In 2010, Ballarat will celebrate its 58th Begonia Weekend which will be held from 6 to 8 March.
 
Begonias and Ballarat go together like a horse and carriage, particularly in March when the Ballarat Begonia Weekend is held.
 
This colourful event offers something for everyone, whatever age and interest, including free music, garden and nursery tours and displays and of course the ever-popular Begonia display in the Robert Clarke Conservatory.
 
The theme for 2010 is ‘The Secret Garden’, enticing visitors to step out and beyond the conservatory into the Botanical Gardens with its many avenues, historic trees and hideaway spots.
 
Make sure you do explore for you never know what you will learn or find.
 
Among the flower displays, you may come across roving performers or even politicians Paul Keating, John Howard or Gough Whitlam, whose sculptured faces are immortalised in the Prime Ministers’ Avenue. 

Throw a coin into the wishing well near the weeping elms.
 
Imagine the stories that the Sequoiadendrons, these 33 giant redwood trees planted between 1863 and 1874, could tell of years gone past.
 
Take a trip down memory lane through the historic Fernery before discovering more about the life and times of Australia’s great poet and horseman, Adam Lindsay Gordon whose cottage stands in the Botanical Gardens.
 
The Ballarat Begonia Weekend is a free event. Entry to view the begonias in the Robert Clark Conservatory costs $6 adults, $4 concession and free for children under 16. It is open from 10am to 5pm over the weekend.
 
For more information www.ballaratbegoniafestival.com or call 1800 44 66 33.