Cape Town - South Africa won a 33rd gold medal at the 100th Chelsea Flower Show, which ended on May 25 in London. Regarded as the international floral Olympics, the award was presented to the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (Sanbi) Kirstenbosch team.
This year was the 38th time South Africa had mounted an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show, with the design celebrating the centenary of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
The exhibit focused attention on the fact that the Chelsea Flower Show and Kirstenbosch were coincidentally both established in 1913. It also highlighted the fact that Kirstenbosch remained a world-class eco-destination to the 157 000 plant lovers who bought tickets to see the five-day London show.
Monday’s glamorous press day at Chelsea was attended by a number of international celebrities such as Dame Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham-Carter, Jamie Oliver, Rod Stewart, Joanna Lumley, Elaine Paige, Jerry Hall and rock star Liam Gallagher. Ringo Starr lent his name to India’s Water Aid garden project, while Sir Elton John contributed to a centenary gnome project run by the Royal Horticultural Society.
With Flemings Nursery in Australia winning Chelsea’s Best on Show Garden Award for the first time, foreign exhibits were highly sought after by television crews.
Kirstenbosch’s Cherise Viljoen and designer David Davidson were interviewed several times by BBC film crews, and South Africa featured prominently in the two hours of coverage given to the Chelsea Flower Show each night on prime time BBC television during the week of the show.
The royal family, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Prince Harry, attended the show late on Monday. The queen took enormous interest in the Lesotho garden sponsored by her grandson, Prince Harry, and which aimed to highlight his charity work in that country.
The Lesotho exhibit represented the only other exhibit from Africa.
The South African team was led by designers David Davidson and Ray Hudson. Their 100m2 project represented their 20th “mammoth undertaking”, said Davidson. Much of the stand is built at the Chelsea Flower Show by a volunteer team of 20 horticulturists, landscapers and floral arrangers, many of whom travelled from South Africa at their own cost to be part of this historic endeavour.
The team paid tribute to the freight agents Atlantic Forwarding, who get the South African plants through the rigorous phytosanitory regulations required by UK customs officials, and to SAA which part-sponsors the airfreighting of the plants to Britain.
This year there were no hold-ups at customs, and the plants arrived on the Wednesday before the opening, giving the team four full days to build the exhibit.
The exhibit was given a superb location at the entrance to the Grand Pavilion, and was designed to be a sensory walk through Kirstenbosch Gardens, which are the oldest and most beautiful parts of this national botanical garden. The walk-through pathway in the circular exhibit depicted Kirstenbosch’s Dell and Cycad Amphitheatre on one side, and the Protea Garden and mountain skyline on the other. An overhead sky canopy printed with reflections of the cycads and tree ferns completed the exhibit.
Two smaller gardens on the perimeter of the exhibit featured a range of succulents, as well as the Kirstenbosch centenarian plants. Included are plants that have been growing at Kirstenbosch for 100 years or more, such as the Gardenia thunbergia, Oldenburgia grandis and Aloe plicatilis.
The big win was celebrated at a formal gathering at South Africa House in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday evening. Organised by the main sponsor of the Kirstenbosch exhibit, the South African Gold Coin Exchange, the celebration also marked the launch of a limited-edition Gold Mandela medallion to a London audience.
Alan Demby, chairman of the South African Gold Coin Exchange and Scoin shops, said: “The Strelitzia Mandela’s Gold at Kirstenbosch has been the inspiration for a limited-edition Gold Mandela medallion.
He added: “We are proud to be involved in a project which offers such high recognition for South Africa.”
Dr Tanya Abrahamse, Sanbi chief executive, says South Africa’s biodiversity is a national asset, and that Kirstenbosch’s role in its conservation has been vital.
“We embrace the opportunity Chelsea affords us to highlight the importance of our natural heritage which inspires so many people to visit our network of nine national botanical gardens, led by Kirstenbosch.”
Davidson told the Weekend Argus the team was ecstatic.
“
Receiving gold in this very special year for both Kirstenbosch and the Chelsea Flower Show is a huge accolade for us – the medal is a highlight of our Chelsea experience, and a reward for the hard-working team.”
The Kirstenbosch centenary exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show will be recreated at the V&A Waterfront from August 31 to September 24 for local audiences. - Weekend Argus