Green thumbs around Bunya and the Hills District are busy digging, planting, weeding and pruning ahead of the start of an iconic local garden contest.

The annual Hills District and Bunya Garden Competition is back for the 44th time in September, sprouting a flurry of creativity and botanic colour in front and back yards of houses around the region.

Event organiser Ninetta Howie said some of the competition’s most popular categories reflected trends in gardening.

“The waterwise (category) is one that’s highly emphasised because in this day and age there’s a push for conserving water, and also edible (gardens), trying to be more self-sustaining and more environmentally conscious,” she said.

Other categories include Spring, native and acreage gardens.

Recently Ferny Hills locals have had a monopoly on the contest’s top award.

Over the past six years all the Grand Champion winners have come from the same suburb, with Will and Rayleen McChesney-Clark (2006, 2008), Gordon and Susan Colquhoun (2007, 2009, 2011), and George and Marie Ellis (2010) claiming the major spoils.

Ms Howie said the competition, open to residents of Arana Hills, Everton Hills, Bunya and Ferny Hills, was “something special and unique for our area”.

“There aren’t too many garden competitions in Brisbane. I think it’s lovely that it has lasted so long,” she said.

Entry forms are available from http://www.fhpa.org.au/ and from the Arana Hills Library.

Entries close 26 September.