Floral Fest for the Inner West

Once every year, the inland city of Toowoomba becomes a kaleidoscope of colour, as the annual spring Carnival of Flowers attracts tourists from far and wide, like bees to the honey pot. Perched on the edge of the Darling Downs, Toowoomba is bounded to the east by a tall and imposing escarpment which drops steeply down towards the Lockyer Valley, with Brisbane some 120 km beyond. The majority of this second most populous inland city in Australia, however, rolls across the gentle dip slopes as though aspiring to face towards the path of the early inland explorers like Cunningham and Fraser.

There are the formal gardens, such as Queens Park, Laurel Bank Park, the State Rose Garden, Picnic Point and the Boyce Gardens and Rainforest, strategically set out around the inner suburbs of the city, with the Japanese Gardens uniquely and awesomely manicured further out to the south west, on the edge of the university campus.  Then there are the myriads of privately owned competition gardens, dotted around the community, like special petal clusters, specially open to the public for this ten day floral festival, each uniquely different and serenely special in its own way, leaving the visitor stunned into appreciative silence.  All of these floral tributes are a haven for birdlife, buzzy bees and the occasional flitting butterfly.

This year the theme at Laurel Bank Park was the XXI Commonwealth Games, held in April of this year at the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane. This explains, to the uninitiated, why there were so many cardboard cut-out athletes around the central display, each implicitly threatening to squash the carpet of blooms beneath and around them (as depicted in the title image).

It is impossible, at this time of year in Toowoomba, to escape the blossoms, blooms and bursting bouquets of boronias, banksias (Australian honeysuckle), bottlebrush (callistemon) and begonias.

Nor are you likely to miss the pastel pink posies of petunias, the gorgeous gerbera daisies, and the rows and rows of roses. Then there's the lush landscapes of lavender, the magnificent magnolias, lanky long lupins, and a Netherland of therapeutic tulips.

One particularly quirky private garden caught our eye at Mable Street, on the north side of town.  First prize winner of the Family Gardens class, this magical carpeted playing field was reportedly laid out to entertain and engage the single parent owner's children, although he mentioned during our visit that it's the 'oldies' who appear to get most out of his labours, chuckling their way around the various themes. You can see below a special little spot, set out for the 'littlies', and with that famous song softly playing through speakers in the background.

If you go down in the woods today,
You're sure of a big surprise,
If you go down in the woods today,
You'd better go in disguise!
For every bear that ever there was,
Will gather there for certain because,
Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.Anne Murray's "Teddy Bear's Picnic"