“The simplest thing we can learn from the Cherry Blossom is seasonality,” says ABC’s Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis, who will headline Garden Day on Tuesday 21 August.
This year the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival boasts more special theme days to inspire visitors of every age and experience, including kid’s day, seniors day and social media friendly days.
With Cherry Blossoms a barometer for changing weather patterns, the gardening themed day on Tuesday 21 August will have a strong focus on sustainability and living harmoniously with nature.
The day will include biodiversity talks by Costa, Bonsai (small tree) workshops, guided tours of the Japanese Gardens, Ikebana (flower arrangement) demonstrations and sustainability workshops.
“We can't make the Cherry Blossoms open. They open according to the terms and conditions that nature has set out,” Costa said.
“Nature ebbs and flows; there is light and dark, hot and cold, wet and dry, summer and winter, autumn and spring.
“The Cherry Blossom reminds us that we are coming out of the dormant period of winter and nature is about to burst into the new season of spring.
“We can take away a lot from the Cherry Blossoms and their total reliance on nature’s operating system. If we mess with the system then the blossoms will not do what we expect them to.
“So much of this we can apply to the big environmental picture.”
Due to popular demand in 2018 the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival will feature its first day dedicated to parents, guardians and their young children.
On Wednesday 22 August little ones are invited to try Baby Yoga, Tumbletown Yoga and Taiko for toddlers; meet Hello Kitty or enjoy the Shiho Sparkle Hooper Show.
Or for the young at heart, Seniors Day boasts a program full of traditional Japanese music, flower demonstrations, Japanese tea ceremonies, Kimono photo dress-ups, as well as beautiful Haiku readings.
Seniors Day on Thursday 23 August will begin with outdoor classes of the traditional Japanese exercise Taiso, Japan’s answer to Tai Chi.
