Floral Fun

These brightly coloured flower icons are the new brand for the Ellerslie International Flower Show Christchurch. Having purchased Auckland’s highly successful Ellerslie International Flower Show for a cool NZ$1.9million, the Christchurch City Council was keen to come up with something “fresh, vibrant and fun.” I like the graphics. I think they do the trick nicely. But I have mixed feelings about the name of the event - why can’t it just be the Christchurch International Flower Show? Would Auckland have retained the name Christchurch if they’d bought it off us? Not likely! And as for the so-called “magnificent, innovative, inspirational” gold medal winning Ellerslie Experience garden on display in a tent on the Archery Lawn of the Botanic Gardens, I personally found it a total anti-climax after the visual promise of those colourful and lively graphics. Clever and sustainable? Probably. Visually enticing? Hardly.Thank goodness they have a whole year to come up with something spectacular.