SA flowers win 27th Chelsea gold
25 May 2005
South Africa won a gold medal at the 2005 Chelsea Flower Show - the 27th gold that the team from Kirstenbosch has won in 30 years of competing at the prestigious show.
The show - an annual event since 1826 - ran from 24 to 28 May at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London.
"This is the 30th consecutive year South Africa has been exhibiting at Chelsea, and it feels great to top that achievement with our 27th gold medal," said David Davidson, designer of the South African exhibit.
Davidson has been responsible for the design of SA's Chelsea exhibit for the past 11 years.
The Kirstenbosch stand this year featured "a very modern South African garden that shows how our indigenous plants can be used as striking garden subjects," Davidson said.
The 12 metre by seven metre exhibit, titled "Afrikan Dream", was a composition of iconic images of Africa that included the African bushveld, the cultivated landscape and elements of lifestyle and
leisure luxury.
The centrrpiece of the exhibit was a three-metre elevated sun deck from which water cascaded into a water feature in the shape of the indigenous South African water lily.
The surrounding garden featured modern plantings of striking architectural South African plants such as strelitizias, aloes, cycads, grasses, succulents and proteas.
The South African team co-ordinator, Collette van Aswegen, said the exhibit had been well received by visitors to the show.
"People have been saying it is a very attention-grabbing exhibit and very different," Van Aswegen said. "Princess Anne stopped to admire the exhibit, as did Rod Stewart and Ringo Starr."
South African gardening enthusiasts will be able to see the exhibit at the following shows around the country later this year:
- Spring Festival in Gauteng (28 July to 4 September)
- Garden & Leisure Show in Pietermaritzburg (7 to 9 October)
- Cape Town Flower Show (27 to 30
October)
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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