By Chelsea Allan | Trevallan Lifestyle Centre | Ipswich Plant & Lifestyle Fair
When I first decided to create the Ipswich Plant & Lifestyle Fair, I had a vision of what I wanted it to become. I did not understand just how much work would be involved in getting there.
I’m a horticulturist, the owner of Trevallan Lifestyle Centre in Brassall, Ipswich, a family business established in 1998, and a relatively small fish in the world of horticultural retail and media.
I certainly didn’t have a large organisation, extensive marketing budget or established event audience behind me. What I did have was nearly three decades of horticultural experience, a love for our industry and a belief that Ipswich deserved something special.
Not everyone shared that belief.
I was told growers wouldn’t travel to Ipswich. Visitors wouldn’t make the journey. The location simply wouldn’t attract the audience needed to make a specialist plant fair successful.
There has long been a stigma attached to Ipswich, and those early conversations certainly reminded me of it.
But why shouldn’t Ipswich have a quality horticultural event? We have passionate gardeners, plant collectors and an increasingly diverse community. I wanted to challenge those perceptions, but I also wanted to challenge something else.
The way we value plants.
From the beginning, I was determined that the fair would be retail-ready. I didn’t want to create a wholesale-direct-to-public event or a cheap Sunday market where the biggest attraction was how little someone could pay for a plant.
I wanted specialist growers and nurseries presenting quality stock, professionally displayed, appropriately labelled and fairly priced.
Because as an industry, I think we sometimes do ourselves a disservice by continually promoting plants on price rather than value.
At another plant fair, someone once asked me, “Where are all the cheap plants?”
And I remember thinking, why is that the expectation?
Imagine walking into a clothing boutique where every garment has been designed and handmade by the owner, then expecting Target prices.
We recognise craftsmanship and expertise in so many industries, yet somehow expect horticulture to be different.
Growing plants well takes time, money and knowledge. There are years of experience behind many of the growers we meet, not to mention the investment in infrastructure, growing media, water, fertilisers, labour and the inevitable losses that come with producing living products.
Plants aren’t necessarily expensive. They should be appropriately priced.
I’m not suggesting gardening should be inaccessible or that every plant needs a premium price tag. Quite the opposite. I want everyone to experience the joy of plants. But accessibility shouldn’t come at the expense of the people producing them.
As a retailer, I’m acutely aware of what it costs to employ knowledgeable staff, maintain healthy stock and keep a horticultural business viable. If we continually undervalue what we grow and sell, how do we expect our industry to attract skilled people, pay appropriate wages and remain sustainable?
I wanted the fair to celebrate growers, their skills and their knowledge, not simply the products sitting on their tables.
I also wanted diversity. Specialist growers, independent nurseries, garden businesses and carefully selected lifestyle exhibitors, rather than rows of identical stalls. Gardening is about more than buying plants. It’s about curiosity, creativity, wellbeing and the relationships we develop with the natural world.
And somewhere along the way, that little idea started growing.
Our first fair in November 2024 attracted approximately 3,500 visitors. By June 2025, we welcomed around 4,000, followed by more than 5,000 in November.
Then came June 2026.
More than 8,000 visitors.
Eight thousand!
I wish I could convince 8,000 people to visit Trevallan Lifestyle Centre!
Standing in Nicholas Street Precinct watching thousands of people wander through, plants in hand, talking to growers and discovering businesses they’d never encountered before was quite extraordinary.
And I’ll admit, I couldn’t help remembering all those people who told me nobody would travel to Ipswich.
Apparently, they will.
One of my favourite moments came when a local HMA member told me he’d discovered plants that he didn’t already have in his collection. Anyone who knows a serious plant collector will appreciate just how satisfying that comment was!
It’s exactly what I hoped to achieve. An event where experienced gardeners could still discover something new, while beginners felt comfortable enough to ask questions and begin their own gardening journeys.
But success brings its own challenges.
You might imagine that attracting 8,000 visitors makes it easy to convince growers to participate. I wish that were true.
I spend an enormous amount of time researching specialist nurseries, contacting growers and personally inviting businesses that I think would bring something special to the event.
Many have been wonderfully supportive. Some decline, which I completely understand.
Others simply never reply.
And when you’ve put your heart into building something, it’s difficult not to feel disappointed when you later see those same growers attending other events.
Is it Ipswich? Is it because we’re relatively new? Is it because I’m a small independent organiser rather than an established horticultural organisation?
Perhaps it’s none of those things. But we’re human, and sometimes it’s difficult not to take those silences personally.
Something else that often gets lost as the event grows is who is actually behind it.
The Ipswich Plant & Lifestyle Fair is organised by me through Trevallan Lifestyle Centre. It’s not a council-run event, although it operates at Nicholas Street Precinct under an arrangement with Ipswich City Council.
Because we’re using council-owned public space, admission is free under that arrangement. It’s not a choice to operate as a free event, and without ticket revenue, funding becomes an interesting exercise.
I haven’t had access to grants or council sponsorship packages (not for lack of trying), nor do I have a major corporate sponsor. Stallholder fees and the resources of my small business support the event.
Then there’s the time involved. The emails, advertising, social media, site plans, entertainment, logistics and countless decisions, all while operating a six-day-a-week garden centre and a family.
Sometimes, all the time, I wonder what on earth I was thinking!
And now, as we prepare for Saturday, 7 November 2026, I’ll admit something else.
I’m scared.
When you’ve just welcomed over 8,000 visitors, there’s suddenly an expectation that the next event must be bigger and better.
What if November is quieter? What if the weather doesn’t cooperate? What if the growers I’ve been hoping to attract still don’t come?
I know success shouldn’t be measured purely by attendance. A well-curated event, happy stallholders and visitors leaving inspired mean far more to me than simply chasing numbers.
But knowing that doesn’t necessarily remove the pressure.
My goal was never to create the biggest plant fair. It was to create a quality horticultural experience, one that encourages people to appreciate plants, respect the expertise of those producing them and continue supporting specialist growers long after the event finishes.
I want Ipswich to become a recognised destination on Queensland’s horticultural calendar. I want growers to see the value in participating, visitors to discover something unexpected and the event to become financially sustainable without losing what makes it special.
Most importantly, I want to keep championing an industry I’ve devoted nearly three decades of my life to.
Because horticulture deserves to be recognised for the skilled, knowledgeable and valuable profession it is.
I’m still a small fish in a very big pond, learning as I go, occasionally questioning myself and regularly wondering how I managed to get myself into all of this.
But perhaps you don’t need to be a big fish to make a difference.
Sometimes you just need to believe something is worth creating, even when others tell you it won’t work.
And if another HMA member visits in November and discovers a plant they haven’t already got, I’ll consider that a rather lovely measure of success.
Ipswich Plant & Lifestyle Fair
Saturday, 7 November 2026 | 8 am – 1 pm
Nicholas Street Precinct, Ipswich, Queensland
Free entry
Organised by Trevallan Lifestyle Centre.
