Any garden enthusiast would often dream of growing fields of their favourite flowers, but with backyards shrinking and time being taken up with other commitments, a garden overflowing with beautiful flowers can feel more like a pipe dream. Luckily, you can visit a few flower fields and festivals to get your flower fix throughout the year.
Stunning flower fields and festivals to visit in Australia
Bridestowe Lavender Estate (Nabowla, TAS)
Bridestowe Lavender Estate is a flower farm you must visit when travelling to Tasmania. Steeped in history, Bridestowe Lavender Estate was first established in 1921 when London perfumer CK Denny migrated to Tasmania with his family. Holding a packet of true fresh lavender seeds (Lavandula angustifolia) sourced from the southern French Alps, he started what is now considered the world’s largest privately-owned lavender farm. Built on a philosophy of exceptional lavender and sustainable agriculture, their lavender rows containing 650,000 plants stretch over 260 acres (approximately 200 kilometres in total). It’s easy to get lost in the purple flowers, clean air and open spaces of this farm.
Kalbar Sunflowers (Kalbar, QLD)
In 2021, Lucerne farmers Jenny and Russell Jenner struggled to keep their crops alive during one of the most prolonged droughts in living memory. Water had become so scarce they couldn’t grow their main crop, but after Russell brought a bunch of sunflowers home from the grocery store, the two had a light bulb moment. Sunflowers need very little water, and they look spectacular, and from there, the festival grew.
The annual Sunflower and Sunshine Festival takes place on the working lucerne and flower farm on the outskirts of the historic country town of Kalbar. During the two-day event, you can walk amongst 300,000 sunflowers, get lost in their amazing eight-acre maze, and enjoy many other activities such as sunrise yoga, sip and paint classes, cooking classes, live entertainment, sunflower themed market stalls, food and drink as well as attend a memorable sunset dinner surrounded by sunflowers. It’s an event not to be missed.
Poppy and Fern Flower Farm (Byron Bay, NSW)
Poppy and Fern lives and breathes the ‘field to vase’ ethos. Headed up by Jess Connor, Poppy and Fern Flower Farm sits inside the grounds of the complementary The Farm Byron Bay – a sustainable working farm, plant nursery and market garden. All blooms used in their floral arrangements are organically grown on The Farm and picked fresh straight from the field each day. They host botanical workshops, farm tours and sell a range of sustainable gifts alongside their fresh bouquets including Sow ‘n Sow Flower Presses.
Tesselaar Tulip Festival (Silvan, VIC)
Silvan Tulip Farm was first established in 1939 by Dutch immigrants Cees and Johanna Tesselaar, who started their farm by planting tulips, gladioli and daffodils on their land in Melbourne. After moving to a larger plot of land in Silvan to increase their tulip farm, they noticed people stopping to admire their farm. In 1954, they opened the farm to the public with silver coin donations for Red Cross Australia. This event is now known as the Tesselaar Tulip Festival, which is held on the farm every spring and has become one of the most iconic tourist attractions in regional Victoria, Australia. While the tulips are undoubtedly the stars of the show, with more than 120 varieties of tulips on display across the 55-acre farm, the festival also features live entertainment, market stalls, food offerings and themed weekend celebrations. Witness the beauty of over a million spring flowers in bloom at the Tesselaar Tulip Festival!
Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers (Toowoomba, QLD)
A flower festival that has flourished since its inception in 1950 is the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. What began as an idea to promote the region as the ‘Garden City’ to increase economic activity after the hardships of WWII, the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers is now an iconic Queensland 10-day event attracting hundreds of thousands of attendees every year. The program includes 60 unique botanical themed events and experiences, from walks through award-winning parks and private gardens to a colourful street parade, music acts, and food and wine stalls.
