Rustlings | Visit Blue Mountains

A magnificent display of tulips at the Waldorf Leura Gardens Resort. Photo: David Hill, Blue Mountains Lithgow & Oberon Tourism

By Chris Holland – Leura Gardens Festival

The Leura Gardens Festival has announced the 10 gardens to be featured in the 2013 festival.

There will be nine private gardens on show as well as the magnificent National Trust Property Everglades.

Waldorf Leura Gardens Resort head gardener Liz Riley. Photo: David Hill, Blue Mountains Lithgow & Oberon Tourism

The Waldorf Leura Gardens Resort, which made its festival debut last year, will return and the extensive property promises to provide visitors with yet another visual feast of colour and variety. The Waldorf is also a popular refreshment venue with lunch and afternoon tea served in the Olive Tree Restaurant.

Two of past years favourites will also return to the festival this year: Ewanriig and Wai-Ila.

One of the many defining features of Ewanriig is the maturity of its trees like pin oak, copper beech and maples while Wai-Ila is a smaller property which successfully combines creative ideas with clever planning.

Other gardens in the line-up are Davaar, Rustlings, Brabourne, DeadEnd House and Tandella and, for the last time in the festival, the popular Shenstone which delights visitors with its wonderful diversity. Shenstone also plays host to the daily music in the gardens program and as an added feature this year a marquee will be installed there and feature two days of horticultural events with talks and demonstrations by noted gardening experts.

Waldorf Leura Gardens Resort will be a featured garden. Photo: David Hill, Blue Mountains Lithgow & Oberon Tourism

All of the gardens have been carefully selected to best provide visitors with a wide cross section of gardening styles and many of the owners will be on site to discuss their gardens and offer advice and tips on the challenge facing cool climate gardening.

All gardens tickets are $20 per person and single garden tickets are $5 per person. A shuttle bus will run between all gardens from Leura Railway Station on a regular schedule ($5). Visiting Leura by train is a great option to visit the Blue Mountains travelling along a scenic route and under two hours from Sydney Central on the Blue Mountains Line. Check the city rail website at www.cityrail.info/tickets.

Make a date this spring and include The Leura Gardens Festival on your calendar. The Festival runs from 5^th to 13^th October and gardens are open from 9.30am to 4.30pm daily. For full details visit the Festival website: www.leuragardensfestival.com.