|
MEDIA RELEASE January 23rd 2009
_____________________________________________________
Ellerslie attracts top-calibre international
judges
International gardening gurus
Jim Fogarty and Koji
Ninomiya have been confirmed to judge at the Ellerslie
International Flower Show in Christchurch.
Jim Fogarty, who was the first Australian to design a Show
Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 2004, has been
judging at Ellerslie since 2003. His garden at Chelsea won
a silver-gilt medal.
The Melbourne-based designer also competed at the inaugural
Singapore Garden Festival in 2006 – winning gold –
and will this year compete at the World Garden Competition
in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
Also a judge at Melbourne’s
International Flower and Garden Show, he has won four
gold medals, three Awards for Design Excellence and twice
had his work win the City of Melbourne’s Best in Show
Award.
These are outstanding achievements for the boy who recalls
his first gardening experience as “watching Dad fall
out of a tree”.
He says today’s gardens do not “have enough plants
and trees” and use “too many faux products”.
Mr Fogarty says he would like homeowners to make garden beds
bigger and allow space for more trees. “We need to build
permanent gardens to leave as a legacy for future generations.”
Koji Ninomiya, who was the first Japanese to design a garden
at Chelsea, winning both a gold and silver medal, has been
judging at Ellerslie since 2000 and Melbourne since 2001.
He is an advocate for creating gardens which are in harmony
with the home and its surroundings.
“My perfect garden is as natural as possible and does
not put too much stress on nature.”
Mr Ninomiya owns and operates his own perennial plant and
garden design business, while also continuing to compete internationally.
His achievements include designing at Holland’s Floriade
in 1992 and again 10 years later in 2002, being Chief Director
of the World Garden Competition of Pacific Flora, Hamamatu,
in 2004 and for the second time this year, and winning Best
in Show Award at Melbourne last year.
Convenor of Judges for 2009 is Penny Cliffin, Programme Director
of Landscape Design at the Unitec Institute of Technology,
in Auckland.
Ms Cliffin has judged at Ellerslie for six years and says
if she wasn’t teaching landscape design she would be
designing gardens.
Her first gardening experience was “playing in the mud
with her brother while Dad dug the veggie garden”.
Although she says there are all sorts happening in garden
design today, “subtropical still rules in Auckland”
and sustainable values are “definitely coming to the
fore”.
www.ellerslieflowershow.co.nz
______________________________________________________________
>_____________________________________________________________
Christchurch
City Council
http://www.ccc.govt.nz
The
Events Calendar
Festivals Shows Rambles Plant Sales Any plant event.
All
listed FREE HERE
Send us your details 
Live.com
| 
