Crookwell Garden Festival broadcasts this weekend

The popular Crookwell Garden Festival, which was planned for this Saturday and Sunday, was cancelled in August following government advice around Covid-19 and the reemergence of the virus in south-west Sydney. Instead, a series of virtual tours were recorded which will be streamed from this Saturday.

Supported by the Upper Lachlan Shire Council and filmed by the tourism manager, Andrew Warren, this virtual edition of the Festival will bring the joy of the Southern Tablelands gardens into living rooms across the country.

"It will be a new thing for us. The committee is very excited, and we have had a good response already," Crookwell Garden Festival chair Libby Ratten said.

"There are some very special gardens," she said.

"All of the gardens are, absolutely, looking beautiful because of the climate at the moment, and the gardeners are very relieved after the drought."

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Four town gardens and five country gardens will be visited, including the historic Markdale designed by Edna Walling in the 1940s.

The Festival will also bring three guest speakers, John Weatherstone, Ian McFaul, and Courtney Haywood-Whipp, to instruct on composting, bugs, climate, extreme weather, and the celebration of roses. As well as, mayor John Stafford at an official opening which were all reworked for online streaming.

In the line-up are favourites, Markdale, and The Mill, designed by Michael Bligh, and New Day Limousin, as well as new larger landscapes like Astiden Springs and Ballynew designed by Lorna Vallely.

The tour will revisit Jackson's small-town garden featuring roses, hellebores, clematis, heuchera, and Japanese maples, all lovingly tended by Ann and Ray Jackson. Other town gardens include the Bill garden, the whimsy Watson garden, and meandering two-acre Loghren.

Recordings will go-live between Saturday, November 7 and Saturday, November 14 on the Festival Facebook page, and website, visit: crookwellgardenfestival.com.