And it's all to do with things horticultural, of course.
At the media launch, Christchurch mayor Bob Parker was delighted to announce that Christchurch had secured 28 exhibition gardens. Even the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show had only managed 11, he crowed. And the last time the Ellerslie show was in the Auckland region, there were only 16.
"But," as Parker explained, "we are the Garden City. They even call us that on the TV weather segment - without prompting."
It is actually the 14th Ellerslie Flower Show, but Parker, ever the man with grand ideas, plans to make it even bigger and develop it into one of the top five garden shows in the world.
Some of the exhibition gardens sound spectacular. Prominent New Zealand architect Sir Miles Warren will draw on his years of gardening expertise at his home in Governor's Bay to produce "I See Red", a celebration of red flowering plants and red-leafed trees.
These will be contrasted with darker toned and light green foliage set out in curves around a serpentine path which leads to a sculptural focus, an original work by Phil Price.
The garden is being designed as a small contained room in an arts and crafts garden, much like Warren's own Ohinetahi garden. He is assisted in his endeavours by his sister Pauline Trengrove, a renowned garden designer in her own right, nurseryman Alan Trott and Warren's head gardener Marilyn McRae, a specialist in herbaceous borders.
Some of the garden designers are less experienced, but their efforts will surely be worth a look. All Black and Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis - who puts his gardening career on hold when called up to represent his country - has teamed up with landscape designer Danny Kamo to create "The Crate Escape".
It will cater for the needs of the stereotypical Kiwi bloke, with backyard cricket, beers and barbecues, but also looks at the use of space and sustainable plant selection. You'd need hardy plants, I would have thought, to create a male's garden utopia, but it's good to know that there are still rugby players with brains (Ellis is three years into a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree).
The horticultural talent is not all local. Singapore garden designer Peter Cheok will recreate his garden, "Seeking Shangri-La", a theatrical fantasy garden with an environmental message, highlighting the issues of global warming and climate change, using a combination of lighting and special effects to give the impression of a submerged city.
Weeds are the plants gardeners love to hate, but costume and fabric designer Jenny Gillies will use them to good effect in her Wearable Weeds fashion shows. Gillies believes that although they can be pesky and a nuisance, weeds can also be objects of fascination and beauty. Tell that to anyone who struggles with oxalis and wandering jew.
I don't know whether they have such pests in Britain, but Andrew Fisher Tomlin will be the man to tell you. He's a leading garden designer - he selects gardens for the Chelsea Flower Show - and he'll be in Christchurch to judge the local efforts and to deliver lectures on British garden trends.
As well as the gardens on display, there will be a sculpture exhibition in and around Lake Albert in North Hagley Park. Works by New Zealand sculptors will range from 3m tall stone pieces to 60cm ceramic items, brass, marble, jade and steel sculptures, and wire steel art by Wisam Ibrahim of Auckland.
Is food art? At the Ellerslie show, the compilers of gourmet picnic hampers and creators of top class dishes by some of Canterbury's best chefs would have us believe so.
Canterbury lamb, South Island salmon, wines from Waipara just north of the city, and locally produced fruit and vegetables will be combined in mouth-watering ways three times a day in the Fisher & Paykel Kitchen.
And for those with simpler tastes, there will be fish and chips, sandwiches and salads, sushi and steak. How better to wash it down than with a jug of Pimms under the Hagley Park trees? Or, of course, that great Ellerslie cocktail.
Gardening will never be the same.
