Flower power on display at show

MURRAY WILSON/Manawatu Standard

BLOOMIN' GOOD: Don Slade was one of many orchid enthusiasts at the sixth New Zealand International Orchid Extravaganza on Thursday, snapping photographs of his favourite flowers.

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A carpet of flittering moths, dainty slippers and bright-orange boats coated the floor of Arena Manawatu – but this was no fantasy film scene.

The Moth, Slipper and Boat orchids are just three of thousands of varieties of the flower on display at the events centre, as part of the 6th New Zealand International Orchid extravaganza.

Members of 30 orchid societies from Whangarei to Otago have convened in Palmerston North for the five-yearly event, a big highlight in any avid orchid-growers calendar. Yesterday, yellow-sashed judges talked in hushed tones over tables weighted with flowers, while enthusiasts bent low to take close-up snaps of their favourite blooms.

"There's a big one over there too, a matching one," one woman whispered to her friend, as they paused to examine a particularly pretty tropical orchid.

Manawatu Orchid Society president Patricia Elms said the orchid was the flower of choice for many, because of its diversity in shape and colour. With more than 30,000 varieties to choose from, a grower could never get bored, and the blossoms could be nurtured inside or out.

Judges scrutinised the shape, clarity of colour, the number of flowers on a stem, and the freshness of the blooms in making their final decisions on more than 2000 competition entries.

Champion Display was scooped by the Otago Orchid Club, after member Colin McKenzie drove a vanload of flowers up from Dunedin for the show.

Why would he and his friends venture on a two-day odyssey for a bunch of orchids?

"Because we're nuts," he laughed.

"You wonder that yourself, but when you get the overall display prize it makes it worth it."

Mr McKenzie, who runs a nursery in Dunedin, had been addicted to growing orchids for about 35 years.

"It's sort of an overextended hobby, that you have to make time for."

The sixth New Zealand International Orchid Extravaganza is at Arena Manawatu from 10-5pm today and Saturday, and 10-4pm Sunday.

- © Fairfax NZ News