The fifth annual festival is showcasing 25 gardens, artists, and collections in six clusters throughout the Hurunui region.
There is also talks, tours, sculpture, art, music and events at many of the gardens, along with tea and coffee.
Some of Hurunui’s historic homesteads are open for visits, along with the Foxdown Classic Car and Memorabilia Collection at Foxdown Road Hurunui in the Scargill Valley.
Each property is open daily from 9am to 5pm.
Chair Meg Macfarlane says the weather has been kind toeveryone involved in the festival, and gardens will be looking pristine.
There has been a lot of interest and the festival committee welcomes back North Island visitors after a couple of years where Covid has curtailed many from attending.
She says a lot more bus tours are operating this year bringing people to the festival gardens, and local businesses are excited about the influx of visitors to the area.
Gardening guru Lynda Hallinan will speak at a dinner event at the Hanmer Lodge on Friday evening, October 28, while the guide, which can be downloaded on line at hurunuigardenfestival.com, will guide you to other events, activities and workshops in the district.
Meg, who with her husband Tom own Waihui, at Sanderson Road, Rotherham, one of the gardens which is opening to the public, says the committee is already looking to the future and planning how to grow the festival, with more workshops, tours, and guest speakers.
A photo competition for budding photographers entitled the 2022 Hero Photo Competition runs throughout the festival.
To enter snap the perfect image over the four days and be in to win a two-night stay for two at the luxurious Foxdown Hut.
Photos need to be portrait, and emailed to info@hurunuigardenfestival.com by Friday, November 4.
It is also continuing with its scholarship to benefit students tertiary education.
Meg says the committee is united in following its ethos of being inspirational and supportive to the residents of the Hurunui, so in any given year the festival makes a profit, it will give one student (or more), graduating from a secondary school and whose family live in the district, a scholarship to the value of up to $2000 toward their study in horticulture, agriculture, landscape design, or a similar related field, at their choice of tertiary institute.
The scholarship is also open to Hurunui home-schooled students.
