TULIP devotees queued up from early morning to dig up a bag of bulbs at the City of Greater Bendigo's annual tulip dig.
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The dig allows keen gardeners to take home up to four bags of tulip bulbs, at $5 a bag, from the city's annual display in Conservatory Gardens.
Chris Conroy and Kate Duncan bagged the first spot in line, arriving at 6am on Monday.
A keen gardener, Mr Conroy had scoped out his target bulbs a few weeks beforehand. The pair had arrived early to get first dibs on the bulbs they wanted.
Mr Conroy had been joining the dig for five or six years.
"It's a bit of a passion I suppose, just something we do every year," he said.
"We add to what we've already got and get new types."
Many queuing for to dig were experienced hands, but some had come for the first time.
Maritza Constantinou had wanted to come for years, but always been working previously.
She'd taken the plunge for 2019, arriving just after 7am to meet Joan McCulloch.
Ms Constantinou said there were more people queuing than she expected. She was expecting "chaos" when the gates opened.
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But Ms Constantinou had been down a few weeks earlier to plan her attack, taking photos of the flowering tulips. She wanted an apricot variety, while Ms McCulloch was searching for white.
Ms Constantinou was ready for a long waiting game to see the fruits of her labour: storing the bulbs in the pantry till March, then the fridge for 6-8 weeks, then planting them.
Crowds flooded in to the gardens when council staff opened the gates at 8am, some running to search out the location of their desired bulbs.
Red and purple tulips were particularly popular among the crowd.
By 8.15 the gardens were packed, with more still queuing outside.
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