KEY POINTS:
Expect to see bright reds and bold purples as gardens burst into bloom this summer.
Last year's pastel palette for plants is on the way out, according to gardening experts, and colour is the big feature of this year's trends.
Cottage gardens are losing favour to more formal designs and gardeners are toying with "breaking the rules" by mixing natives with imported perennials.
Spring and summer are the busiest seasons in the garden and next week's Ellerslie International Flower Show aims to provide plenty of inspiration as one of several coming events on the gardening calendar.
Among this year's features is the inaugural Avenue of Gold, with seven gardens from previous gold medal winning designers.
Landscape designer Xanthe White, whose Chelsea Flower Show Silver Gilt-winning creation 100% Pure New Zealand Garden is being recreated for next week's show, says gardeners are embracing vibrancy this year and want more seasonal drama.
They are moving away from "all-year-round neutral" gardens and planting bolder gardens that respond to the changing seasons.
Expect plenty of colour when summer does arrive as brighter colours - including the purples already seen on fashion's catwalks - make a splash.
Remuera Palmers Gardenworld manager Viola Wood says purple rhododendrons have replaced last year's favourite, pink and white camellias, on the top-seller list. She says the rise is probably linked to the colour's popularity in fashion.
Lavenders and citrus trees - particularly mandarins and lemons - are also popular.
Kings Plant Barn retail sales manager Dean Jackson says cottage gardens seem to be on the way out in favour of "a formal or tropical look". He agrees colour is on the rise."A lot of the pastels are gone but white is still quite popular," says Mr Jackson.
Local gardeners' colour palette tends to take inspiration from overseas trends but Ms White believes New Zealanders are finding their own style.
The recent trend for subtropicals shows influence from our Pacific Island surrounds, she says.
"That was sort of us shifting away from us being an English colony and culturally identifying more with the Pacific neighbourhood."
Ms White says one of the next big trends will be increasingly mixing native plants and imported perennials in the same design. The combination idea features in several exhibition gardens at the Ellerslie International Flower Show.
"It's sort of breaking the rules a bit," says Ms White. "It's a palette that hasn't really been explored."
Number crunching
* The Ellerslie International Flower Show:
* 5 days from November 15 to 19 at Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa, Manukau City.
* 65,000+ visitors expected to attend the show.
* 3.4 hectares transformed.
* 165,000+ individual flowers on display.
* 18 talks in the NZ Gardener Speaker Series.
* (09) 307-5000 the Ticketek number to call for tickets (or visit www.ticketek.co.nz).
Garden events
* Jassy Dean Garden Safari, November 11 and 12, is a self-drive tour of 19 private gardens on Waiheke Island. Tickets $25 from Waiheke Art Gallery on (09) 372-9907.
* Parnell Festival of Roses, November 11 and 12, is a free event with music and dance performances at Parnell Rose Gardens, Auckland. See Parnell Festival of Roses for details.
* Pacific Rose Bowl Festival, November 15 to 19, includes the public judging of the New Zealand Rose of the Year from new roses entered at Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton. See www.hamiltongardens.co.nz for details.
* Timaru Festival of Roses, November 18 to 26, features the inaugural Timaru Festival of Roses Poetry Award with other events around Timaru, Canterbury. See www.festivalofroses.co.nz for details.
* Heroic Gardens, February 17 and 18 next year, is an Auckland garden tour that raises funds to provide support and assistance to those living with HIV/AIDS via The Burnett Centre/Wellness Fund. See www.heroicgardens.org.nz for details.
