Garden DesignFest

Garden DesignFest is a biennial Rotary fund raising event featuring the work of professional garden designers in an open garden format.  Held over two weekends in November, Garden DesignFest allows members of the general public to visit gardens, designed by some of Australia’s best garden designers, including John Patrick, Robert Boyle and Paul Bangay, and to talk to the designers themselves, who are in attendance.

Garden DesignFest is organised by three Rotary clubs – Kew, Brighton North and Central Melbourne.  Since its inception in 2004, more than $500,000 has been raised in support of organisations such as the three selected in 2016 – Monash Children’s Hospital, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation.

In 2016, Garden DesignFest attracted 17,000 garden visits and was the most complex staging yet.  46 gardens were opened, 18 more than in 2014, in Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Macedon Ranges, Euroa and West Gippsland.