Waikerie Garden And Landscape Centre

25/08/2026

🌧️ How good’s this rain been?! 🌧️

We’ve had 12½ mm over the last two days and we couldn’t be happier! 💦🌱

It’s just beautiful to see everything soaking it up.

It’s been a long time since the Mallee has looked this good! 🌿💚

20/08/2026

🌹 **2026 Riverland Rose Festival Catalogue is OUT NOW!** 🌹

Don’t miss out — jump on it and start planning! 🌹🌿

With festivities happening over a few weeks, there’s plenty of time to get out, enjoy the beautiful roses and soak up everything the festival has to offer.

📅 **Mark it on the calendar and get amongst it!** 🌹🎉

View the 2026 Riverland Rose and Garden Festival Program here, to plan out your visit.

20/08/2026

Beautiful last couple of days here in the Riverland! 🌿☀️

We had a beautiful **9.5mm of rain**, and now the weather is absolutely stunning and really turning it on! 💚

Everything is looking a little happier after that drink, and with spring not far away, there’s plenty to get excited about! 🌱🌸

Check out this beautiful Protea! 🌸😍

What an absolute beauty! She’s certainly putting on a show and stealing the spotlight. 🌿💚

14/08/2026

🌸 **WATERLILY BULBS ARE IN STOCK!** 🌸

Yep, they’re here! Get your waterlily bulbs in now and before you know it, you’ll have your very own little backyard oasis. 🪷💦

Riverland gardeners — don’t muck around, these won’t sit on the shelf forever! 😜

Pop in and grab yours while they’re here! 🌿

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14/08/2026

🌺 **Who doesn’t love Hippeastrums?!** 🌺

Riverlanders, have a look at this beautiful range of bulbs we’ve got in! 🌱

They might look like a bunch of sleepy little onions at the moment, but just wait… come summer they’ll be strutting their stuff and putting on a **proper floral show!** 😂🌸

Get ’em planted, give ’em a drink, and then let Mother Nature do her thing.

**Grab your favourites now — because who doesn’t love a bit of summer drama in the garden?!** 😜🌺

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Destination Riverland

13/08/2026

🌱 **Spring isn’t too far away… and we’ve made a little start!** 🌱

The veggie seedlings are starting to roll in, and we’re getting pretty excited for the warmer days ahead! 🍅🌶️🥬

We still need to be mindful of those cheeky late frosts 🥶 — but **don’t let the frost scare you off!** There’s plenty you can be doing now to get ready for spring.

Just remember, when those cold nights come knocking, **don’t forget to cover up those fresh little plants!** 🥶🌿

Spring is on its way… and we’re getting ready! 🌱☀️

10/08/2026

🌿 **MEET KAREN — PART OF THE FURNITURE!** 🌿

After **25 years at Waikerie Garden Centre**, Karen is officially part of the furniture… and we’re pretty sure we’d struggle to move her now anyway! 😂

Karen worked for the previous owners for around **15 years**, so she’s been around long enough to know where everything belongs — and if it doesn’t belong there, **she’ll move it!** 😂

Karen has a real eye for **redecorating, rearranging and making the place look like it’s meant to look**. Give her five minutes and something’s been shifted, straightened, styled or given a better home. And after 25 years around plants, she **knows a thing or two about them too!** 🌿

Away from the garden centre, Karen is a **farmer’s wife**, working on the farm, looking after her cows and lending a hand in the shearing shed. 🐄🐑

And as if that wasn’t enough, Karen spent 23 years teaching guitar and recorder at local schools. She still loves picking up the guitar, getting together with her music group and having a good old jam. 🎸

So between** plants, cows, sheep, guitars and rearranging everything in sight**, Karen certainly doesn’t sit still for long!

After 25 years, she’s not just staff…

**She’s Karen. She’s part of the furniture. And if you move anything, she’ll probably move it back!** 😂🌿

10/08/2026

38mm over the weekend! 🌧️🙌 What a beautiful drop of rain — the garden is absolutely loving it!

And have a look at these gorgeous grass trees… getting a little bit **kinky** after all that moisture! 😂🌿

Nature’s had a bloody good drink, and you can see the difference already. 💚

Enjoy the rain, folks — we’ll take every drop we can get! 🌧️

09/08/2026

🌿 **JADE’S STORY — FROM APRICOTS TO GARDEN CENTRE!** 🌿

Well, it’s fair to say I didn’t exactly take the straight road into running a garden centre! 😂

I started out cutting apricots, spent a fair few years washing cars, had a stint as a builder’s labourer, poured beers at the pub, then headed off shearing.

Basically, if there was work going, I was probably there having a crack! 😂

Then came the phone call that changed the course of things.

I was pi**ed in the shearing shed when Mum rang and said:

**“The garden centre’s for sale.”**

Now, I’d like to say I carefully considered the pros and cons, put together a detailed business plan and made a sensible decision…

But the truth is, I was half cut in a shearing shed and apparently thought:

**“Yeah, let’s do it.”** 😂

And that was pretty much the business plan!

Fast forward **nine and a half years** and somehow we’re still here.

I reckon I went from cutting apricots, washing cars, swinging a hammer, pouring beers and shearing sheep to selling plants, shifting garden gear and trying to keep the bloody things alive. 😂🌿

And I haven’t completely escaped the sheep either — I still get out occasionally and shear a few on the family farm, just to keep myself humble! 🐑😂

There’s been plenty of hard yakka, plenty of laughs, a few dramas and more than a few moments where I’ve wondered what the hell I was thinking.

But looking back, I reckon that drunken phone call wasn’t such a bad decision after all.

**Nine and a half years on, we’re still here, still having a crack and still growing.**

From the shearing shed to the garden shed…

**Who would’ve bloody thought! 😂🌿**

Waikerie Business Alliance

08/08/2026

🚂🌿 A LITTLE BIT OF WAIKERIE RAILWAY HISTORY 🌿🚂

There’s more to this patch of ground than meets the eye!

Today, you’ll find **Waikerie Garden & Landscape Centre** here — with plants, mulch, stone, and everything you need to make the garden look a million dollars.

But go back a few generations and the scene was very different.

This was part of **Waikerie’s railway precinct**.

When the railway reached Waikerie in **1914**, it became a vital link between the Riverland and the rest of South Australia. Trains came and went carrying produce, goods and supplies, helping the young district grow.

The railway yard was a busy working place, with sidings, loading areas, goods sheds and railway equipment spread across the town.

And then there’s the old rusty gantry that still stands here

That old bit of steel has watched the place change from a busy railway yard to the industrial area we see today. The tracks have disappeared, the trains are long gone, and most people driving past would probably have no idea that railway wagons once worked this ground.

But the gantry remains.

Looking at the old photographs and station-yard plans, you can start to piece together the landscape that was here before us — tracks running through the area, goods being loaded and unloaded, and railway workers going about their business.

Eventually, the traffic declined and the railway era came to an end.

But thankfully, a few old pieces were left behind.

So next time you’re wandering around the garden centre, have a look at that old gantry.

It’s not just a rusty bit of steel.

**It’s a little piece of Waikerie’s railway history.** ❤️🚂

And these days, instead of loading railway wagons, we’re loading up trailers with mulch, stone and plants.

Not quite as romantic as the old steam trains… but we’re still moving plenty of stuff! 😂🌿

Waikerie Garden & Landscape Centre — where the old railway yard meets the modern garden.

🌿 Support your local and come have a look at a bit of Waikerie history while you’re here! 🚂

National Railway Museum District Council of Loxton Waikerie Waikerie Business Alliance Waikerie Silo Art Waikerie Clifftop Walk Lost Waikerie National Trust SteamRanger Heritage Railway, South Australia Waikerie District Historical Society Inc. Visit Riverland Destination Riverland The Rotary Club of Waikerie Outdoorstype Waikerie & District News