Show Stopper

The 2010 Ellerslie International Flower Show promises to be a real show-stopper. For the first time in its 15-year history, Ellerslie will have two international feature gardens in 2010.

Multi award-winning Chelsea Flower Show designer Chris Beardshaw from England will create the Show’s largest ever garden with his 12m x 64m An Englishman’s Retreat on the shores of Victoria Lake, while Japan’s international award-winning designer Koji Ninomiya will create Ellerslie’s first traditional Japanese garden.

The two international designers headline a stellar list of garden designers who will be creating almost 100 horticultural exhibits, including more than 30 display gardens, at this year’s Show.

With measures in place to reduce the queues – larger marquees with multiple exit and entrances and longer opening hours – a new traffic management plan, improved signage, more food and beverage outlets and a great number of relaxation areas, visitors are guaranteed a better experience.

Beardshaw’s magnificent An Englishman’s Retreat garden will have almost 10,000 plants, including 4500 annuals and 3000 herbaceous plants, with loads of colour and plenty of fragrance, making it a real feast for all the senses. In contrast, Ninomiya’s traditional Japanese garden will be minimalist.

All Black halfback Andy Ellis and his mate Danny Kamo from John Marsh Landscape Architects are back in 2010 with what they are describing as a "grown up" garden. There is no cricket, beers or barbecue this year, instead the duo are making a serious statement about the impact humans are having on the environment and the planet's natural resources.

They want visitors to stop and reflect on their own gardens; thinking about their choice of design, use of materials and how this impacts on the environment. They say the environment has to reach a breaking point, and with their 2010 garden, Mother Earth is fighting back.

Gold award-winning Ellerslie 2009 designer Dan Rutherford has gone south this year to create an ice garden for the Christchurch International Airport Company.  The evolving ice garden will have a two-metre high towering iceberg, a developing ice sheet and an ocean abundant with plants representing marine life. Icy Oasis will evolve over the five days of the Show, providing visitors to Ellerslie with a full sensory experience of actually being in the Antarctic.

Industrial-sized dumpsters, mini skips, a shipping container and exotic aquatic weeds will be four key elements in the exhibition garden by Christchurch-based international designer Craig Pocock, while four Lincoln University students will use imagery from traditional board games and video games to evoke childhood memories in their garden.

Ellerslie 2010 features an eclectic mix of gardens, with something to appeal to everyone’s taste.