Second year Unitec Diploma in Landscape Design students Kelvin Chua, Margaret Chapman and Lydia Reusser took the unusual step of creating two entries for the last Ellerslie International Flower Show with both gardens winning gold awards.

Working with the theme 'New Zealand film in garden', they took a conceptual approach for both gardens, looking at New Zealand film and art genres but creating something new and cutting edge.

'Reflections on a black landscape' aimed to push the boundaries of what is considered a 'garden', while 'Pavlova Paradise' was created to show their diverse range of design abilities and create a garden that was more 'accessible' to the general public.

'Pavlova Paradise' was an idealised 1950s quarter acre paradise; a garden partly inspired by Peter Jackson's movie, Heavenly Creatures. The garden won a Gold Award as well as the LIANZ Award for excellence in construction. The overall design itself was simple and strong, using shades of white to reflect the overall simplicity of the design. The finishing touch was the painted mural wall, a combination of Resene Enamacryl gloss waterborne enamel tinted to Resene Rice Cake (clean yellow white), Resene Soapstone (warm neutral) and Resene Half Tea (complex dirty neutral) on a Resene Sonyx 101 white backdrop, linking all other elements.

The designers grew the 'Pavlova Paradise' dahlias in the green houses at Unitec with expert advice from the Horticulture Department to ensure they flowered in time for the show.

The second, more abstract garden 'Reflections on a black landscape' featured plants growing out of charcoal, slag and coal gardens, with reflective black water and light tubes alluding to 'dark' New Zealand films such as The Piano. Resene Sonyx 101 white walls created the perfect backdrop for the rusty black metal cages and muddy green hues of native New Zealand flora. The reward for the hard work was a further two gold awards including the IES Lighting Gold Award for best use of lighting.

First-time Ellerslie show entrants rewarded with gold awards galore, watch out for these designers in the future.

From the Resene News – issue 2/2007