The Value of Gardening | Warwick Today

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Gardening appeals to people of all ages and backgrounds, and no one can speak better about its value to the community than Costa Georgiadis. ERLE LEVEY attended the 40th Queensland Garden Expo and met with Australia’s most famous landscape architect and television presenter.

Breakout Quote

“I associate flowers with my grandparents, with my mom, with neighbors and with family members… that is the gold vein of life.”

Behind every great gardener there is a sense of community.

Nowhere was this better illustrated than at the Queensland Garden Expo 2024, which took place over four days at the Nambour Showgrounds.

The value of gardening and appreciation of the Australian landscape can easily be taken for granted.

Nevertheless, it makes an enormous contribution to communities by connecting them in many different ways and thus creating a diverse picture of life.

Costa Georgiadis knows exactly how gardening fits into society. He is Australia’s most famous landscape architect and television presenter and has an unbridled passion for plants and people.

As he makes his way through the crowds at the garden exhibition, Costa always finds time for a chat or a photo.

“I’m at the bus stop right now,” he writes, and appears at the marquee almost an hour later. Blue beanie hat, orange-rimmed sunglasses and another of his famous T-shirts with a message. This time it reads: “I am a WILD wildflower lover.”

“I’m pretty relaxed,” he announces. “I actually wanted to go away, but I stayed home. There’s a lot going on.”

“There’s this exhibition in Brisbane called the Bradley Art Prize, where people from all over the country get entries. They draw, paint, make ceramics, dolls, crochet, make glass pictures of me.

“Brad is the traffic anchor at ABC Radio in Brisbane and works with them. They did Jenny Woodward and this year they asked me to do it.

“Some of the works submitted are quite exceptional. They will be judged and the winners will be exhibited in the art gallery for six months.

“The creativity of some people is overwhelming – the new ones coming in are really at the next level.”

One of them is made of leaded glass and is quite an impressive piece. Another looks like a giant scroll figure and highlights his beard.

I think you must be so proud. You have inspired people.

“No, it’s so humiliating,” Costa replies.

“The idea is that people do it for the creative aspect.

“The thought that they sat there and thought about you and planned it – it’s very humbling. Seriously, I’m blown away by what people can aspire to.

“The interesting thing for me about something like the art awards – or be it the Logie Awards or the APRA Awards – is that kind of recognition. If people vote or do a portrait because they’re excited, it’s because they see what I see or they’re focusing on it.

“That means that all of these community groups – be it bird clubs, wildlife groups, community gardening groups, junior landcare or citizen science groups – when someone takes a portrait, they see it through me.

“With all the material that’s about me, I think I’m just a vehicle or a lens through which they can focus their attention on the important things.

“If it’s a portrait or an award, you’re voting for nature, you’re voting for plants, you’re voting for people who are gardeners and have a passion for growing things and sharing that passion.

“Today it’s a really simple position, whereas at the beginning you wonder what it means. But it became clear very quickly that when people look at me, they see what I look at.”

Your overall role in the community is well established and you interact very strongly with the community… gardening has that effect too, doesn’t it?

“I’m still involved in the local primary school, in Junior Landcare… all those activities, you know. We renovated the natural pond at the school – it was gifted to the school by the sixth form in 2003. I renovated it in 2012 and we renovated it again a few months ago.

“It was 12 years ago, but it was really important to me to explain to the children there now that this was the vision of the sixth-graders back then and that it is our job to continue the story.

“We must continue with this cultural brushstroke and continue to enrich the image of the school.

“Maybe in 2024 you will be in your sixth year or your first year and you will have to carry the baton.

“We’ve been running this event called Sportathon for 18 years. It’s a little fundraiser for the school where I dress up and the kids run around the schoolyard doing 12 different activities.

“It involves the parents so that they are involved themselves. The children are involved too and we simply develop ideas around the topic.

“Just recently I met a girl in an organic vegetable shop in Melbourne.

“She used to go to school and didn’t like sports, but she liked the sports marathon because we made it fun.

“That was seven years ago. We created a memory – that’s one of the most powerful things about gardening.”

Costa continues to inspire those around him with the importance he attaches to gardening and the many enrichments it brings to people’s lives.

“It sows hope in everything you do,” he said, “but it also creates memories – so when you see certain flowers, you associate them.”

“I associate flowers with my grandparents, with my mother, with neighbors and with family members… it is the gold vein of life.”

“The real wealth of gardening is the fertility. It’s like composting. The real wealth is the memories.”

“It’s not gold in the sense of money. It’s gold in the sense of ‘that’s what life is about.'”

“What do we take with us when everything is destroyed? What do we leave behind?

“It’s not about the empire. It’s not about the buildings. It’s about how you make people feel.”

“Gardening can make them feel good. The school garden connects children with nature.”

As for his involvement in the wider community, Costa claims that his work with many different groups gives his career meaning.

Forty years ago, at the beginning of the Garden Show, he started his studies and began studying landscape architecture. At the time, he had a small business mowing lawns and doing garden maintenance, but also worked at a local events centre to finance his studies.

“It’s all about making connections with landscape groups, the local bee groups, the biodiversity promoters… all these different groups that are out there.

“You’re building a web of connections… like everything we do, when we talk about it, when you see the kitchen garden here – what I like about the kitchen garden is that it’s compact, in a tight area. It’s like being in a kitchen at a party.

“That’s what you want. You want to collect that energy.

“Gardening is like a Trojan horse – it is not political, it is not intimidating, it is an all-embracing and inviting activity.

“You could call it a sport. You could call it a science. You could call it an art.”

“This is an opportunity for everyone… for all ages. It’s cross-generational, with or without skills.”

“Anyone can discover this passion through trial and error, through persuasion and through persistence.

“I love going to gardens where people have no training but have found their passion.

“We’re doing a story about this guy who started with his houseplants and loved them. He started putting some videos on the internet, then a few more, and now he has a quarter of a million subscribers.

“He quit his corporate job and just works with plants. He never thought about it, but his passion took hold. He never thought Gardening Australia would come to his home. Something just clicked.”

I tell Costa about the Slow Food Snail Kids program, which runs in schools in the Noosa area and brings students closer to nature, where they learn where their food comes from and why it is important to source local food.

“You have to keep reminding students,” he said.

“There is so much knowledge available to children and the way they respond to it is simply remarkable.

“If you look at the speed at which children are driven, that’s 30 seconds, the time in which you have to draw attention to yourself.

“It is part of the world – but it is not ‘the’ world.

“The best thing about gardening is that it breaks up the pace and allows you to do everything in harmony with nature.

“Nature has created a different framework so that people can adjust their perspective on life and look at the world differently… that’s really beautiful.”

“It is our duty as adults to give them that opportunity to use that lens so they can see it as a multifocal lens and not just zoom in close up.

“You have to understand that there is a rhythm that has always existed.”

This is why events like the Queensland Garden Expo, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, are so important to the fabric of society.

They bring together passionate people like Costa who remind us how important our role can be in inspiring young people to see the bigger picture and change other people’s lives for the better through something as beautiful as gardening.