South Africa at Chelsea 2011

Well at least we got our gold again at the Chelsea Flower Show in London last month. I missed the launch of the 2011 entry at Kirstenbosch this year as no-one bothered to send me an invitation so unfortunately there is nothing about it in Veld & Flora.
However, the model of the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI’s) 2011 Kirstenbosch–SA Chelsea entry entitled “Botanical Landscapes” and featuring two World Heritage sites: the Cape Floral Kingdom (with Table Mountain as a backdrop) and the Richtersveld (shown above) is on show at the Kirstenbosch Visitors Centre.
There very nearly was no entry this year due to lack of funds, but luckily for us, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the SA Gold Coin Exchange stepped in at the last minute and provided valuable sponsorship to enable the team to go to London in search of gold.
The exhibit will be re-created later in the year in Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town.

David Davidson - one of the co-designers of the exhibit - will be talking about the show at Kirstenbosch at 10h30 on 25 June. More info.

See more views of the exhibit here.