Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2015 Winners & Review

The Melbourne International Flower Show is Australia’s biggest flower and garden show and 2015 marked its 20th year. Koch invited me to review the highlights of this year’s show, and there was certainly plenty to see and be inspired by with world class landscape designs and floral exhibits. As a florist with my own business, this event continues to be a great way to keep up-to-date with current industry standards, trends and techniques.

Emma Barnet, Ikebana Display & Flowers Vasette

Growers, florists, floral designers, students and stylists are all displayed in the Royal Exhibition Building to showcase the best flowers and foliage the floriculture industry has to offer. There is lots to see and do including a fresh retail market, free floral design workshops, a striking showcase of floristry in the Great Hall of Flowers and a selection of the best award winning displays in landscaping, floristry and gardens.

The Royal Exhibition Hall and gardens is an amazing venue to showcase floral works, with its beautiful Victorian interiors making viewing the works a joy. Light filled windows and huge vaulted ceilings bring back the grandeur of the golden age of exhibitions from the 1800s. The main stage showcased floral and gardening experts throughout the entire five days, including a presentation from award-winning florists Joseph Massie and Matthew Landers.

One of the clear themes this year was “up-cycle and re-cycle”. Shoso Shimbo, an Ikebana artist from Melbourne, known for using materials such as old pallets and crates created an arresting display of a heart made out of red plastic milk crates. Grant Collins of Cachet Florist of Tasmania was awarded the bronze with his floral display made of white plastic coffee cups which gave a honeycomb effect to the base of the design. Apparently it took him three weekends to construct the skeleton of this unique project. A suspended structure glowing in white, with multi-coloured blooms including dahlias, birds of paradise, roses and orchids, cradled on the upper side – for me, this was one of the stand-out exhibitors.

Grant Collins

Flowers Vasette, the winner of last year’s Gold Floral Design Award, once again teamed up with The Orchid Man to demonstrate their love of vivid colour with a gorgeous display of phaleanopsis orchids. This year they introduced coloured dye in the water to produce iridescent displays of blooms in surreal colours. Reflected in the Perspex vases, this colourful display was guaranteed to catch everyone’s eye when entering the hall.

Interflora had a large display incorporating a very organic, naturalistic design, with suspended giant green pods embellished with flowers. They also took to the main stage to demonstrate a range of floristry techniques and tips with popular workshops.

The Ikebana display always stands out and makes a statement with its strong but simple design lines and this year was no different. I enjoyed the Ikebana approach of emphasizing other areas of the plant, such as stems, leaves and seed pods, which draws emphasis toward line, shape and form.

This year the rose display showcased a new variety of rose by Treloar Roses, released to mark the Gallipoli Centenary in conjunction with the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee (Qld). A striking blood red this rose is a beautiful way to mark the 100 year anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, while supporting the committees work in educating school children on our war veterans’ mission.

Emma Barnet.

Emma owns and runs Flower Empire in the Blue Mountains, www.flowerempire.com.au.

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW 2015, FLORAL DESIGN AWARDS

GOLD FLORAL DESIGN

• Holmesglen Institute
• Australian Association of Floral Designers

SILVER FLORAL DESIGN

• Box Hill Institute
• NMIT
• Matthew Landers Academy

FLORAL VIGNETTE COMPETITION

• 1st Place Marjorie Milner College
• 2nd Place Marjorie Milner College
• 3rd Place Verity Tantau
• 4th Place Ikebana Shogetsudo Koryu
• 5th Place Holmesglen Institute
• 6th Place Sarah Wilson
• Highly Commended – Flowers By Nici Thompson

RMIT STUDENT FLORAL FASHION DESIGN COMPETITION

• 1st Place Renae Cusmano
• 2nd Place Felicity Mawson
• 3rd Place (Tied) Anmin Lan & Sherry Kwok

INTERMEDIATE STUDENT COMPETITION

• 1st Place Kaitlyn Schiltz, Marjorie Milner College
• 2nd Place Krystal Wall, Box Hill Institute
• 3rd Place Yifang Liu Melbourne Polytechnic

CERTIFICATES OF MERIT

• Erin Boekhorst. Marjorie Milner College
• Nicola Elstone, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Talia McGowan, Marjorie Milner College
• Alex Grant, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Stephanie Valverde, Box Hill Institute
• Meagan Day, Marjorie Milner College

ADVANCED STUDENT COMPETITION

• 1st Place Chevonne Nicholas, Marjorie Milner College
• 2nd Place Lucia Lay, Melbourne Polytechnic
• 3rd Place Kathleen Horton, Marjorie Milner College

CERTIFICATES OF MERIT

• Ross Jenkins, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Vivienne Roche, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Samantha Butterworth, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Rochelle Bux, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Laura Fowler, Melbourne Polytechnic
• Thi Tong, Melbourne Polytechnic

GARDEN DESIGN AWARDS

CITY OF MELBOURNE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR BEST IN SHOW

‘Quietude’ designed by Cycas Landscape Design & Lisa Ellis Gardens

GOLD SHOW GARDEN

• ‘Resonate’ by LocalNurseries. designed by Vivid Design, constructed by Semken Landscaping
• ‘Quietude’ designed by Cycas Landscape Design & Lisa Ellis Gardens
• ‘Crossroads’ designed by lan Barker Gardens
• ‘Equilibrium’ designed & constructed by Nathan Burkett Design

SILVER SHOW GARDEN

• Beyond Blue Wellness Garden designed & constructed by Landscape Design Group
• ‘Food Forest’ designed by Phillip Withers. presented by Limetree Alfresco, constructed by Semken Landscaping
• ‘Bee Keepers Garden’ by Jenny Smith Gardens

BRONZE SHOW GARDEN

‘The Bronzed Brolga’ presented by Tourism NT. designed by Candeo Design, constructed by Semken Landscaping

HORTICULTURAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION AWARD FOR BEST USE OF PLANT LIFE

‘Crossroads’ designed by lan Barker Gardens

LANDSCAPING VICTORIA BOUTIQUE GARDEN AWARD

• 1st Place ‘Pipe Dream’ by Alison Douglas of Alison Douglas Design
• 2″d Place ‘Urban Temple’ by Jai Cheswick of Cheswick Consultants
• 3rd Place ‘Avant-Garden’ by Brett Robinson of Acre Studio

HONDA SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

‘Food Forest’ designed by Phillip Withers, presented by Limetree Alfresco, constructed by Semken Landscaping

THE MARK BENCE CONSTRUCTION AWARD

‘Equilibrium’ designed & constructed by Nathan Burkett Design

ACHIEVABLE GARDENS WINNERS

• 1st Place ‘Rousseau’s Jungle’. Heather Forward, The University Of Melbourne
• 2nd Place ‘Urban Oasis’. Clare Mesenberg, Veronica Bosque & Jo Zorzi, Holmeglen Institute
• 3rd Place ‘Grounding’, Benjamin Taylor, University Of Melbourne

LYSAGHT LANDSCAPER OF THE YEAR AWARD

• Nicola Muston
• WSUD Meets The Water Wizard Garden
• Holmesglen Institute

The post Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2015 Winners & Review appeared first on Koch & Co Blog.