Tickets are on sale, at a special Mother’s Day price, for this year’s BOP Garden and Art Festival which includes new gardens to thrill.

One of those newcomers to the festival belongs to Judy and Paul Smyth of Tauriko.

Their 4.5-hectare site was bare land when they bought it 48 years ago.

These days it boasts many delights in terms of natural beauty and human-made creativity.

Judy and Paul’s garden will offer something new; namely the 45 peony plants – set to be flowering at festival time - that are the stars of their garden.

Peony growth is not generally associated with BOP gardens, but the conditions are cool enough at the Smyth’s, with sufficient harsh frosts, to ensure they thrive.

Festival trail goers will note other eye-catchers beyond the property’s hornbeam hedge, such as a knot garden, dove cote, buxus balls clipped with precision, a walled garden area, and a circular herb garden divided up by brick paving.

Blooms also include roses, delphiniums, dahlia, foxgloves and aquilegia, with pears and quince examples of fruiting trees.

Judy and Paul Smyth's garden. Photos supplied.

Human-made creativity on site includes the house (Paul is a retired architectural designer), the garden’s brickwork, the reinforced steel structures, and the chicken wire cloches.

The latter are the work of Judy (a recently-retired teacher with an art background) and are dotted around the garden. She has plans to make one per week in the lead-up to the festival, where they will be for sale along with collectibles from yesteryear.

The Smyths are big on aesthetics, and festival director Marc Anderson assures there’s plenty at this garden tour stop to please the eye.

Festival goers are always intrigued, he says, to see what new offerings the biennial festival presents.

“They won’t be disappointed. This year’s festival offers some wonderful new inclusions, in terms of both gardens and art, and the calibre remains high across both,” he says.

Tickets to the November 14-17 are available at the special Mother’s Day price until May 12. This is the best of the early bird price opportunities, with four-day passes (normally $80) available for $60.

Visit www.gardenandartfestival.co.nz or Palmers Bethlehem to secure the low-price offer.

Judy and Paul Smyth's garden. Photos supplied.

Those making the most of the Mother’s Day prices will initially receive a voucher, with the festival pack and actual festival pack available at a later date for redemption.

This year’s festival will include 74 garden and art stops.

That includes 57 gardens, nine of those featuring art studios as well.

The work of more than 70 registered artists will be displayed on the trail, or Bloom in the Bay the Festival hub, and there will be 17 stand-alone art studio stops.

Forty per cent of this year’s stops did not feature in the previous festival.

Also new and exciting, Marc says, is the festival’s hub where Bloom in the Bay events will be held. This will be along the Strand’s waterfront green area.

“We are excited about bringing the festival to the CBD to showcase the redevelopment that is making the city centre a place where people are keen to linger a while.

This location adds to the excitement of our upcoming festival,” Marc says.

Bayleys will return as the festival’s principal partner.

Palmers Bethlehem will be back as garden and trail partner and Craigs Investment Partners will be once again supporting Bloom in the Bay, the Festival hub.