'Kiwi garden' wins top billing

Drag queens Venus and Shanice embody the floral theme as they welcome guests at the Ellerslie Flower Show launch. Picture / Greg Bowker

The relationship between New Zealanders and their gardens forms the centrepiece of this year's Ellerslie Flower Show.

Work has begun to transform the Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa into a riot of colour and design that will culminate in the Southern Hemisphere's largest garden show.

Top billing at this year's show, which will run from November 16 to 20, has been reserved for Chelsea and Ellerslie Flower Show award-winner Xanthe White's design.

Ms White's "The Kiwi Garden - From Cultivation to Inspiration" is a series of 10 gardens charting the evolution of the local breed.

"When you actually look at how our gardening styles have changed through the years, it reflects quite a lot on how we've developed as a nation, from being very practical and having vege gardens and all that side of things, to the garden now being quite a luxury and a lifestyle," she said. "Now it's almost a fashion accessory.

"We're at a point where we're actually defining our own identity and style, not just in landscape design, but in music and fashion. We've become even more aware of how cutting-edge we are."

Covering 1000sq m, the garden will feature 20,000 plants and more than 1000 varieties, ranging from the garden-range sweet pea to one of the world's rarest plants, dendroseris littoralis.

Similar to New Zealand's puka, the foliage plant was the star of this year's Chelsea Flower Show, and nine will feature in Ms White's creation.

Tea company Twinings, meanwhile, is partnering the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind to offer a sensory experience.

The SensibiliTea VIP Garden, lead-designed by Wellington deaf and blind landscape gardener Merv Cox, will feature plants and flowers that vision-impaired people will be able to distinguish by scent, shape and texture, as well as sculptures, pavings, and signage in Braille and audio.

A new marquee, Hort Galore, will feature the latest, most exotic new plants from nurseries countrywide.

The flower show hit a snag last year when its owners, the Rotary Club of Auckland, put it up for sale, citing lack of sponsorship. It was later bought by event managers SMC Consortium.

The event contributes $12 million to the Manukau City economy each year, supporting 87 fulltime jobs.

General manager Peter Cox said the show was a tourist drawcard, with half its audience coming from outside Greater Auckland. Tickets are on sale through Ticketek, Foodtown and Woolworths.