Added flower power at the Ellerslie Flower Show

By STEVE HART travel editor

It's called the Ellerslie Flower Show, but it's actually in Manukau. It can all be a little confusing for first-time visitors to the garden-lover's event, which starts tomorrow. But once you understand the name is a link to the show's original venue, everything falls into place.

More than 70,000 people - some visiting New Zealand specifically to attend - are expected to visit the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens to explore the grounds, take in the sights, watch DIY demonstrations, soak up the atmosphere and see live entertainment over the annual show's five-day run.

Over the past few days garden designers have been working frantically to make their exhibitions of stone, plants and earth appeal not only to visitors but to the show's judges.

Sam Newsome is a first-timer at the Ellerslie Flower Show and won his chance to create his garden design in the Mercedes-Benz marquee at the Waikato Home & Garden Show in October.

The 32-year-old has just completed a garden landscape course at Waikato Institute of Technology and sat his final exam about two weeks ago. He says he will bring an added dimension to the show.

Although a little tight-lipped about his courtyard creation, he says it will include sound and light to add technology to his exhibit.

"Visitors will get a sound and light experience. I am mixing jazz funk music with fibre-optic lighting, a huge water feature that will glow from hidden lights, palm trees and spotlights.

"I want people to come in, relax and enjoy my creation - it's a garden to be used and experienced, not just to look at from a distance."

Completing his display took 10 days with help from friends.

"Although it's a modern contemporary garden people can take ideas from it and use them at home."

Art will be playing a big part this year with the Art Out There exhibition that will include works from 45 artists such as Garry Nash, Para Matchitt, David Trubridge, Garth Dobney, Phillip Luxton and Jeff Thomson.

Ellerslie Flower Show chief executive Cath Handley says the range of art on display will add a new element of excitement and interest for visitors.

There will be about 60 pieces on show, and as smaller works are sold others will take their place. Handley says Art Out There will be the biggest curated outdoor art exhibition ever held in New Zealand.

Bringing a little flesh and glamour to the show is a garden area designed by Karen Lowther that mixes models wearing lingerie with classic perennial planting.

This year there will be even more for families to do, with plenty of distractions for children, including interactive gardens to have fun in, playgrounds and fantasy-themed areas.

There will be a tree-hut village linked by a cargo nets for climbing, a playground featuring trampolines set into the ground at surface level, and huge Swiss balls to roll around on. Middle Earth's hobbit houses, a huge dragon puffing smoke, caves and trolls will generate lots of interest.

The show, the largest gardening and outdoor event in the Southern Hemisphere, will be held from Wednesday, November 26 to Sunday, November 30 and will feature hundreds of exhibits, thousands of colourful plants, garden ornaments and market stalls selling everything the gardener could want. And as visitors will discover, the show is not restricted to plants and pot mixes.

The event was started by members of the Rotary Club of Auckland who wanted to raise money for local charities. The idea of running something based on the Chelsea Flower Show in England gathered momentum and the Ellerslie Flower Show was born. Since it began organisers have handed $640,000 to charity.

Work on the show is a full-time job for seven people who are helped by hundreds of Rotary volunteers. Lisa Traill, the show's exhibitor manager, says the event has come along in leaps and bounds since it started and this year's offering will be "very different" to past shows.

"An event such as this needs to change with the times and grow to stay fresh and fashionable. There have been lots of changes made to focus things such as retail sales in two or three places in the showground. In the past retail outlets were mixed up with other parts of the show - that has changed this year.

"People love to shop and so they can visit these places to browse and buy, or if they just want to enjoy all the sights they can bypass them.

"It really is a comprehensive day out - the show is not just about gardening, there's food, live music and art."

It takes four weeks to convert the parkland at Manakau into a canvas town with all the facilities needed to stage the event.

The show moved from Ellerslie in 1998 to an area nestled on a 5.5ha site within the Botanic Gardens and native bush.

Gardening enthusiasts arrived in droves to the first show in 1994 at the Ellerslie Racecourse, ensuring a successful future for the event from day one. The colourful, lively and inspiring event has been held every year since - except 1997 when it skipped a year while preparations were made to move it to its present home with larger grounds.

Apart from the colours and aromas that go hand-in-hand with the show, there will be plenty of live entertainment, among them Australia's Strange Fruit, who performed at the opening ceremony of the World Cup.

The troupe, made up of eight people, perform to the music of Puccini, Bach and Fats Waller and their shows are described as part-acrobatic, part-comic opera and part-melodrama.

"They leave people gasping as they soar high in the air on poles in a thrilling display," says Handley.

In addition there will be live music from jazz bands which will be performing at two venues in the grounds close to cafes.

The Totara Children's Theatre will bring a little magic to the proceedings with a production of The Selfish Giant (if children wish hard enough they might lure out the giant for a performance of Oscar Wilde's children's stories).

Face-painting, balloons and other fun activities throughout the day add to the entertainment for youngsters - plus, children under 10 will get a free fun bag of goodies on the way in.

Those wanting to get up to speed on the latest gardening trends can sit in on presentations from experts in horticultural and design firms who will share their advice and ideas on gardening trends and techniques.

There will also be a daily "celebrity gardeners challenge" featuring TV One's Ruud Kleinpaste (the bug man from Maggie's Garden Show) and Jim Mora from Mucking In.

ON THE WEB

Ellerslie Flower Show

GETTING THERE

From the south: Exit the Southern Motorway at Manukau.

From the north: When approaching Manukau on the Southern Motorway, follow the electronic signboard directions.

PARKING

Once off the motorway from either direction, follow the Ellerslie Flower Show signs to carparks at either the Manukau Velodrome (sports bowl) or Totara Heights.

A free shuttle bus will run between carparks and the show entrance. Parking will cost $6 a day. No public parking is available in the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens.

People with CCS mobility passes should use the Katote Close entrance, where special parking has been allocated within the Botanic Gardens. To access the Katote Close entrance, take the Manurewa Motorway offramp, turn left into Hill Rd, left into Charles Prevost Drive and left again into Katote Close. Display your CCS mobility pass sticker.

* Public transport will be running special buses to and from the show. Times and prices vary.

OPENING TIMES

10am to 8pm (Sunday 10am to 7pm). Afternoon-only tickets allow entry from 2pm.

WHAT IT COSTS

Full-day family pass (2 adults, 3 children): $75. Adult, full day, $33; afternoon only, $26. Concessions available. Tickets from Ticketek.

ENTERTAINMENT

Totara Children's Theatre - Oscar Wilde's children's stories, half-hour shows start every day at noon, 2pm, 3pm and 4.30pm (except Sunday November 30, when shows start at 11.15am, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 4.30pm).

The theatre company will be offering children face-painting, balloons and other activities during the day.

Performers Strange Fruit will be at the lakeside daily for half an hour from 11.30am, 1pm and 3.30pm (Sunday from noon and 3.30pm).

WHO TO CONTACT

The show organisers: 09 309 7875. Email: mail@ellerslieflowershow.co.nz