Can you dig it? Thousands descend on Floriade with pitchfork and trowel in its final hours

“It’s like the sacking of Rome,” the head gardener jokes, looking out over the rapidly shrinking sea of flowers.

Floriade 2024 came to a dramatic conclusion on Monday (14 October) for the organised chaos of the ‘The Great Big Bulb Dig’.

Members of the public rushed to the gates and garden beds with pitchforks and trowels on a mission to dig out what bulbs and flowers they could and take a little bit of Floriade home to brighten their own gardens.

This year’s festival, under the theme of ‘Art in Bloom’, was made up of 480,000 tulip bulbs and 520,000 annuals across 13 garden beds in Commonwealth Park – all painstakingly planted (often on hands and knees) and cared for over 18 months by Tim Howard and his team.

But he isn’t too gutted to see it ransacked.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to finish off the show,” he says.

“The tulips still have a lot of life in them, but I need to pack the park up and this is the best way to do it.”

Four weeks ago, there were fears the warmer-than-expected start to spring would cause many of the flowers to bloom too early, but while the daffodils might been past their best by the time Floriade opened on 14 September, Tim was all smiles.

“We had 80 km/h winds and very trying conditions, but the gardens and flowers have held up very well,” he says.

“We had such a colourful show this year, and it certainly informed us about what we can do next year to make sure we’ve got a very strong flower display for the full four weeks.”

Events ACT executive branch director Ross Triffitt says the teething troubles had no impact on visitor numbers either.

“In fact, we saw great attendance, especially towards the end of the show.”

Floriade 2024 drew in more than 470,000 visitors, including more than 21,000 to Nightfest.

This might not have cracked 2019’s record figure of 507,550, but it’s the fourth-highest number in the event’s 36-year history and up on last year’s 435,000.

Ross says Nightfest, in particular, was impacted by rain, but ultimately, his team is “really pleased with the results”.

After ‘Dog’s Day Out’, when visitors can bring along their furry friends, the event normally winds up with the organised chaos of The Great Big Bulb Dig. Bags are for sale at Floriade throughout the four weeks and also at the gates for $15.

But to capitalise on demand, this year came with a twist.

Those who paid a little more ($30) scored a bigger bag and were able to enter the park at 10 am, an hour’s head start on the bulk of the crowd.

Sarah took the day off work to attend with her sister-in-law who, together, have “gone very mental on our gardens in the last couple of years”.

“This is just such a great excuse to come out and dig up some bulbs, and the money going to charity, which was like such a bonus for us,” she says.

“I visited [Floriade] a couple of times, even as late as last Friday, and got a little map and mapped out which bulbs I wanted to get.”

It was the first time attending for Jess and Connor.

“So excited,” Jess says.

“I’ve had the leave booked in for a little while … You’re supposed to take leave to do something that makes you happy, right?”

A top tip from Fiona and John is to bring a fork rather than a garden shovel.

“This is our first time, and we should have had a fork instead of a shovel – the dirt is very hard,” Fiona says.

“We love Floriade. And this year’s has been beautiful because of the weather – they were really lucky.”

All the money goes toward this year’s two charity partners, Roundabout Canberra and the Indigenous Marathon Foundation.

Roundabout Canberra donates “safe, high quality, essential baby and children’s items to families in need”. Founder Hannah Andrevski says for a small charity, participating in such a big event means “a great deal”.

She says the organisation’s volunteers were at Floriade every day over the past month, “chatting with people and making sure they know about us and that they can donate their second-hand baby and children’s items to us”.

“Floriade is the best event – it’s got such a sense of community – and today, it’s so nice to see the beautiful flowers going to be recycled and reused, something we’re very passionate about.”

Planning for Floriade 2025 is already underway, even if the theme is still under wraps.