New Zealand Garden Festivals Calendar 2008
February
Lotus Festival
Venue: Wrights Water Gardens, South Auckland
Date: 9 - 24 Feb
Thousands of water lilies and lotus in full bloom are displayed in a former quarry that has been transformed into a stunning water garden.
Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival
Venue: Hamilton
Date: 15 - 24 Feb
Hamilton Gardens covers an area of 58 hectares and is the most popular visitor attraction in the region with about 600,000 visitors each year. The festival celebrates music, arts and gardening. Events include visual arts, comedy, dance, theatre, film, opera and classical concerts, all set in a garden back ground.
Heroic Garden Festival
Venue: Auckland
Date: 16 - 17 Feb
More than 20 stylish private inner-city gardens - from contemporary courtyards to chic entertaining spaces - are open to the public as part of the city’s annual Hero Gay and Lesbian festival. Many of the gardens have featured in magazines and on television and most of the garden owners will be present to talk about the 'how-and-why' of what they have achieved.
Festival of Flowers
Venue: Christchurch
Date: 22 Feb - 1 Mar
For a city internationally renowned as the Garden City, this annual event is a true celebration of its floral surroundings. The festival will feature more than 30 events in various venues around the city. A feature of the festival is the decoration of Christchurch Cathedral with a 92-foot-long floral carpet comprising nearly 10,000 fresh flowers, and the laying of carpets of flowers on the banks of the Avon River.
March
Whangarei Discovery
Venue: Whangarei
Date: 7- 9 Mar
This biennial garden festival features garden trails, art exhibitions, music and local produce. The main focus is on subtropical gardens. A Sculpture and Garden Art Exhibition is held at the subtropical Whangarei Quarry Gardens.
September
Spring Festival
Venue: Wellington
Date: 28 Sept - 12 Oct
The annual Spring Festival is the perfect opportunity to see the Botanic Garden at its most colourful and includes more than 40 events and activities. The festival starts on Tulip Sunday and features workshops, concerts, guided walks, demonstrations, amazing floral displays, entertainment and more.
October
Dunedin Rhododendron Festival
Venue: Dunedin
Date: 30 Oct - 2 Nov
2008 is the 25th year the Dunedin Rhododendron Festival has been running. Held annually, the festival includes a variety of events over four days with highlights including Gardening in the Kitchen, Cargill’s Garden Tours and Floral Designs at Gladbrook Station, in Middlemarch. Dunedin‘s climate is ideal for the growth of Rhododendrons and Azaleas and can be seen in abundance throughout residential areas as well as Dunedin’s three gardens of National Significance - Dunedin Botanic Gardens, Larnach Castle and Glenfalloch Woodland Gardens.
Taranaki Rhododendron and Garden Festival
Venue: New Plymouth
Date: 31 Oct - 9 Nov
One of New Zealand's longest-running garden festivals, this event celebrates its 21st year in 2008 with guided walks, celebrity speakers, workshops and 50 open gardens, including 16 Gardens of Regional and National Significance. The festival gardens which are spread through the Taranaki region, are each assessed by the New Zealand Gardens Trust, using the Festivals’ main criteria - design, plants and planting, maintenance, construction and overall impression.
November
Garden & Artfest
Venue: Bay of Plenty
Date: 3 - 9 Nov
Over 80 of the region’s gardens are open to the public over a seven day period. The gardens provide a unique backdrop for the largest display of local artists with venues from small urban courtyards to rambling country estates. The festival also features a two day village fair.
Hunter's Garden Marlborough
Venue: Blenheim
Date: 5 - 10 Nov
The South Island's premier gardening event, Hunter’s Garden Marlborough is set in a region renowned internationally for its sauvignon blanc wines. This six-day festival features a range of garden tours from the plains to the secluded inlets of the Marlborough Sounds. The festival includes an annual art auction, workshops and a garden fete in Blenheim.
Pohutukawa Festival
Venue: Coromandel Peninsula
Date: 21 Nov - 7 Dec
A celebration of New Zealand's native Christmas tree, with art exhibitions, open gardens, concerts and a café crawl through this picturesque coastal region.
Auckland Flower Show
Venue: Auckland
Date: 26 - 30 Nov
The Auckland Flower Show is an annual flower and garden show held in Auckland each November. The first show was held in 1994 and was modeled on the famous Chelsea Flower Show in England.
Confirmed events for 2009
Sculpture on the Gulf
Venue: Waiheke Island, Auckland
Date: 23 Jan - 15 Feb 2009
This biennial outdoor sculpture exhibition combines scenery with visionary sculpture. Works by leading New Zealand artists are placed on a two kilometre long coastal walkway overlooking Matiatia Harbour.
Ellerslie International Flower Show
Venue: Christchurch
Date: 11- 15 Mar 09
Now in its 13th year, the Ellerslie Flower Show is New Zealand's largest gardening event, attracting up to 70,000 visitors. Previously held in Auckland, from 2009 the show will be in Christchurch, at Hagley Park. The show is an annual showcase of modern New Zealand landscape design and horticulture.
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