Flowery festival celebrates gardens the way grandma would have done it

The event will take a stroll back in time to bring us the theme of “Love from Nanna’s Garden” from August 18 to 21.

Festival chairperson Denise Green estimates about 1200 tulips, among other floral attractions, will be in the town hall this weekend.

“It started as the Tulip Festival – it’s slowly getting bigger,” Green said.

Established in 1997, the Nannup Flower & Garden Festival is a four-day event, held annually over the weekend of the third week of August.

“The idea of the festival was to bring people to town.

“We’ve got the community side and the tourism side.”

The main drawcard was the flowers, she said.

This Thursday will be promoted as seniors’ day, with reduced ticket entry to the town hall and guaranteed smaller crowds compared to the weekend influx.

“It’s one of the few festivals aimed at older people,” Green said.

The festival is organised by the Nannup Garden Village Incorporated.

Nat Taylor, festival coordinator, said spectator numbers had doubled over the past three years.

Last year’s festival saw 6000 people attend over the period, with 2000 on the Saturday alone.

“Compared with the whole population of Nannup, our town [more than] doubles in one day,” Taylor said.

“Every year the town hall turns into what ever the theme is.

“The festival is well known for having that floral display.”

She said they had to compete with the Olympics when it came to publicising this year’s festival.

“On the downside, we can’t have live-crosses on the weekend.”

The 2016 Nannup Flower & Garden Festival will feature weekend plant identification sessions with Angus Stewart at the Big Nannup Nanna’s Plant Stall, a panel of gardening experts will present daily Garden Talk Q&A sessions, and the Garden to Gourmet workshops will run this Friday followed by a Gardeners’ Community Dinner.

For the full programme and admission costs, visit: nannupgardens.org.au