Grow your own Floriade rainbow pride garden!

Gardening offers more than just a green escape. It’s also a proven way to boost general fitness levels and mental health, reduce stress, and enhance your mood and wellbeing. Personally, I’ve always found that being in our garden invites me to slow down and be more focused in the present moment.

Whether you have a sprawling property or just a few pots on a balcony, the act of caring for plants can nurture your soul, offering a space where you can find peace in the simplicity of nature amidst life’s demands, and there are a lot of those!

So, if you are feeling the pull to step outside, this might be a opportunity to create something extra special this spring — like a rainbow pride garden.

By choosing flowers and plants in the vibrant colours of the pride flags, you can celebrate diversity and inclusion, honour your identity, and share a message of love and acceptance with our community. Rainbow gardens can be as flashy or as subtle as you would like, depending on the design and the plants you choose.

I recommend selecting smaller, lower-growing annual and perennial flowers, arranging them in a formal or informal design, and planting close together to form a colourful rainbow that will keep blooming for months. You’ll find these at your local nursery.

• Red: Geranium, Petunia, Verbena
• Orange: Marigold, Cosmos, Verbena, Calendula
• Yellow: Daffodil, Marigold, Sunflower, Primrose, Billy Button
• Green: Herbs, Sweet Potato Vine, Cat Grass
• Blue: Cornflowers, Delphiniums, Eryngium
• Purple: Violets, Delphinium
• Pink: Alyssum, Primrose, Petunia
• White: Alyssum, Petunia, Lilies
• Brown: Kangaroo Paw, Carex Grass, Sugar Dahlia
• Black: Black Mondo Grass, Leptinella Black Grass

This list of easy-to-grow flowers will have your life bursting with colour quicker than you can tap those ruby crocs together and say, “There’s no place like home”.

Many flowers also come in more than just one colour, such as hydrangeas, strawflowers, pansies, nasturtiums, carnations, chrysanthemums, irises, and my personal favourites, Dutch tulips. Happy gardening, happy pride.