Christchurch prides itself as the Garden City, and apart from the work of the city gardeners who look after the Botanical Garden and the other parks most of the people here love gardening and are proud of their gardens. The festival is a celebration of this passion. A little thing I like a lot during this time are the tramways decorated by flower reiths and even hanging baskets.
The Festival of Flowers boasts of a big selection of events, with the most popular feature of the Floral Carpet in the Cathedral, and Wearable Flowers Parades. Also on offer are garden tours to the parks and private gardens.
Last year I was most impressed with an exhibition at the Botanical Garden which did not even include real flowers but big flags with wonderful paintings of the Guardians of the Gardens, done by artist Jane Davenport, fantastic impressions of insects and lizards, the flags dancing in the wind.
BTW The Ellerslie Garden Show has moved from Auckland to Christchurch but will keep its name.

