By Brendan Brees
A local gardener from Mt Martha has made an unforgettable debut at the 2026 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Andrew Stark was awarded the prestigious Silver Gilt medal and the People’s Choice Award for his first-ever show garden, ‘Urban Luxe’, impressing judges and visitors alike with a modern take on a classic Italian design. “This is my first show garden anywhere, so I’ve sort of exploded out of the blocks. It’s pretty unreal.”
A Mt Martha resident since 1975, Andrew has been running Andrew Stark Gardens for 35 years. Known for his busy, booked-out business, he said the flower show was a chance to showcase what he could do on a larger stage.
“Always busy, always booked out for at least a year in advance, so it was my time to stick my head up and say, ‘Right guys, here I am’, at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show and demonstrate what I can do,” he said.
The project was a monumental effort, taking more than 14 months of planning and preparation.
Andrew said his garden blended classical Italian elements, like urns, imported pots, and clipped trees, with contemporary touches such as modern furniture and colour-blocked flowering plants. Measuring 18 by 14 metres, his show garden drew hundreds to Andrew’s talks and thousands of visitors over the five-day show. The project was a monumental effort, taking more than 14 months of planning and preparation. “Thousands, thousands, and thousands of hours,” he said. “Every day working on it, every weekend working on it, and then the nine-day build.” He said between 10 and 15 people were working 12 to 16-hour days on the project with Andrew personally putting in two days of 21 hours to “get it done”.
In an added thrill, Andrew even edged out television personality Jamie Durie, whose garden ‘The Future Garden’ received a silver for the same Show Garden category. “I’ve looked up to Jamie for years and, as this is my first show garden, I gave it everything, and the reward’s there for me.”
Taking out top prize for the Show Garden category was Matt York who claimed the esteemed City of Melbourne Award of Excellence for Best in Show with a garden inspired by Victoria’s southern coastline, ‘We the Wild’.
The highlight was still to come for Andrew and his team with the news just before the end of the show that ‘Urban Luxe’ had been awarded the People’s Choice Award, trumping all other exhibitors. “This was the absolute highlight of the show,” said Andrew. “We had a feeling this may happen. The feedback we had been getting from the crowd over the entire show had been so positive.”
“It was the absolute pinnacle. They came down and set up the public address system at our garden and announced us as winners.” Andrew and the team were presented with a trophy and bragging rights for many years to come.
“We can’t believe it. It was just such a great experience. All that hard work has paid off.”