National Conference Recap NGIA National Conference - The Growing Edge Hobart Tasmania 19 - 21 February 2018 |
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Every two years a national Nursery & Garden Industry Conference
is held in an Australian city and over the past 30 years it has attracted
a committed group of growers, retailers and suppliers to the
Australian nursery and garden industry. This year the NGIA National Conference was held in Hobart, Tasmania and here is a small snapshot of what happened in our beautiful city. |
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NGIA National Conference The Growing Edge Hobart 19 -21 Feb, 2018 NGIA’s National Conference started off with two pre-conference tours; Retail and Wholesale Nursery Tours. These tours were well supported by our interstate delegates and both tours showed what a selection of Tasmanian nurseries have to offer. |
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Retail Tour The Retail Tour headed out to Harmony Garden Centre on the
edge of Ralph's Bay in Lauderdale. Andrew and Angela warmly welcomed our guests to their
newly upgraded retail nursery. |
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Complete with resident White Cockatoo and a pair of Silkie Bantams, Harmony Garden Centre has the 'feelgood' feel and a warm welcome feel of a real local nursery. Following national trends, Harmony have expanded their indoor plant section while also appealing to the home gardener with a veggie patch or a native inspired garden in a low water catchment area. |
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The Retail Tour then headed down to Kingston and Clennetts Mitre 10, affectionaly known to locals as 'The Fork in the Road. Here the team showed our visitors around their large retail nursey featuring a large display of garden furtinure, pots, indoor and outdoor plants and displays. |
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Next was Greenhill Nursery nestled at the foothills of Mount Wellington in loverly Leslievale. David and his staff too pleasure in showing our visitors through a vast selection of advanced trees at all stages of development. |
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Greenhill Nursery has found a niche market selling its advanced trees
all over the state to a variety of industries. Greenhill Nursery sits on 2.5 hectares of land and uses every
inch of space to house their hardy range of trees, shrubs and grasses. |
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For lunch our visitors were treated to a typical Tasmanian lunch at Willie Smith's Apple Shed in the picturesque Huon Valley. The fare was delicious - all organic, locally sourced and prepared on site. |
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Our visitors were suitably wowed by the quality of the local food and produce and also had the pleasure
of tasting from a selection of Tasmanian wines, boutique
beers and ciders. |
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After filling our visitors bellies the tour continued on to the Plants of Tasmania Nursery snuggled away
in Ridgeway on the slopes of
Mount Wellington. Plants of Tasmania specialises in growing
and selling plants native to our island state, stocking over 500 different species and varieties. |
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And finally returning to Hobart the tour visited Chandlers Nursery - Tasmania's oldest family run nursery which was established in 1888. Chandlers Nursery is situated in Sandy Bay - just 5 minutes from
the Hobart CBD. |
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Chandlers Nursery, covering 4000 sq metres, was originally an orchard before its establishment. Chandlers provides their local clientele with a large range of seedlings, herbs, fruits, cottage plants, natives, indoor and water plants, shrubs and trees but is well known for their selection of roses and camelias. Adjoined to the nursery is the old cottage (circa 1860).Today, the cottage has been refurbished and is the giftshop, filled with unique items, great for gifts or for the home and garden. |
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The next installment will feature our Wholesale Nursery Tour - this tour features visits to Tibballs Nursery, Granton Plants, Horticultural and Landscape Supplies and Westland Nurseries - taking in a visit to fabulous Pooley's Wines for lunch. |
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