WITH the promise of more than a million blooms, Floriade opens at Commonwealth Park on Saturday to begin Canberra’s annual, month-long spring celebration.

Running until October 15, this year’s theme is “Floral Wonderland”.

Head gardener Tim Howard says he has learned a lot in his second year of Floriade.

“Last year was my first year as Floriade head gardener and I came in halfway through the process,” he says.

“Like any project if you come in halfway through you don’t get a full understanding of the decisions. So, this year I knew to plant the flowers six weeks earlier to mean better flowers for day one.

“While it was a lot of hard work to start earlier, you can see the results have been absolutely worth it.”

His two favourite displays include the purple and black Cheshire Cat from “Alice in Wonderland” and the indigenous display.

“The purple are hyacinths and they are very fragrant, just gorgeous, and the black tulips are classic,” he says.

“But my other favourite is the indigenous artwork bed down the bottom of Floriade, it’s just so tight, it’s to do with the heights of the foliage and the colour contrast.”