Brisbane’s four premier parklands and gardens come together in August to celebrate Parks Alive – a fantastic free event for gardening enthusiasts, music lovers or those just wanting to enjoy one of Brisbane’s premier green spaces. Following the success of Parks Alive in 2014, this free event has now been extended over two weekends. The festivities kick off at the City Botanic Gardens and Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha on Saturday August 15 and Sunday August 16. Check out the range of exciting activities lighting up Roma Street Parkland on Saturday August 22 and Sunday August 23 or head on over to South Bank Parkland’s Epicurious Garden, to experience gardening demonstrations, children’s workshops and music for a chilled day out on Sunday August 23.

Gardening personalities will be hosting a number of talks and workshops over the weekend including Gardening Australia’s Jerry Coleby Williams sharing his knowledge on ‘Eating your Volunteers’ and planting miniature container. Claire Bickle will be talking about ‘Bugs in your Life’ and delivering a workshop on ‘The Therapeutic Garden’.  Noel Burdette will be providing visitors with the perfect recipe for compost, while the Greenthumb Goddess, Linda Brennan will be sharing her tips on how to collect and propagate heritage plants and which flowers in the garden are great to eat. There will be a full program of music from young Brisbane Bands at The Amphitheatre including the People’s Choice winners of the Qube Effect, The Golden Age of Ballooning, as well as jazz ensembles on Celebration Lawn, the precinct for food and family games.

New at Roma Street Parkland this year will be a number of invited groups and associations including the Bromeliad Society, Native Plants Queensland, Sub-Tropical Fruit Club Association and the Queensland Bush Food Association, along with City Smart and Council’s Waste Reduction team.  Also new for 2015, and taking place for the first time at the parkland  will be an outdoor movie screening at The Amphitheatre.  The family friendly feature will be held at 6pm on the Saturday evening – and best of all it will be free. Head on over to Visit Brisbane to view the full events and music program online.