South Africa’s flora treasures are admired worldwide. This has just been confirmed once again by two international victories.
The first highlight was the South African exhibition at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show in London, England. The team of horticultural legend Leon Kluge won a gold medal with a breathtaking display comprising of the country’s unique plant species.
This year’s exhibition was the largest yet to come from South Africa. The Indian and Atlantic Oceans served as inspiration for it. More than 25 000 locally grown flowers had to be transported to England and hand-cut and arranged to create the exhibition. Between two mountains of flowers, a stream is depicted with characteristic amber-coloured water, like the streams that flow through fynbos-rich areas. In nature, the high tannin content of the plants results in the water’s colour. To get the shade of the exhibition’s stream just right, hundreds of bags of rooibos tea were soaked in it. In the evenings, when the visitors went home, foxes wandered through the grounds. Leon says on his Facebook page that they liked the rooibos tea water quite a lot and went to drink from the stream regularly. Perhaps their fur is now extra lush and shiny as a result!
Some of the protea species that were on display at the show are seriously endangered – ironically, inter alia because of competition with the cultivation of rooibos tea. The delicate disa, South Africa’s own orchid, stole the hearts of visitors.
According to Leon, the arrangements of fynbos and other plants celebrate “the flower basket of Africa”. In the approximately four decades that the country has been taking part in the show, this is the 39th medal that a South African exhibition has won – a record to be proud of. Footage from the exhibition can be seen on Leon’s Facebook page, and elsewhere on social media.
Photo: Instagram/Zoalize Jansen van Rensburg
The second victory was achieved at the 72nd Miss World competition in Hyderabad, India. Miss South Africa, Zoalize Jansen van Rensburg, won the prestigious World Designers Award for the African region with a dress that also depicts proteas. It was designed by Juan William Aria and was made of satin with artwork prints and hand-embroidered floral motifs on it. The classic dress is a tribute to the vibrant flora of South Africa that symbolises resilience, beauty and national pride. According to the designer, it also celebrates the country’s diversity, groundedness, brave innovations and humility.
South Africa is among the ten countries with the largest concentration of plant species in the world. Approximately 20 401 different kinds have been documented here and the above achievements serve to make us aware of its beauty and uniqueness once again.
Did you visit the Chelsea Flower Show or are you following the Miss World competition? Let us know what you think about it in general, and these two entries in particular?
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