Durban is off to the world famous Chelsea Flower Show again, and this time, the city is going for gold.
Staff of the Parks, Leisure and Cemeteries Department competed at Chelsea for the first time last year, and brought back a silver gilt award, just two points away from clinching a coveted gold honour.
A crooked sign and a wrongly positioned flower cost them dearly.
"All the gardening journalists were disappointed that we did not get a gold and all the other stand-holders said we should have got one too," said designer Francois Lenferna.
'Water-wise gardening must become a way of life' Queen Elizabeth also stopped on her walkabout and admired the stand, which the team learned was the "most photographed at the show".
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"And this time around, we have been invited back by the Royal Horticultural Society, which runs the show, which is an incredible honour," said Lenferna.
Determined to do better than last year and win that gold medal, the pressure is on, the team say.
"The judges are experts and you cannot fool them. We've done our homework and getting a gold is all about detail, detail and detail. We are very excited: we want our gold," vowed Lenferna.
For the first time, the Chelsea Flower Show will have a theme: gardening with climate change.
And the Durban display will depict an innovative KwaZulu-Natal water-wise garden, which the team believes will inspire international and local homeowners and landscapers to "wise up" and switch to these environment-friendly gardening techniques.
Lenferna and Chris Dalzell, the curator of the Durban Botanic Garden, where the design was being packed up for London on Wednesday, say that apart from the pressing problems of global warning, there are strong arguments that water shortages are likely to be the 21st century's most burning environmental issue, especially in KZN, where future predictions are that the province will have more and more dry spells and longer ones interspersed with sudden heavy downpours and washaways.
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