And the winners are...

The Supreme Awards were handed out at Ellerslie last night, along with the umbrellas. Ellerslie just wouldn't be Ellerslie without four seasons in one day! Thunderstorms are part of the fun. Mind you, the floral designer who won the Supreme Award for Design Excellence - Denise Gray from Sentiments Flowers - might just have been tempting fate a tad too much with her floral funnel inspired by a tornado. It was very clever... but perhaps next year she could appease the weather gods with a tropical beach scene instead!
The Supreme Award for Landscape Construction and the show's top gong, the Judges' Supreme Award both went to Palmco for their jungle garden. What a deserved winner too. Adam Shuter, the garden's designer, was overwhelmed simply to win gold so I suspect the Palmco crew may have been celebrating long into the night. This garden really is brilliantly executed. It's lush and lavish and shows just how spectacular palms can be in a grove underplanted with greenery. Plus it's a triumph of engineering and transport - they brought six truckloads of palms down from their Kerikeri nursery and some of them are real traffic-stoppers. Literally. They had to be lifted into place using a crane.
I'm going to make it my mission to get around the new Starlight Marquee first off this morning. I've been through half of the exhibits, including Julie Moore and Lynn Cairney's Earth Sharing Life Garden, which picked up the Supreme Award for Lighting Excellence. It's quite an experience, with all sorts of coloured lighting effects, sounds and water features.
And the Supreme Award for Horticultural Excellence was awarded to the Auckland Orchid Club for their display (above) in the Hort Galore Marquee. Rare and unusual orchids, flashy orchids, hanging orchids, psychedelic orchids... you name it, they've planted it.
The weather forecast isn't flash for opening day today but if you need to seek shelter, New Zealand Gardener has a lovely big tent! And a superb supply of bargain umbrellas! See you at the show.