Celebrity duo to join Garden and Artfest | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

"Bug man" Ruud Kleinpaste and flamboyant TV personality Peta Mathias will speak at the biennial Garden and Artfest in November.

The week-long festival, lauded as a celebration of the Bay's artists and gardeners, traditionally attracts thousands.

More than 60 private gardens will be opened to the public, but the festival is expanding to include a wider range of events.

Festival directors Jo Bond and Arne Herrmann said the aim was to make the event more attractive to visitors from outside the region, and bring it "closer to the people in the Bay".

Gardens on show include a mix of sprawling country grounds, new and established, several acres and city courtyards. Artists will exhibit at more than 80 "stops" on the garden and art trail.

A new event this year is the TVNZ Urban Transformation, which will see a small city park transformed overnight into a "fantasy forest" created by a local artist and landscaper.

The Bay of Plenty Times Art in the City will include large-scale floral and garden photographs in shop windows, and displays of wearable garments created with recyclable garden materials. Giant bright garden images will adorn shipping containers placed strategically around the region.

Mathias and Kleinpaste will appear as part of a series of speakers and workshops.

The Bay of Plenty Garden and Artfest runs from November 8-14.

The programme is officially launched on Thursday, and tickets go on sale the same day.