The Dunedin Rhododendron Festival has become a hugely popular annual event for the city with a jam packed programme of garden tours, guest speakers, floral workshops and a host of other events and activities that cater for all ages and tastes.
The 2009 Festival has expanded from previous years due to the overwhelming demand from locals and people from throughout the country who travel to the city especially for the event and now runs over nine days to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to attend their favourite events on the programme.
Scroll down to check out some photos from just some of the events on the 2009 Festival programme....
The official opening of the Dunedin Rhododendron Festival 2009 was held at the beautiful Glenfalloch Woodland Garden on the Otago Peninsula with guest speaker Dennis Greville there to talk about the topic of his latest book 'Colourful Gardens'. Dennis, a well known and respected author and photographer, has designed gardens throughout New Zealand and Australia and is a regular columnist for 'New Zealand Gardener' as well as having written 15 books of his own to date.
The Dunedin Horticultural Society held its 38th Annual Rhododendron Day at the Dunedin Botanical Gardens as part of the festival programme. Visitors to the gardens were able to browse a wide range of stalls offering many types of plants for sale as well as local garden produce with proceeds going towards projects in the Dunedin Upper Botanic Gardens.
Garden tours are a popular item on the Rhododendron Festival programme with several on offer. We popped in for afternoon tea at one of the homes on the Musselburgh School House & Garden Tour on a beautiful sunny afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful harmonies of the school choir while checking out the freshly made pikelets with cream and raspberry jam topping - yummy!
Set in the elegant and stately backdrop of the historic Dunedin Club on Melville St the talented team from Joseph Jones florist demonstrated how to create simple, stunning floral designs to add those finishing touches to your home this summer. The floral workshop proved so popular this year an extra workshop had to be scheduled to en ensure no one missed out.
Another popular event on the festival programme was the Painting in the Garden with celbrated Dunedin artist Janet de Wagt. The workshop started with a short walk around the Dunedin Botanic Gardens Rhododendron Dell to gain some inspiration for drawing and painting the magnificent blooms then off to the classroom to learn techniques for painting in acrylic.
One of the new events added to the festival programme for 2009 was the Nicol's Vege Bus which, like many other festival events, proved very popular with the 45 seater bus sold out. The tour departed from Nicol's Garden Centre and took patrons on a tour to hear and watch three Dunedin gardener's showing their vege gardens and offering hints and tips to either first time or experienced gardeners. Last stop of the tour was the garden of well known Dunedin identity Les Cleveland who's garden estate on Saddle Hill is home to over 8,000 rhododendron plants including the oldest New Zealand-raised rhododendron hybrid, the 'Marquis of Lothian' that was raised at the property in the late 1870s by William Martin.
A sample of some of the gorgeous colours out in force at the Rhododendron Dell at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. Make sure you don't miss these at this time of the year with the gardens looking absolutely spectacular.
