Standing in a wind fresh from Antarctica, the Chief Minister said that this year's Floriade might be so good in its dispersed, plague-hit, "reimagined" form that it could even be repeated next year.

He joined in as a trio of children's entertainers pranced for the cameras - "twirl, twirl, twirl", was the Beanies' theme.

And then he posed in front of a very large pink gnome called Floyd (Pink Floyd - geddit?)

Mr Barr duly imparted a string of Pink Floyd puns from the songs of the once-famous band - "brick in the wall", "dark side of the moon" etc.

Only the line about "kids don't need no education" was left out (the line which caused the late, great Clive James to write "kids don't need no education like a desert don't need no water").

To be fair, a herculean effort does seem to have been made to plant a million bulbs right across the city, the same number as in the pre-plague Floriade.

And a heroic effort has gone into creating a flower festival when people are banned from congregating to croon over blooms in the usual communal fashion.

The main crooning will be done by the Beanies.

Some of this year's Floriade will be online but every effort has been made to keep outside activity going, albeit at a social distance.

Ninety different community groups have been involved in the planting across 90 sites across the ACT.

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There will be a few live events but with numbers limited. Recordings will then be available online.

It ought to really feel like a festival bringing together a city.

The downside will be the $35 to $45 million dollars Mr Barr said outsiders won't bring into Canberra this year.

The non-visitors will miss the gnome hunts.

And a lot of fun.

The producer of the festival - the one who has re-imagined it - is Vickii Cotter (double i because she used to be a jazz and pop pianist and she said she thought it looked better).

Her events organising company, Visabel, is based in Canberra and she has been brought in as the festival's executive producer.

"As a small business in the ACT, COVID has impacted us," she said.

So she went for the the commission from the ACT government to organise Floriade and won it.

"That was like a lifeline. It's been a really horrific time for a small business owner," she said.

Her immediate task was made all the harder because she didn't know what the rules of the festival would be - whether, for example, the lockdown would be looser or tighter. That's why quite lot of events are online.

She has used her imagination and her skill to whiz around Canberra looking for the sites to plant the million bulbs. She likes the idea that Canberrans might be at the local shop and suddenly learn that a Floriade site is nearby.

But there's a bigger task: "To bring hope to the community. That's what we are trying to do after the fires, and then COVID which meant we weren't able to proceed in Commonwealth Park."

"Building that connection with the community - it's got a 33 year history so to not have it happening would have been sad," she said.

But it is happening - from September 12 to October 11. There will be gnomes.