PLANT guru Sophie Thomson addressed a packed crowd of 114 people during her talk hosted by the Ararat Gardening Club on Sunday.
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Thomson is an ABC Gardening Australia presenter who lives at Mount Barker in South Australia.
More than 50 people were turned away from the event at Chalambar Golf Club.
Tickets to see the popular gardening host sold out quickly in the week leading up to her appearance in Ararat.
Thomson addressed the crowd about gardening techniques, including the bugs to look out for and the bugs that helped a garden thrive.
This included addressing the most common garden woes that can keep them from flourishing.
Ararat Gardening Club president Gwen Pilgrim said it had been a revealing talk for guests.
“People who attended said they learnt so much from her,” she said.
“Sophie has a great sense of humour with the way she speaks.
“One guest said they could not have believed they would be able to listen to a gardening talk for three hours.
“But Sophie didn’t use language that went over people’s head – it was all common sense.”
Guests came from as far Skipton, Ballarat and Caramut for the event.
Thomson said gardening had many health benefits, both physically and mentally as it helped to reduce stress and keep people active.
Mrs Pilgrim said she doubted whether the gardening club would ever again put on such a popular event.
“It took 12 to 18 months to get her here because she is so much in demand, but she was speaking in Melbourne on the Saturday so we were fortunate enough to get her on the way back through to South Australia,” she said.
“We hope to have her back for all the people who missed out.
“We would have turned away at least 50 people who were still looking for tickets the day before.
“It will be difficult to organise an event from here, because people have seen the best in the country and how do you follow up with that?”