Festival of Country Gardens celebrates 25 years

The Festival of Country Gardens celebrates it’s 25th year of displaying open gardens in the Blackwood Valley and Southern Forest regions, starting Thursday. The spring event runs until November 3 with 25 gardens from Kirup, Pemberton, Balingup, Greenbushes, Bridgetown and Manjimup all open for viewing for either two or four days. Several gardens, such as Maranup Ford and Dingup House, will be offering morning tea and guided walks. Meanwhile The Robins Nest in Bridgetown will offer pavlova and Devonshire teas, and Dairy Lane Garden in Bridgetown has bonsai demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday. The Ashbil Community Garden in Bridgetown will also be open for the public, with a bush tucker garden also on show. Festival chair Nadene Weaver said the committee had been working hard to organise the festival for it’s 25th iteration. “It’s a big milestone for the festival, and we also have 25 gardens, which was our aim for our birthday,” she said. “We’ve gone back to the old booklet (program) style. While we had the pamphlets for the past few years, in the first festivals we had the booklets. “We’ve put the original wheelbarrow picture, which was on the booklet for the first year, and we’ve tried to get some of the inaugural gardens involved for this year’s festival.”