Gold Medal Gardens

The Ellerslie International Flower Show will focus on our home-grown New Zealand talent this year with an exciting new concept for the 2012 flower show - the “City in a Garden” concept.  Over the 15 years of the show there have been many fantastic gardens displayed, creating an exclusive ‘club’ of Gold Medal winners.  This year the ‘club’ of Gold Medal Winners was issued with a challenge, the challenge of imagining and creating a future Christchurch inner city garden.

A limited number of garden sites were made available in a high profile area of the show near Lake Victoria.  4 gardens were selected and each will compete to see if they can once again achieve a Gold medal.  The public can be confident that these gardens will be of the highest possible quality providing ideas of what they can achieve in their own gardens.

Each designer has created a garden which they believe successfully meets the theme (shown below) to which they all work. 

Gold Medal Gardens theme:

City in a Garden

Christchurch is going through a huge period of re-construction and - as has been noted often – this is the ideal opportunity to create a whole new look and future for the city.  The city centre will once again become a dynamic and vibrant heart of the city.  The design of the Gold Medal Gardens should provide a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate your flair and imagination for the future of Christchurch. 

The designs are for an inner city residential or commercial rooftop or central courtyard garden.  And the judges will be particularly looking for quality of design, uniqueness and expected public appeal.

“A GARDEN FOR CHRISTCHURCH”
Presented to you by Daltons, designed by Xanthe White
Ph 0800 808 150: www.daltons.co.nz
www.xwd.co.nz.
When we look at rebuilding a city it is not a matter of choosing one path. Our gardens like our homes need to both embrace our heritage and our future. They need to provide a place for us to look to the horizon as well as a sanctuary in which to retreat from the challenges of life. This duality is the centre of the design for this garden which works to use passive design to create a garden that is sustainable and contemporary but celebrates the horticultural heritage of Canterbury. The space is divided into two areas one which is open and bold and outward looking and the other sunken garden which is intimate and enclosed. These spaces also provide a contrast in passively heating and cooling spaces that can be moved between as the seasons change.
The simplicity of the locally sourced stone used in different forms through the design embrace contemporary design principles while the complex and diverse selection plant materials celebrates Christchurch’s heritage as our garden capitol.
 
LOVE (IN) YOUR GARDEN
Presented to you by The Canterbury Horticulture Society
Designed by Rough and Milne Landscape Architects
Ph:03 366 6937(Canterbury Hort Society) 03 366 3268(Rough & Milne Landscape Architects)
Email: office@chsgardens.co.nz : info@roughandmilne.co.nz
www.chsgardens.co.nz : www.roughandmilne.co.nz
The Canterbury Horticultural Society presents LOVE (IN) YOUR GARDEN; a sculptural roof top garden retreat that tells a love story combining aspects of romance, fertility, and resilience. This love story is told through a sculptural display of abstracted flower anatomy within a regenerating post-earthquake landscape.  A grove of stamen (male organs) dance around the pistil (female organs) in a romantic display of affection that will ultimately generate new life, reminding and inspiring us of the resilient characteristics of a flowering plant, even in the most damaged environment. Familiar survival items fill the anthers atop the filaments in place of the pollen that would typically fertilise the stigma, alluding to both the idea of fertility and the sustenance required of our living spaces if we are to be self-sustaining and resilient. Drifts of wildflowers blooming among areas of crushed rubble represent the vibrant flower petals that provide a setting for the love dance.

BAY AUDIOLOGY PRESENTS “A MOVEABLE FEAST”
Sponsors – Bay Audiology
Designer: Tim Feather ph: 09 357 6040: tjfeather@xtra.co.nz
Constructed by Morgan and Pollard ph: (03) 349-8228
“A Moveable Feast” is a selection of whimsical pop-up and portable courtyard gardens inspired by the recent earthquakes and especially designed for Christchurch.  New courtyard styles have been invented to help meet the challenges the city faces. 
Let your frayed nerves be soothed in the “Easy Listening” courtyard, with your choice of background sounds piped to you wherever you sit; toss your own salad veges with the sturdy “Shake, Rattle and Roll” planters; kick sand in the face of the backyard blues with the trendy “Liquefaction Blues” courtyard; variety truly is the spice of life with the “Seismic Shuffle” courtyard; a different layout for every day of the week!  For the very latest in water features, don’t go past the “Avon”, it’s fully mobile so you can change its course, whenever you want; when you want to really let your hair down, why not turn your back lawn into disco heaven with our “Night Fever” courtyard and boogie on down to your favourite sounds and don’t forget to invite your neighbours!

SHE LOVES ME, SHE LOVES ME NOT…
Designer: Ben Hoyle
Ph (04) 293 2290: 021 678 689 
bluegecko@xtra.co.nz: www.bluegecko.co.nz
In the truly unexpected style we have come to expect from internationally renowned designer Ben Hoyle, set aside all preconceptions and be transported to a place of tranquil serenity. Here the traditional outdoor room has been artfully morphed into a giant water lily where one or many can come together and reflect upon still waters. This floating sanctuary is inspired by nature and one’s desire to physically and mentally break away from ‘terra firma’ from time to time. This garden explores the human element, that love-hate relationship Cantabrians share with their ever changing environment and provides an innovative and hopeful perspective of adapting for the future.