The Ellerslie Flower Show opened in Hagley Park in Christchurch on Wednesday and runs for 5 days. The first Ellerslie Flower Show was at the Ellerslie RaceCourse in Auckland in 1994. It moved to Christchurch in 2009. It is a very popular show with 50,000 visitors expected this year. Many of the exhibits and the people who design the exhibits come from all over New Zealand.
One unusual exhibit was designed and made by 14 children from Raumati South Primary School. (Raumati is 45 minutes – by car – north of Wellington on the west coast.) This is the first time there has been a children’s display. It is called ‘Our Sustainable Schoolyard’. It is 6 x 6 metres and has many interesting features, including plants you can eat such as tomatoes and herbs, a monarch butterfly garden and a pizza oven. It has an area for lizards and another for weta. Along the back wall is a row of sunflowers. In the front is a water wheel and students take turns to pedal a bicycle which turns the wheel so that water comes out. The timber used for the walls and deck is recycled. When the flower show finishes, Raumati South Primary School will donate the garden to Wharenui Primary School in Christchurch. Earlier this week, the pupils from Raumati South visited Wharenui, made friends with pupils at Wharenui and saw the area where the garden will go.
The students won a Silver Award from the judges, but today they won the People’s Choice. Visitors at the flower show voted for the garden they liked the best.
There was a section for University Student Designers. They had to design an outdoor garden for young people aged in their 20s. The Supreme Award, which is the top award, was won by two young graduates who designed garden rooms – outdoor kitchen, pantry and lounge – using many recycled materials.
Vocabulary
• exhibit – a display of a garden or flowers for other people to see (exhibition n)
• sustainable – does not damage the environment
• features – interesting parts
• weta – a New Zealand flying insect like a grasshopper
• deck – a place made of wood where you can stand
• recycled – used before e.g. was a wooden box before
• donate (v) – give (donation n.)
• award – prize
• pantry – a place for food