Christchurch mosque shootings: What will happen to the flowers laid in memory of Christchurch's victims

The thousands of flowers and messages paying tribute to the victims of the Christchurch terror attack will be individually photographed before turned into compost for memorial gardens.

Displays of support continue to grow near the two mosques in Christchurch where 50 people were shot dead, as well as many other sites around the city - including the memorial wall at the Botanic Gardens.

Christchurch city councillor Deon Swiggs said the plan is to individually photograph and digitalise the flowers and messages.

"Then they will be unwrapped and the flowers will be composted," he said.

"That compost will be offered to the mosques for a memorial garden."

Swiggs said some compost may also be used for a civic memorial garden in the Botanic Gardens.

The demand has seen florists, supermarkets, dairies and garages sell out of flowers as thousands of people head to sites to pay their respects.

Flowers at the Deans Ave cordon outside the Masjid Al Noor Mosque are being moved for the road to reopen.

They are being laid out exactly as they had been.

"The Muslim community has requested that we bring the flowers to near the front of the mosque to allow them to be seen by all that come to the mosque," Botanic

Gardens and Garden Parks Director Wolfgang Bopp said.

Canterbury University students are recording the moving of the flowers to start a record of the tributes.