This year’s Ballarat Begonia Festival will feature a novel throwback to the very early days of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.

The 2024 ‘Begonia Maze’ will be a key feature of the festival, paying homage to two mazes that once existed in the gardens precinct.

Creative Mazes, a company owned by former Ballarat local Chris Bennett, will set up a temporary maze for the festival, which is likely to provide a highlight for families.

Festival goers will be invited to immerse themselves in a world of colour as they attempt to complete a quiz and successfully navigate themselves to the end of the maze.

The maze will pay tribute to two mazes that once featured in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens with an interesting history.

It will operate from 10am-5pm on all three days of the festival.

The first maze was developed in the gardens in 1862 at the site of the current Robert Clark Conservatory.

Made of a prickly wattle bush, it was removed in 1881 in readiness for a new conservatory, which was built in the early 1900s.

The second maze was first planted in the North Gardens in 1888 to the same design as the United Kingdom’s oldest surviving hedge maze in Hampton Court Palace in London.

With privet and whitethorn hedges planted and a watch tower in the middle, the second maze proved more user-friendly and a popular community asset.

However, after more than 70 years of community use, it was removed in 1959 due to persistent vandalism.

City of Ballarat Councillor, Cr Daniel Moloney said the 2024 Begonia Festival maze would be a brilliant family activity.

“We saw last year the Begonia Festival attract more than 65,000 people and contributed $4.5 million to the Ballarat economy, which shows just how important it is to the City of Ballarat,” he said.

“The program that is on offer once again this year looks incredible, and I can’t wait for another bumper weekend.”

The 72nd annual Ballarat Begonia Festival will be held at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens across the Labour Day long weekend (9-11 March).

The City of Ballarat’s team behind the impressive begonia displays at the annual Ballarat Begonia Festival will debut a never-before-seen begonia flower at this years’ festival.  

The brand-new begonia cultivar, which was bred by the Gardens and Nursery team at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, is named after the Gardens’ inaugural curator George Longley.  

The highly anticipated colour of the Begonia George Longley will be unveiled at the festival.

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens team members are no strangers to developing new cultivars of begonia, having released two other new begonia cultivars in recent years.  

The latest begonia to be released is the Begonia George Longley. It was bred from two existing cultivars within the Ballarat Botanical Gardens Collection by Erin Brennan and Sheree Blood. The ‘parent’ cultivars were chosen for specific flower qualities.

The other two begonias previously bred in-house at the gardens include a Begonia ‘Peter Marquand’ named after recently retired Curator Peter Marquand, and Begonia ‘Lady B’ named for Erin and Sheree — both of whose last names begin with ‘B’.  

City of Ballarat Curator Gardens and Nursery, Donna Thomas said the gardens’ practice of breeding begonias had arisen out of curiosity, and because importing plants had become increasingly difficult. 

“Traditionally, we have imported begonias from the UK,” she said.  

“However, we weren’t seeing a lot of variation we were looking for – such as unique colours, flower forms or scent that we don’t currently have in the collection.” 

Experimenting with breeding their own begonias was the logical next step for Ms Thomas and her team, which also has some added bonuses.  

“Breeding our own begonias also reduces the risk of accidently bringing pests in — it protects our current collection and enriches the uniquely Ballarat identity within the collection,” Ms Thomas said.  

Ms Thomas and her team chose to name their newest begonia after George Longley because they wanted to honour the legacy George had left behind after his 41 years as Curator in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.  

“Whilst George didn’t design the gardens, he implemented the original design of the gardens, much of which was from the original plan,” Ms Thomas said.  

“He oversaw the building of the original fernery and the statue pavilion, the arrival of the Stoddard marble statues, he would have planted the Giant Redwood Avenue, and much of the path work that you see today would have been done by George.  

“George is around us everywhere in the gardens.”  

City of Ballarat Councillor Samantha McIntosh said naming a new begonia after George Longley was a fantastic way to honour his legacy. 

“The Ballarat Botanical Gardens have been a source of pride for Ballarat residents since their inception in 1858. It is only right that we honour George Longley for his significant contributions to the gardens,” she said.  

“I very much look forward to the unveiling of Begonia ‘George Longley’ at the Ballarat Begonia Festival this year and I know the community will be very eager to see just what colour it turns out to be.”  

The 72nd annual Ballarat Begonia Festival will be held at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens across the Labour Day long weekend (9-11 March).