Record-Breaking Chelsea Exhibitor Headlines International Judges

The owner of the nursery which has won a record-breaking 64 consecutive gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show has been confirmed as the Convenor of Judges for this year’s Ellerslie International Flower Show.

Robert Hillier, Chairman of Britain’s Hillier Nurseries Ltd (pictured above), will join a stellar line-up of five international judges at the 2010 Ellerslie International Flower Show – the largest in the Show’s history.

Hillier operates one of Britain’s largest horticultural businesses, which has an annual turnover of £27 million and employs more than 450 staff.

The youngest son of Sir Harold Hillier, a world authority on hardy plants and founder of the arboretum, has for the last decade been a Royal Horticultural Society Judge and Chairman of the Show Committee. His phenomenal list of lifetime achievements in the horticultural industry were recognised in 2000 with an OBE and more recently with a special industry award for his Outstanding Contribution to the horticulture sector.

Hillier says he is excited about coming to New Zealand and judging at the Ellerslie International Flower Show.

“Ellerslie is a rising star in the international calendar of flower shows. The quality of the horticultural exhibits is equal to any show in the world and I am honoured to have been selected as Convenor of Judges for this year’s event.”

Hillier will be joined by four other international judges at this year’s Show, including Japan’s Koji Ninomiya and Australians Jim Fogarty, Brian Rankin and Marc Worner.

Ninomiya was the first Japanese to design a garden at Chelsea, winning both a gold and silver medal. He has judged at Ellerslie for the last decade. His achievements include designing at Holland’s Floriade in 1992 and again 10 years later in 2002, being Chief Director of the World Garden Competition of Pacific Flora in 2004 and 2009 and winning Best in Show at Melbourne in 2008.

Melbourne-based designer Jim Fogarty returns for his seventh year judging at Ellerslie. The first Australian to design a Show Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2004, which won a Silver Gilt Award, has an impressive competition record.

He competed at the inaugural Singapore Garden Festival in 2006 – winning gold – and at last year’s World Garden Competition in Japan where he won Best Design. This is in addition to the record four gold medals, three Design Excellence awards and two Best in Show he has won at Melbourne’s International Flower and Garden Show.

He is joined by fellow Australian Brian Rankin who has been a regular judge at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show for the last five years. The Past President of the Landscape Industries Association of Victoria, Rankin runs his own landscape design, construction and maintenance business in Melbourne which celebrates 25 years this year.

Completing the line-up of Australian judges is Marc Worner. A landscape designer, freelance journalist and experienced garden judge, Worner is the Immediate Past National President of the Australian Institute of Horticulture and a member of the Australian Institute of landscape Designers and Managers.

o Ellerslie International Flower Show is New Zealand’s premier week-long Garden Party in Christchurch’s North Hagley Park from 10 to 14 March 2010. The Show celebrates Christchurch’s Garden City heritage and the best of national and international garden design. Check out the website for further information www.ellerslieflowershow.co.nz
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