Award-winning landscape designer Leon Kluge and his team have unveiled the design for South Africa’s exhibit at this year’s prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which will showcase a breathtaking tribute to South Africa’s unique flora and its resilience in the face of nature’s challenges.
The exhibition was unveiled at the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town on Tuesday, and according to Kluge, the inspiration for this year’s display stemmed from the devastating wildfires that ravaged the Cape’s mountainous regions during the past season.
Fynbos and Fires
The team aims to not only put on a spectacular show of South African plants but also educate visitors about this unique fire-driven ecosystem, as explained on the Wikipedia page about fynbos. Last year, the team scooped a gold medal in the competition for the second year in a row, with an entry inspired by the meeting of two oceans – the Atlantic and the Indian.
This year’s exhibit will highlight the remarkable regeneration of the fynbos biome after fire. A large part of the display will showcase the diversity of bulbs, orchids and wildflowers which emerge in the first season after a fire has swept through the landscape.
Regeneration and Renewal
The display will also feature a dramatic contrast between the scorched landscape and the vitality of fresh Protea cut flowers. Over 20 000 stems of fresh cut flowers will be incorporated, sourced from fynbos cut flower farms across the Western Cape.
Some of the key features of the exhibit include:
- A whirlwind mass of burnt Protea branches woven together serving as a backdrop to the colourful regeneration of flowering bulbs in the foreground
- A variety of fresh Protea cut flowers, providing a contrast to the burnt landscape
- A showcase of the diversity of bulbs, orchids and wildflowers which emerge in the first season after a fire has swept through the landscape
This year will mark the 50th time South Africa has exhibited at the “Olympics of the flower world”, as the event is often termed.</p)
