Ellerslie Flower Show, Auckland New Zealand:  floral art and flower highlights from November 2002 .The theme in the floral displays was "My Favourite thing", and Anthuriums were once again the prominent flower, Aspidistra the  most preferred foliage. Floral Artists and Florists compete for the top awards every year. To see them all and not miss a thing, subscribe to 'floral design magazine" or complete your collection with the exclusive CDs of the top shows around the world. See what is currently in stock here.

The Floral Artists:
The wonderful news of the day was that the Gold Award went to Colleen Fernie and Anna Hodgson of the Takapuna Floral Art club. Colleen is also  our wonderful contributor to the floral design magazine where she teaches modern styles of design. To have Colleen as your teacher subscribe to floral design magazine by clicking here.

Large pink anthuriums and their leaves were complemented by the large box stands with strong vertical lines. These were covered in she oak  cuttings that had been glued to the stands. Clear perspex had bamboo  glued in each groove to create a horizontal line and a very modern and striking award winning design.	.
Can you see the sapphire ring in this design? Statice and delphinium were surrounded by cream roses with astelia leaves as the mounts on the ring.	Stepping Out! Pink anthuriums add glamour  to this design by Shirley Bedford and Penelope Osborne They used aspidistra and fabric bows to complete the design.
It's a wedding! The bride is dressed in pink and white rose buds, skeletonised leaves,wire netting and silver dollar gum leaves.	The wedding cakes are astelia leaves, more roses, white carnations and steel grass. The designers were  Valmae Cameron, Barbara Finch, Isobel Innes, Sharlene Staniski and Carol Hogg from the Western Floral Art Group. This design won a silver award.

Amongst the other designs were some wonderful cameo pieces which showed the innovative and amusing.

Lollipops made with chrysanthemums and rose buds, by Buds and Bows	A horse head made from flax, coiled, shredded, woven and plaited, by Raz and Remana Designs.
Golf balls on bamboo as part of the design  by Ruth Wells and Maragret Judd of the Hibiscus Coast Floral Art Club. This design won a silver award.Click here for the full design	Skeletonised leaves between two grids behind the main design of orchids and flax by Lois Morrow and Ngaire Hart of the Howick Floral Art Group.This design won a Gold award. Click here for the full design.