As well as our extensive and exciting program of open gardens, which can be found here, Australia's Open Garden Scheme also has an exciting range of Special Events throughout the year.

Some events require pre-booking and as numbers are strictly limited we urge you to book well ahead of time to avoid disappointment.

Low Carbon Gardening with Jerry Coleby-Williams Wynnum, Brisbane

Booking details: Tickets: $55.00 includes talk, garden tour and morning tea or afternoon tea. You can book online via our secure site here or phone (07) 3395 8919 during business hours. Bookings are essential for this event and places are very limited.

Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 August 2008. Sessions: 9am-noon or 1pm-4pm. Knowledge and passion are the key ingredients at Bellis, Jerry Coleby-Williams' abundant organic garden in Brisbane. Learn how to reduce your carbon footprint when gardening and how to run a 21st century household. Enjoy a personal tour of Bellis and discover the secrets of Jerry's soil preparation which ensures a rich bounty of delicious seasonal crops. The house is solar-powered and, maintained by solar-powered equipment, even the lawn is sustainable! Rain and storm water are harvested, and sewage and greywater recycled, all on an urban allotment.

Tropical & Subtropical Garden Design Fest Brisbane

Booking details: Tickets: $150.00 includes includes lectures, lecture notes, lunch, morning & afternoon tea (Sat); entry to six professionally designed gardens & drinks (Sun). You can book online via our secure site here or phone (07) 3395 8919 during business hours. Bookings are essential for this event as places are very limited.

Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 October 2008 The tropics are the girdle of the world and contain a dazzlingly rich flora. Only in the last generation or so has much been done about bringing together the opportunities presented by the climate and vast diversity of plants to create distinctive tropical gardens. One of the foremost advocates of gardening in the tropics is Australian expatriate and Bali resident Made Wijaya, who will be the keynote speaker at a groundbreaking event dedicated to garden design in the tropics and sub tropics. Made is an internationally renowned landscape designer and author and his books include the recently published Modern Tropical Garden Design. This inspiring weekend features garden visits and stimulating lectures by five landscape design professionals. Saturday: 9am-4pm Lectures at University of Queensland, St Lucia. Post Zen Depression: Made Wijaya Gardens Past Illuminate Present Design: landscape architect and QUT lecturer Dr Jeannie Simms Sustainable Design - What Works: landscape architect Arno King Material Use - Achieving Desired Outcomes: landscape designer Ted Maguire Green Roofs & Living Walls: landscape architect Sidonie Carpenter Sunday: From 9am until late afternoon Self-drive tour of six professionally designed Brisbane gardens opening exclusively for delegates. These include gardens designed by Jeremy Ferrier and Ted Maguire. The Garden Design Fest concludes with drinks in the delightful Buchanan Garden at Brookfield.

A Grand Passion: At Home at Baddow House Maryborough

Booking details: Tickets: $35.00 includes tour of the house & garden, book reading & morning tea. You can book online via our secure site here or phone (07) 3395 8919 during business hours. Bookings are essential for this event as places are very limited.

Friday 31 October 2008 9.30am to 11.30am. This is a unique opportunity for lovers of historical houses and gardens to enjoy a personal tour of superbly renovated Baddow House (1883) and its romantic garden. The garden, restored to complement the house, includes jacarandas, poincianas and palms including an original Canary Island palm. Climbing roses, frangipani and buddleia soften the verandahs. The restoration of Baddow House was a fascinating undertaking for Ian Russell and Anne de Lisle, and their journey has been recorded in Anne's memoir A Grand Passion. Enjoy tea in the garden while listening to Anne reading from her book.

Shooting Stars Atherton

Booking details: Bookings are essential for this event as places are very limited. Tickets $35.00 includes talk on bamboo growth and harvesting, tour and refreshments. You can book online via our secure site here or phone (07) 3395 8919 during business hours.

Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 November 2008 Sessions: 9.30am-11.30am or 3pm-5pm Sample delicious bamboo shoots in marinade and learn the secrets of bamboo production. Picturesque Asper Park is a working farm with over 20 varieties of bamboo including many rare and unusual varieties. The bamboo grove appears like an ethereal living sculpture: wind whispers through skyward-shooting stems; peeling sheaths balance delicately. An avenue of jacarandas leads into the garden, which features shady mature English oaks, plane trees and a palm grove. Shingle-roofed summer houses and weathered pine dwellings evoke a European air. Enjoy a guided tour of the bamboo grove and gardens, followed by refreshments.

Yesterday's Treasures, Living Pleasures Northern Brisbane suburbs

Booking details: Bookings are essential for this event as places are very limited. Tickets $110.00 includes accompanied coach tour (departing Hendra rail station), four garden & house visits, morning tea and lunch. You can book online via our secure site here or phone (07) 3395 8919 during business hours.

Wednesday 4 March 2009. 9am-4pm A wonderful gardens, art and history tour. Four historic houses and gardens reflecting Brisbane's early history will be the fascinating destination for a day's exploration. Conon, one of Lutwyche's earliest houses, is also one of the few surviving 1860s residences in Brisbane. Woodlands, built in 1883, still retains its original exquisite ironwork fence and gate. Inspice (1901) displays all the hallmarks of the prominent and innovative architect Robin Dods. Springfield, built primarily in the Victorian style (c.1900-04) also incorporates several Federation features and is set in a delightful rambling garden. In the rarefied ambience of these historic properties, visitors will be treated to delicious morning tea and lunch.