Star of the Visual Display Category was our sponsor Collectors Corner – winning Gold for the 5th time in a row!
Monika Rogers is one of the two main creators of the amazing Gold Medal award-winning displays at Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show on behalf of Collectors Corner at the Gardenworld complex. Monika hails from a horticultural family, her parents having met as horticultural students at university in Slovakia, Central Europe. Her own horticultural journey got off to a painful start when as a very young child she fell on her mother’s cacti growing on the balcony and was promptly whisked off to emergency where a nurse had to remove the sharp spines from her buttocks. Despite this painfully memorable incident Monika has gone on to work with plants as a successful career path.
After studying horticulture and floristry at technical college, Monika attended courses and seminars led by floral masters across Europe. In 2003 she obtained her Master’s Degree in Horticulture at Mendel University, Czech republic and in 2008 a Diploma of Business Management at Chisholm Institute. She has worked in numerous production nurseries, retail garden centres and florists in Europe and Australia, which have provided a solid, well-rounded experience in the horticultural industry.
Monika says “Our windowsill at home was always covered in masses of flowering Phalaenopsis orchids and Dendrobiums, with snow visible behind the double-glazed glass. My ever-increasing love of orchids led me to join orchid clubs and train as a volunteer orchid judge and I am currently part of the Oscov judging panel.”
In 2017 Monika commenced working with Paradisia and its retail outlet Collectors Corner and has been involved in designing the spectacular displays at MIFGS since 2018 when the business transitioned from over two decades of selling products at a large popular retail stand, which customers remember fondly and still ask about.
The first display was the whimsical ‘Avatar Garden’ featuring many unusual plants and minerals from the range at Collectors Corner. Due to the huge positive response, each following year a new theme was developed, consistently achieving Gold Medals for best Visual Display. The pandemic naturally put a halt to things for two years, but 2022 ushered in the wonderful ‘Utopia’.
The exhibit for 2024, ‘The Land That Time Forgot’ has been the largest and most ambitious display to date, covering almost 120 square metres in central position right under the dome of the beautiful Royal Exhibition building. Five full truckloads were used to transport all the equipment, minerals, almost 10,000 plants together with large Maoi – Easter Island heads, animatronic dinosaurs and a giant snail, which proved an instant hit with the thousands of visitors to the show.
This engaging, interactive display was awarded a special ‘Spirit of the Show’ award in addition to a Gold medal. Planning for these displays begins around 8 months prior, with regular tasks progressing throughout this period, culminating in seven people working for the final 3.5 days to put it all together.
“My inspiration for displays comes from my curiosity and willingness to always learn about the natural world with a sprinkle of my creativity and imagination. The idea of including dinosaurs was born during the previous garden show as we are always thinking what’s next, how to do things better, different, more engaging, fascinating!” says Monika.