Aucklanders are used to being accused of being brash and loud. Now the city's public gardens have earned the same label.
Auckland's flowerbeds have been likened to flashy sports cars popular with showoffs, while those in Christchurch are more like English country gardens, full of rustic charm.
The comments by award-winning landscape designer Xanthe White come as Christchurch and Hamilton make efforts to poach the lucrative Ellerslie International Flower Show - the biggest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The event could switch from a city whose gardens are "flashy" and influenced by the Pacific to a city of English-style gardens with flowerbeds and neat borders.
Christchurch says it would relish the prospect of hosting an event that generates $14 million for Auckland and attracts more than 600,000 visitors. But experts say the style of gardens in the two cities couldn't be further apart.
Xanthe White said Auckland gardens were characterised by a subtropical look.
"The whole subtropical, bromeliads and foliage thing has been very trendy. But I'm starting to see a shift away from that to more edible and more planty gardens and people wanting colour and seasonality."
She said Christchurch was still in the classical English era of gardening flora such as roses, foxgloves and delphiniums whereas Auckland had taken on a Polynesian influence and was big on native plants.
"Auckland is probably more like a sports car, a bit more flashy and all slick lines and contrasts. It's probably more about being cool and the urban lifestyle.
"If you have a fireplace in a garden in Auckland, it's all sort of slick with concrete around it and a couple of architecture plants, whereas in Christchurch it's likely to have rustic charm, with roses climbing over it."
Auckland's climate was good for palms and succulents. Colour and seasonal change contrast Christchurch gardens with their northern counterparts. Sprawling homes in wealthier parts of Christchurch like Fendalton still maintain the classic English-style gardens, with flowerbeds and borders.
"A Christchurch garden changes a hell of a lot more. It's not a static garden," says award-winning Christchurch landscape architect Chris Goom.
Much of the look of Christchurch gardens stems from the climate. The city is exposed to hot, dry northwest winds blowing across the Canterbury plains in summer, and severe frosts in winter, which means plants must be able to cope with the extremes.
"Without frosts, we don't get the colour ... The more intense the cold of the winter, the more intense the colour in the summer. In the warmer climes, it tends to be more about structure.
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