Human Flower Project

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Ellerslie—New Zealand’s Week in the Sun

Low-allergy gardens, controversial plants, sci-fi designs—the biggest flower event of the Southern Hemisphere will rock your world.

Stevenson Garden Zone

Ellerslie Flower Show, 2004

Photo: Garden New Zealand

If you’re in the Western Hemisphere and boarding a plane right now, you may just be able to make the final day of the Ellerslie Flower Show. The 11th year of this major design expo, held at Auckland’s Regional Botanic Gardens in Manukau City, is expected to draw   75,000 visitors, 2000 of them coming from overseas.

Dr. Keith Hammett’s ‘Dark Tiger,’ 2003

Photo: Plants Magazine

Hoping to collect your $6 ticket, organizers have been a bit stingy with photos on the web, but here are some shots of last year’s event. To Northwestern eyes, the Kiwi gardening aesthetic is strange. It combines the big sky, grassy and gravelly effects of the American Southwest with tropical plants, angular metallic sculptures, and loud, loud color.  There are many bursts of brass and percussion, but no stringed instruments. Check out this star from the 2003 show: “the world’s first reverse Collerette Dahlia.” It took New Zealand breeder Keith Hammett twenty years to produce this flower, described by one news source as “pale amber” (giving you some idea of the Kiwi palette).

War of the Worlds, 2005

Photo: Kelly Schicker, Waikato Times

This year’s Ellerslie show produced two international stories. There was great excitement as three planeloads of exotic scented orchids arrived from Singapore, and great dismay when South Africa’s entry was barred for “biosecurity” reasons. The plants for David Davidson’s design ‘The Afrikan Dream’ weren’t permitted to enter New Zealand, because “there is no formal agreement with South Africa about the transportation of indigenous species.” Indeed, it would be terrible if a swarm of proteas overran Auckland.

Extending the militaristic theme, the grand-prize winning display this year featured “a surreal outer space setting,” a tripod ship and, apparently, two bunches on bean sprouts in capped plastic cups. The exhibit was titled War of the Worlds. We’ve come a long way from paradise gardens.

Ellerslie 2005 opened Wednesday and will close Sunday, November 20.