After debuting his Dahlicious festival over one weekend last year, Brian Tunks has expanded the event to cover all of March, the dahlia bloom the inspiration for a month celebrating all things beautiful in Canberra's garden suburb of Pialligo.
Events range from yoga in a field of dahlias to styling dahlias under the eye of Harper Bazaar's Patty Huntington to an afternoon with MasterChef 2017 winner Diana Chan to walking through the blooms, cutting your own bunch to take home.
"It's a celebration of Pialligo, of Canberra and of autumn in this town," Mr Tunks said.
"And of someone who's an accidental gardener who's found something they love."
The nostalgic, architectural bloom that is the dahlia captured the imagination of Tunks (pictured above), who is known for his other creative outlet, Bison ceramics and glassware.
He has 600 dahlias coming into bloom in a paddock at Pialligo. Tending to them is his way of relaxing and re-energising.
"For me, it's the best mental health therapy I can get without an expensive doctor's waiting room," he said.
"I spend time down in that paddock - which we resurrected from grass that was taller than you and I, there was nothing in it - to the patch we've created down there."
Growing the flowers has also taught him resilience.
"It can be really dry, they can be overwatered, they can be blown and snapped off. But that's what happens when you're a gardener slash micro-farmer," he said.
"It's part of the joy of growing. And the community I'm part of, the dahlia gardeners, we all share information. It's not like The Hunger Games - unless we're after a particular variety."
The Dahlicious program includes a paper dahlia masterclass with Jo Neville from Paper Couture, a guided morning tour and fill your own bucket event at the Pialligo dahlia paddock, a fragrance and candle-making class with Lucian Candles and the events with Brian's celebrity friends chef Diana Chan and style maven Patty Huntington.
On Saturdays, Mellabella gelato will be on site with gelato made from local Tanbella Orchard apples. House of Bubbles will be at the festival on Sundays.
"What encouraged me to do a month was that I thought I had a lot more to offer with what I could do," he said.
"We're putting on more events every week because of the overwhelming demand."
Fresh dahlias will also be for sale each day in March from the Bison nursery at 12 Beltana Road in Pialligo.
Coffee and sweet treats have also returned to Pialligo, thanks to The Pialligo Bakesmith which opened late last year
- Dahlicious events and tickets are at bisonhome.com
