Last Saturday was our Christmas picnic, with carols, barbecue, bar and a very extensive plant sale.

Most of our events are free to the public, so we try to raise some funds through donations and sale of plants.

People flock to the garden to buy plants, and on Saturday, hydrangeas were galloping out the door.

The kids were having a wow of a time and everyone was relaxed and enjoying themselves in the warm weather.

Our biggest challenge is raising funds to fully develop the garden and build the Visitor Centre.

We keep reminding people, whenever we get the chance, that this is a community-funded and operated garden, unlike other botanic gardens in Australia, which are operated and funded by government or council.

Our experience in seeking grants has made it clear that funding is not easily available for this type of community project.

So, we keep thinking laterally to find other ways of raising funds.

Once we get further down the track, we will be able to open to the public every day.

But, in the meantime, we don’t have any staff to have the gates open on a daily basis and our volunteers already do loads of work maintaining the garden and fundraising.

Our first event in 2019 is in February, so look out for more about that.

In the meantime, we wish everyone a very enjoyable Christmas and we look forward to welcoming more and more people to the garden in 2019.