Johannesburg - The South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) recently unveiled the country’s national exhibit for this year’s Chelsea Flower Show (May 18-23) in London.
The exhibit represents the institute’s 40th entry in a show that is regarded as the Olympics of flowers, plants and designer landscaping.
To commemorate this history, the South African stand will feature iconic elements from seven exhibits that won gold awards.
As a retrospective tableau of memorable features, this year’s stand will be a walk down memory lane for many garden lovers.
The exhibit will also celebrate South Africa’s most famous flora through a display titled, “Plants South Africa Gave the World”.
As always, the magnificent displays of Erica, protea, Clivia, Pelargonium, Restios, Strelitzia, Streptocarpus and Nemesia will showcase the botanical and cultural diversity of a range of geographic locations, botanical gardens and biomes.
“We see this exhibit as one of the platforms to promote South Africa’s botanical heritage,” says Sanbi chief executive Tanya Abrahamse.
The institute hopes to earn a 34th gold medal.
“(Such a) success would be not only for Sanbi and Kirstenbosch, but for the country as a whole.”
The designer of the exhibit, David Davidson, says: “The theme, Plants South Africa Gave the World, will remind visitors to the Chelsea show that many of the ornamental plants so well known to gardeners around the world have been developed from South Africa’s indigenous flora.”
Many of the plants, grown to perfection in many parts of the world, have been donated by Kientzler Horticulture in Germany or sourced from specialist growers in England and Holland especially for the South African exhibit.
South African plants have been embraced by many other countries. The indigenous crane flower, Strelitzia reginae, is the floral emblem of Los Angeles. The Japanese have become the world leaders in the hybridisation of our Osteospermums and Clivias, while Dutch breeders have turned our indigenous Pelargoniums into works of art, known globally as geraniums.
South Africa’s participation at the Chelsea show was initially an image-building initiative by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
British floral designer Pam Simcock was appointed in 1976 to create the South Africa exhibit.
By 1993, her floral exhibits had been awarded 17 gold medals and had won the Wilkinson Sword trophy for the Best Overseas Exhibit for the four consecutive years that the award was made (1981-1984).
Included this year will be a special tribute to the work of Simcock.
The value of the Chelsea event as a magnet for tourism has increased sharply. Government funding was ended in favour of other diplomatic programmes and since 1994, the exhibit has been sponsored by South African businesses and banks. Kirstenbosch has also been raising funds by staging concerts.
The design and construction of the exhibit has been undertaken by a team of South Africans, including Davidson and Raymond Hudson as designers and a rotational group of Sanbi employees, assisted by volunteers from here and abroad.
This is the 22nd year that Davidson and Hudson have designed the exhibit.
The South African exhibit has not only won gold medals, but numerous special awards.
The 2006 exhibit was awarded the Lawrence Medal for the best shown to the society in that year. That in 2008 was the first recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society President’s Most Creative Award.
The 2015 Chelsea Flower Show is now in its 102nd year and is regarded as the Olympics of the flower world and the mother of all international garden shows.
It takes place on parkland in Chelsea, London, and the show’s structures are erected as a tent town three weeks beforehand. The 150 000 tickets to the event are sold out by late February and a global audience watches the daily BBC coverage on television. Watch podcasts of the show at www.rhs.org.uk or from BBC2 at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007lyhs.
Chelsea regularly attracts a targeted group of international visitors who love flora and fauna.
South Africa’s participation in the show is therefore enormously important to the country’s eco-tourism industry.
By highlighting its unique biodiversity at Chelsea, South Africa is in effect welcoming a uniquely targeted and primarily upper-income audience to visit the country.
The team will build the show on May 12-17. Judging is on the following Monday.
Kay Montgomery, Saturday Star