It blooms for six glorious days once a year. The life of the annual Ellerslie Flower Show is short and sweet, but the planning that brings it to fruition goes on all year.
The members of The Rotary Club of Auckland wanted to establish a unique fundraiser to raise money for local charities so they decided to host an event modelled on the famous Chelsea Flower Show in England. And so The Ellerslie Flower Show was born. It has distributed a total of $700,000 for charity since the first show in 1994.
In 2004 the Rotary Club of Auckland sold the business of the Ellerslie Flower Show and visitors will be delighted to know that the EFS Charitable Trust now operates the event, with the intention of providing support at a community level and to the horticultural industry.
A team of seven passionate people work on the show, from the minute the gates open one year to an eager crowd until the next event 12 months later. They are assisted during showtime by hundreds of Volunteers who help to keep the show running smoothly each year assisting with ticket sales, rubbish collection, traffic management and parking. 
A month before the show opens in November, the team calls on groups of contractors and enthusiastic workers to help construct the site. They work non-stop over those four weeks to transform parkland into a canvas town with all of the facilities and services needed to stage a successful show. Their job is to construct the marquees, prepare garden sites, provide services such as water, electricity and communications and erect security fences.
The Ellerslie Flower Show moved to its current permanent home at the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens in Manukau City in 1998. It is the perfect setting for the show, nestled within the Botanic Gardens and native bush.
The show’s 5.5 hectare site is cared for and maintained throughout the year by the dedicated staff of the Botanic Gardens and together with the Ellerslie Flower Show team, they are constantly coming up with new ways to improve the site to make the annual event bigger and better each year.
Gardening enthusiasts came in their droves to the first show at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland in 1994, ensuring a successful future for the event from day one. The colourful, lively and inspiring show has been held every year since, except 1997, and has flourished to become the leading horticultural event in the southern hemisphere. | 
