The Ellerslie International Flower Show was an annual garden show held in New Zealand. Previously held in the city of Auckland, the show moved to Christchurch at Hagley Park in 2008.
Attendance is several tens of thousands of people at each event during the five days in which it is open to the public. The show has been held every year since 1994, except 1997 and 2011 (when it was cancelled due to the Christchurch earthquake). [1]
The first show was held in the Auckland suburb of Ellerslie at the Ellerslie Racecourse in 1994. The members of The Rotary Club of Auckland wanted to establish a unique fundraiser to raise money for local charities, so they decided to host an event modelled on the famous Chelsea Flower Show in England. As of 2007 [update] , it has distributed a total of $700,000 for charity.
In 1998, it was moved to Manurewa, South Auckland, where it was held at the Auckland Botanic Gardens until the final show November 2007.
In 2004, the Rotary Club of Auckland sold the business to EFS Charitable Trust and SMC Group Ltd which now operates the event, with the intention of providing support at a community level and to the horticultural industry.
On 19 November 2007, the organisers sold the name and their services to the Christchurch City Council for NZ$3 million. [2] The show is worth $14 million to the regional economy each year. [3] Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee suggests that a new flower show will be organised in Auckland to replace the Ellerslie Flower Show. [4] The initial show in Christchurch, held in March 2009, attracted 75,000 visitors. [5] Attendance in 2010 was 55,000, the 2011 event was cancelled due to the Canterbury Earthquakes, 45,000 attended in 2012 (that year, the show experienced adverse weather conditions). 2013 attendance is not yet known (in 2018!...), but the organisers think that attendance might be down compared to the previous year. [1]
On 2 December 2007, Auckland Flower Show Ltd announced that they will be continuing the tradition of the annual flower shows in Auckland with the Auckland Flower Show 2008, but there was no follow-up to the initial event.
Hagley Park is the largest urban open space in Christchurch, New Zealand, and was created in 1855 by the Provincial Government. According to the government's decree at that time, Hagley Park is "reserved forever as a public park, and shall be open for the recreation and enjoyment of the public." Hagley Park is characterised by its trees and broad open spaces. Hagley Park was named after Hagley Park, the country estate of Lord Lyttelton, who became chairman of the Canterbury Association in March 1850.
Ellerslie is a suburb of the city of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. Ellerslie lies seven kilometres to the southeast of the city centre, close to State Highway 1.
Sir Frederick Miles Warren was a New Zealand architect. He apprenticed under Cecil Wood before studying architecture at the University of Auckland, eventually working at the London County Council where he was exposed to British New Brutalism. Upon returning to Christchurch, and forming the practice Warren and Mahoney, he was instrumental in developing the "Christchurch School" of architecture, an intersection between the truth-to-materials and structural expression that characterised Brutalism, and the low-key, Scandinavian and Japanese commitment to "straightforwardness". He retired from Warren and Mahoney in 1994 but continued to consult as an architect and maintain his historic home and garden at Ohinetahi.
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The Christchurch Botanic Gardens, located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand, were founded in 1863 when an English oak was planted to commemorate the solemnisation of the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The gardens sprawl over an area of 21 hectares and lie adjacent to the loop of the Avon River next to Hagley Park. The Christchurch Botanic Gardens have a variety of collections of exotic and local plants of New Zealand, several conservatories, a nursery, playground and Climatological Station.
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Auckland Botanic Gardens is a botanical garden in the New Zealand city of Auckland. It is located in the suburb of Manurewa, in the Manurewa Local Board Area. The gardens cover 64 hectares, and holds more than 10,000 plants.
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