New Zealand garden wins gold at Chelsea Flower Show

LONDON - New Zealand won gold in what has been dubbed the Olympics of gardening at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday.

Garden sponsor Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton was woken at 7am by a staff member who visited the garden to find an award had been placed at it overnight. Only five golds are awarded by the show's organiser, the Royal Horticultural Society.

"It's fantastic," said Mr Hickton, who had thought the garden would possibly get a minor award or commendation.

"We didn't get into it for the awards but this is really icing on the cake."

He said British and international journalists were flocking to the site after the surprise award.

"It's reasonably unprecedented to get a gold first time up," Mr Hickton said.

"We've really come in with our own culture and style.

"It's very much been a homegrown job and we won a gold against the enormous competition and investment that some people have put in," he said.

"The [cost of the] ones around us ... go upward from £300,000 ($885,000). One garden was reported to cost £750,000."

Tourism NZ put in $200,000 towards the garden. Tourism bodies in Taupo, Rotorua and Auckland put in $100,000, $30,000 and $20,000 respectively, with the help of local tourism operators.

Air New Zealand has supported the show with flights and staff.

"The crew who have put this garden together have actually lived and breathed it for the last few weeks up here and have done an amazing job,"said Mr Hickton.

"They worked every night late into the evening to get it right. That's a great accolade for them."

The garden, designed by Kim Jarrett, Trish Waugh and Lyonel Grant, was based around a Maori legend about mythical guardians of the land and the pink and white terraces.

It was constructed by Doug Waugh and Brian Massey. Artist Tina Hart also worked on the project.

"It says nice things about New Zealand that we can take on something like this that we had no experience of before, do it in our own way and show a different side of our country."

The native bush garden with Maori carvings and a misty hot pool stands out among the more formal and traditional gardens featuring at the 142-year-old event and it has proved a favourite with the media.

On Monday the Queen made it the first stop of her tour of a selection of the exhibits.

She stayed for about five minutes before moving on to the next garden.

Earlier that day the garden was officially opened with a Maori blessing and ceremony, after which Royal Horticultural Society president Sir Richard Carew Pole said he had been impressed with the garden.

"I think you have put on a marvellous stand full of symbolism and wonderful plants. It's a very, very good stand and it's great to see New Zealand here at the Chelsea Flower Show," he said.

After Royal Horticultural Society members have had the chance to see the gardens, the show will be open to the public for three days. All 157,000 tickets have sold.

About 600 exhibitors are participating in the show, the 82nd to be held at the Royal Hospital grounds.

The show features 23 show gardens, eight chic gardens, nine courtyard gardens, four city gardens, eight Sunflower Street gardens and more than 100 floral exhibitions.

Exhibits are judged before the show opens, and awarded Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver and Bronze Medals.

As well as sponsoring the garden, Tourism NZ and Air New Zealand have launched a $300,000 advertising campaign, which has made an impact, particularly at Sloane Square stations, which are plastered with posters and decorated with live plants.

- NZPA