IT will be a Spring Spectacular with a bit of a difference this year.
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This year's spectacular - always one of the highlights on the Bathurst community calendar - is set down for the weekend of October 26-27, less than two weeks after the Bathurst region begins extreme Level 4-5 water restrictions.
Crucially, the Bathurst Gardeners Club has been granted exemptions from the restrictions to prepare gardens in the lead-up to the spectacular but, once it's over, members will be subject to the same rules as the rest of us. And that's why this year's spectacular, done properly, will be different to previous years.
While a primary purpose of the Spring Spectacular is to raise funds for local charities, it has also offered keen gardeners the chance to draw inspiration from the wonderful open gardens that have gone on display.
This year, though, much of that inspiration will come from the water-saving techniques employed at some of the best private gardens in Bathurst to help them cope as well as possible during the ongoing dry conditions.
Some will be big ideas, some simple, but the key message will be that we can all make changes that will help both the community and our own little patch of it.
Bathurst has never before been subjected to restrictions as tough as those coming in October and we should all start thinking about just what they will mean.
Some homeowners will be happy enough to let their gardens go while others will be desperate to do whatever they can to keep them going. But we should all be open to taking advice from those who have the greatest knowledge in this area.
We all know it's going to rain one day, and we're all counting down the days. Until then, though, it's case of doing the best we can with what we have - knowing it might still get worse before it gets better.