The City of Adelaide handed out more than 3,000 flowers to city workers, visitors, students and residents for the revived Flower Day last Thursday (23 September).
Lord Mayor of the City, Sandy Verschoor said the event had originally been celebrated annually from 1938 to 1975 to encourage homeowners to plant gardens and beautify expanding suburbs.
Ms Verschoor said Council voted to restore the favourite festival 46 years later as a means of revitalising the city, by spreading joy and positivity.
She said that to celebrate the event’s return, the City of Adelaide, with the help of Adelaide-based florists, gave away 3,000 single-stem flowers at various locations, including Rundle Mall, Adelaide Town Hall, local primary schools and the train station.
She said several temporary floral exhibits had also been installed at O’Connell Street; Melbourne Street; Hutt Street; Adelaide Town Hall; Adelaide Central Market and Chinatown Plaza; and Gilbert Street.
“We are blessed in Adelaide to have a beautiful city, filled with parks, gardens and flowers and this event is a chance to celebrate this wonderful time of year,” Ms Verschoor said.
“The City of Adelaide has a team of 88 horticulturalists working full time, planting more than 80,000 seedlings every year to make this city look, smell and feel like a garden,” she said.
“Throughout the City of Adelaide there’s more than 25,000 roses, as well as petunias, pansies, poppies and begonias which provide a wonderful splash of colour.”
Owner Operator of Studio Botanic, Nadia Travaglini said florists had been hit hard by COVID restrictions, with a number of events and weddings cancelled, so events like Flower Day provided a great opportunity to get creative and keep staff employed.
