Six spectacular Granite Belt cool climate gardens will be open to the public celebrating The Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival, Saturday 26 February to Sunday 6 March; and for the first time, to celebrate all 150 years of Stanthorpe, three of the Granite Belt’s organic small scale producers are opening their gardens to showcase a different style of gardening.
Open Garden Coordinator, Samantha Wantling, said the Festival’s Open Garden Program presented an exciting opportunity for garden lovers.
“Be inspired with ideas for your next garden project or just relish the tranquillity a beautiful garden provides,” Mrs Wantling said.
“And how exciting this year, that we can showcase some of the styles of productive gardens that have helped shape the economic landscape of the Granite Belt.”
“We are extremely grateful to the creative and hard-working garden owners who have enabled this unique event,“ she said.
Braeside (circa 1874), a heritage-listed property, is one of the region’s earliest grand homesteads.
Seven hectares of a beautiful garden designed by the legendary Carolyn Robinson with the final garden stage now complete.
No less magnificent is the first time shown Accommodation Creek Cottages garden.
This garden has something for everyone that starts with a blaze of colour, through the careful use of massed agapanthus and cannas, that in turn, compliments the hedging, well-established trees and shrubs.
To showcase something a little outside the box, Possum Lane Farm is an integrated horticulture, regenerative agriculture farm south-west of Stanthorpe.
These gardens produce leafy greens, other veggies and herbs for sale locally, hydroponic parsley sold into the Brisbane markets, and hosts Queensland’s first commercial hop yard.
More than 60 per cent of the property is set aside for biodiversity conservation and the operation is completely solar-powered and off-grid.
Over the next 10 years, more areas will be devoted to biodiversity and the farm will work with external partners to promote regenerative practices as well as testing innovations around soil carbon and carbon sequestration more generally.
Tickets to each garden is only $5 per person during the Festival, or for only $30 you can jump online and purchase an all gardens pass. This is available for purchase up until COB on Thursday 24th February. Entry for children 17 years and under is free.
The Gardens will be open at various times during the Festival. Visit appleandgrape.org for further details.
