Auckland to host international flower show

Kate Hillier, organiser of a new garden show at Bastion Point in Auckland. Photo / Doug Sherring

Bastion Point will host Auckland's first international flower show next year, since the Ellerslie show was lost to Christchurch in 2008.

The New Zealand Flower and Garden Show will be held at the historic location which overlooks the Waitemata Harbour in November 2016.

Organiser Kate Hillier said she hoped the show would attract national and international exhibitors and visitors to Auckland.

"New Zealand has a very strong pedigree in garden design and this will give our top talent an opportunity to demonstrate their skill in an event of international standard," she said.

In 2007, Auckland City Council pulled back from making a $50,000 contribution to keep the Ellerslie Flower Show north of the Bombay Hills, and it shifted to Christchurch in 2009.

At the time, it was estimated to be worth more than $15 million to the Auckland economy, attracting 65,000 visitors

Originally it was held at Auckland's Ellerslie Racecourse, before it moved to the Botanic Gardens in Manurewa in 1998.

In 2008, a replacement flower show was held at Alexandra Park.

Ms Hiller said next year's show would be "huge for Auckland".

She said international names had already registered their support for the event - including Chelsea Flower Show Gold medal winning South African Leon Kluge and Singapore Garden Festival winner Jim Fogarty.

The show will have a focus on community and culture, and organic and edible gardens will be a feature.

Bastion Point played a significant role in land protests during the 1970s, and the land was returned to its original Maori owners Ngati Whatua in the 1980s.

Ngati Whatua Ōrākei spokesman Wayne Pihema said the iwi was excited to see the land used for the show.

"We are committed to the preservation and restoration of the flora and fauna on our whenua to a state where the mauri, or life force, of the land is thriving.

"It is fitting that Bastion Point should be a meeting place for designers of all nations who share our love of the visual and spiritual properties of plants," he said.

The New Zealand Flower and Garden Show

• 23rd - 27th November 2016.
• Bastion Point, Auckland
• Organisers expect more than 100 horticultural displays, plus 200 exhibitors from the industry.