia festival, West Gippsland

Gippsland’s Gardivalia festival features 28 open gardens and 27 other events.

Feeding the chickens at Jex and Jessie’s Garden, which is part of the Gardivalia festival.

Gardivalia, West Gippsland, Victoria. Today until October 25, 10am-4pm, $20 for five gardens, gardivalia.com.au. Maree Wallace, co-founder and secretary.

DESCRIBE THE EVENT: Our festival features 28 open gardens and 27 events including food gardens, garden tours, community and school gardens, art exhibitions, workshops and demonstrations, poetry, art market, farmers market and Vision Australia’s sensory garden.

The festival covers two weekends, with some events and gardens open during the week between.

The diverse range of gardens includes traditional to contemporary, small cottage gardens, natural bush gardens and country gardens on a grand scale.

Some specialise in roses, peonies or edibles. The food gardens are open on Sunday, October 25, and include traditional, organic and permaculture gardens.

WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL:We have so many great gardens in this area. It’s because of our favourable climate with good rainfall, and the soil is beautiful.

We’re all volunteers putting the festival together to promote our district and raise money for charity.

Every garden owner donates half the gate takings to their favourite charity, and some do additional fundraising on the day with plant sales and cake stalls.

BIGGEST CHALLENGES:West Gippsland is a large area, which makes it more difficult to promote, but the Baw Baw Shire’s parks and gardens team ties it all together by providing pop-up garden beds around town signs and planting out town roundabouts with pink flowers.

Bright pink flags and banners throughout the shire signal the start of Gardivalia. And of course we always worry about the weather being favourable and the roses being out in time.

FAVOURITE PARTS: Garden tours with our friendly, informative driver take the hassle out of getting around.

Educating our younger generation of gardeners is a priority. We have a scarecrow-making workshop, and Nilma Primary School is entering its Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Project in Gardivalia this year.

One of my favourite gardens is Lillico Gardens, for its century-old pear tree, water features, and zany garden ornaments.

DON’T MISS:Coromandel Arboretum, open October 24 and 25, has food forests and sustainable forest gardens with a large oak collection and ancient eucalypts. Its Peace in the Park event offers meditation, yoga, tai chi and music between 4pm and 5pm.

The same weekend, Dreamtime garden will conduct beekeeping demonstrations and a “meet our Clydesdale horse” session. There are workshops on making beautiful ribbon pansies, flower arranging, aromatherapy and creative textiles (fees apply).

Check the calendar on the website to see which gardens are open each day, and for directions.