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Christchurch Botanic Garden fungi garden - Source: ONE News -
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The judges have had their first look at the Ellerslie International Flower Show in the garden city.
And they say the standard in Christchurch is as good as anywhere.
"There are only three golds in the exhibition gardens and they would be close or as good as gold at Chelsea," convenor Robert Hillier says.
The overall supreme winner has been named as Christchurch Botanic Garden with ar display about fungi - a lighting and sound extravaganza illustrating how nature recycles.
Meanwhile All Black Andy Ellis and Danny Kamo are over the moon with their gold this year after getting a silver last year.
"That's amazing, that's a big surprise... We worked really hard," Ellis says.
The exhibition gardens are the big drawcard and gold represents a suitable reward for all the hard work.
"It was what we were hoping for," says Kamo of the gold award for their The Last Laugh display.
Award-winning English designer Chris Beardshaw also collected gold and had nothing but praise for the local team that helped him.
"We had to have the top quality herbaceous stuff we have in any of our shows... very few grow to that standard... and we had great contractors," says Beardshaw.
Another overseas exhibitor picked up gold as well. Koji Ninomiya has been judging at Ellerslie for 10 years and this year he decided to compete.
The judges are impressed with the overall standard of the show.
"I think they're fantastic," says Hillier.
But while the judges have handed out their awards, the exhibitors are still to face their toughest critics when the public have their say.
From Wednesday it will be the organisers in the spotlight after problems last year with traffic jams, long queues and not enough food and drink. But this year organisers say they have got it all sorted and they are promising a better experience all round for the 70-80,000 people expected.
