Ellerslie Flower Show

The highlight of our visit to Christchurch was our visit to the Ellerslie Flower Show. It has always been on our ‘bucket list’ and so being in CHCH only a day or two before it was on, we made the decision to stay an extra day since we were so close. The entry fee, for those of us on a ‘Scottish’ budget was a little steep but in the end we were very pleased we had gone. Being opening day we got the impression that it isn’t as busy as later in the week. We certainly never encountered any queues and were  able to view all the displays without a crowd in front of us.  



One of the highlights for me was “Our Sustainable School Yard”. The designers were Raumati School (north of Wellington) and it really was a credit to them.  It included fruit and veg gardens, natives for birds and insects, rain water harvesting, composting waste, and recycling paper. At the close of the show, they are gifting it to Wharenui School in Riccarton.  You can follow their progress to Ellerslie on their blog Raumati South School   If you scroll down this page you can see their brief and some of the starting points.

Awarded 'Silver' and The People's Choice , the first ever primary school entry
in the Exhibitor's section.

Water pump, driven by a bicycle power. This water can be
diverted to the roof top garden.

We also loved the emerging designers work, a roof top garden for a young, single bloke or woman, and the many and varied sculptures displayed both in and around the lake in the park.  

"Living Art Rooftop Garden" Supreme award for emerging designers.

The overall 'Supreme' winning design was ‘Revolutionsing Reuse’ which was a contemporary courtyard garden reusing discarded objects. It made particular use of vertical gardening, which seems to be a new gardening trend and used in several of the displays and gardens. 

Note the vertical gardens.