There was one last chance to tiptoe through the tulips yesterday before Floriade closed its turnstiles for another year.
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Gold Coast floral architect Michael Woods flew to the capital on Friday to create a colourful display featuring the Queen's coronation crown and orb.
Floriade commissioned the work to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee this year. Mr Woods was putting the finishing touches to the display in the Look and Learn Marquee yesterday morning.
This was Mr Woods's third year working at Floriade. Last year he was one of a team that helped create a display for the Queen, who visited Floriade during her 2011 tour. He hopes to be invited back next year.
''It's demanding, it's different and the work changes, and that's the part of floristry I love,'' he said.
In the gnome knoll ACT Minister for Tourism Andrew Barr presented prizes to winners of the annual gnome painting competition. He said this year's Floriade had been a great success, injecting about $30 million into the local economy.
''It's very well supported by the Canberra community, and of course we have hundreds of thousands of interstate and international visitors who come to the event,'' he said.
Floriade 2012 also recorded the largest attendance on a single day of the show when 35,200 visitors passed through the turnstiles on Sunday, September 30.
Gate figures suggested this year's event was on track to record the second largest overall attendance since turnstiles were introduced in 1999, but would fall short of the 471,900 visitors in 2010. Mr Barr said it was important that Floriade stayed relevant by continuing to update its offerings, but flowers would remain the focus. ''In the end the great drawcard, the great anchor for the event is millions of blooms, in a spectacular setting in the centre of Canberra celebrating spring - that will never change,'' he said.
The Floriade area of Commonwealth Park will now be closed until October 29 while the garden beds are dug up and flowers sent to Canberra nursing homes and schools.