Out went the boxes and in came the crowds.
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This year, there was a change to Floriade. Regular visitors welcomed the end of last year's system of growing the flowers in big boxes and just trucking them in. This year, the blooms are in beds and visitors said it looked more natural.
At one stage on Sunday afternoon, volunteers said people were streaming in at the rate of 500 an hour.
It's natural selection in my garden. I throw everything in and Mother Nature does the rest.
- Debora Vella
They came to the site by motorbike and they came by bus.
Anne Cole came from Port Lincoln in South Australia in a special coach tour. Port Lincoln styles itself as the "Seafood Capital of Australia" but the flower festival in Canberra was a bigger attraction for her and the 34 others on the coach.
"We've got a great driver," she said.
The bus picked up people at Tumby Bay, Whyalla, Port Augusta, Adelaide, Crystal Brook and Gundegai for three nights in Canberra with Floriade as the centre piece.
They liked it. "Floriade is fabulous." she said. "The colours, the atmosphere. It's so alive. Everybody is friendly."
Debora Vella came on her motorbike from Kambah. She, too, liked what she found, particularly the changed system of growing so the flowers were in beds not boxes.
"It's better than last year," she said. "It feels more settled."
She had been gathering tips for her own garden which, she said, was not as ordered as Floriade. "It's natural selection in my garden. I throw everything in and Mother Nature does the rest."
Mother Nature helped and hindered over the weekend - bucketing down on the Saturday, providing a literal damper, but clearing away and offering a hint of sun on the Sunday.
Debora Vella's daughter, Ana, 14, really liked the festival - "It's really cool" - but thought that some of the blooms hadn't quite bloomed - "it's a bit early," she said.
Yolanda Ma, an accountancy student at the Australian National University from Xi'an in China, thought there were more flowers there this year - and more tourists.
Alison Evans from the Central Coast found Canberra cold compared with home but saw a bright side to that in that she liked the profusion of cold weather flowers.
Sunday's turnout was divided between enthusiasts for flowers and enthusiasts for candyfloss or Turkish gozleme or fish and chips or beer or Slink Spudz (not that there's necessarily any contradiction between the two - you can like both).
Belinda Hughston tends towards the former as a student of horticulture who had come from Orange to learn techniques of cultivating.
"It's beautiful. It's inspirational. It makes people think about nature", she said.
Brother and sister, Wasif Adi, 12, and Wazzy Adi, 10, who go to Hughes Primary School both approved.
"I think it's a really good place," Wazzy said.
"I'm enjoying it because it's beautiful," Wazif said.
The spring weather is forecast to continue through the week. The Bureau of Meteorology says there's a slight chance of rain on Monday, and the chance of an early frost on Tuesday. But otherwise it's warm mostly sunny days on the way.