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Tens of thousands of people are expected to wander through the Ballarat Botanical Gardens this long weekend, but there is one showstopper that will have visitors pulling out their cameras in droves.

The Ballarat Begonia Festival’s namesake – the Begonia Display – is one of the festival’s most Instagrammed activities.

This year’s display features six hundred tuberous and non-tuberous Begonias from the City of Ballarat’s famous Begonia collection.

The City of Ballarat’s Parks and Gardens Team have been growing the tuberous begonias since Spring, with staff now busy putting the finishing touches on this year’s Begonia Display ahead of the festival opening on Saturday 9 March at 10am.

Entry to the Begonia Display is free.

Another highlight of the 2019 Begonia Display is the Begonia Towers which feature more than two hundred Begonia boliviensis Bossa Nova.  

Each year, the City of Ballarat’s Parks and Gardens Apprentices also create a display to feature at the festival – showcasing everything they have learnt during their time with the Parks and Gardens team.

This year the apprentices have worked collaboratively to create a tranquil Japanese-inspired garden.

Presented by the City of Ballarat, the 2019 Ballarat Begonia Festival is free and will be held at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens between 9-11 March 2019.  

For more information about the 2010 Ballarat Begonia Festival visit: ballartabegoniafestival.com.au or follow @BallaratBegoniaFestival on Facebook

Begonia collection fast facts:

• Tuberous begonias were first discovered in 1864 in Peru and Bolivia and have been growing in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens since approximately 1896

•  The gardeners started to import tuberous begonias from England in 1901, and now grow the popular plant by hand.

• There are two main forms of begonias, tuberous and non-tuberous.

• The City of Ballarat Gardens Team plan for the Begonia Display 12 months in advance

• Growing begonias is a year-round job, the non-tuberous begonias are looked after in the heated glasshouse - they can grow outside, but need protection from the cold and extreme heat of Summer

• In Spring the tubers are taken out of storage, potted up and placed into the heated glasshouse. Once the shoots have appeared and have reached about 5 to 10cm, cuttings are taken

• The tuberous begonias are then potted to their final pot size and moved to the nonheated glasshouse

• The Gardens team disbuds the flowers until the start of February to encourage larger flowers, and to ensure they’re looking their best for the Festival

• All begonias are hand-watered so they don’t get over-watered, which can cause rot in the tuber

• Once the cool weather sets in, the tuberous begonias slowly start to die back to ground level

• All the tubers are taken out of the pots and inspected for any damage from weevils or tuber rot They are then stored in the bulb room over Winter and the Gardeners start all over again in Spring.