TALK REPORT  

South Africa at the 2017 RHS Chelsea Flower Show
David Davidson
16 September 2017
By Andrea Benn

Despite protest marches, road blockages, forecasts of inclement weather and a possibility that we may have to cancel the talk, David’s presentation attracted a good crowd. His stories about Chelsea 2017 were informative, his photos were inspiring, and the humour he brings into his Chelsea experiences had us laughing on several occasions. He has the ability to make the two-week long Chelsea experience come alive.

During the pre show setting up week a tiny aperture in the stretched canvas backdrops caused some consternation, although unlikely to be noticed by an outsider. David and Ray do their utmost to ensure that the SA Stand is as perfect as possible. This year it was awarded not only the prestigious Gold Medal (No 35), but also the President’s Award i.e. the personal choice of current President Sir Nicolas Bacon for the best Stand amongst all Stands exhibiting in the Great Marquee.  Regrettably local press coverage is so appalling that few South Africans get to know this.

Our 2017 exhibit featured the nine biomes in South Africa from our Fynbos here in the Western Cape through to the arid Karroo and the Bushveld, thereby representing all 10 of our National Gardens.

Some of the glitches David mentioned were about flowers not available from South Africa and having to be sourced in England. The strelitzia that was bought, came in two small bunches from Covent Garden at about R1000!  Hundreds of ground cover plants were locally sourced to fill in the spaces between lawn and the larger plantings. The Acacia galpinii, an obnoxious thorn tree,  ‘attacked’ the early workers, and then dropped its leaves. The restio stems were decorated and appropriately called Fire Flowers.

This was such a visual presentation that words become inadequate. Maybe the Brexit vote was to blame but Chelsea 2017 drew fewer exhibits. The number of exhibitors dropped from 600 to 500. Last year there were 20 outside show gardens, this year only 6. The gaps were mainly filled with floral arrangements.

As before the one way vehicular offloading arrangements resulted in bottlenecks as truck and pantechnicons endeavored to offload during the setting up days. In fact it took two hours to maneuver around the Great Pavilion. For health and safety reasons the area was declared a construction site, so hardhats and steel-toed boots were mandatory.  SA’s equipment is stored each year on a farm.  Plant material leaves SA on a Tuesday night, arriving at Chelsea the next morning. Then begins the frantic task of unpacking and sorting what has arrived – hopefully in good condition. By Sunday all workers must be out, so that the pre judging team can start their work.

A new category this year was the ‘Feel Good Garden – for Health and Beauty”. There was a Scent Garden, evocative of woodland smells; a Good Taste Garden; a Listening Garden where ‘older’ music piped underground caused vibrations on the boardwalk and patterns in the water troughs; a World Horse Welfare Garden with a larger than life horse created out of horse shoes, relaxing in a natural pasture.

David recalled some of his dozen meetings with Queen Elizabeth II.  A time when she queried whether a Breadfruit was edible. Another when she accepted a small bunch of Orothamnus  (a rare & unique high altitude beauty) and proceeded to carry it with her throughout her walk –about (nobody would have dared to query if the requisite permit for this species had been obtained).  And when handed some proteas she had queried their lasting qualities. One year when a sangoma from the Maluti Mountains was on the stand to answer queries about the medicinal properties of plants, she had invited him to join her on the rest of her walk-about.

Our thanks to David for sharing his many experiences in such a wonderfully entertaining way.