Clanswilliam Wild Flower Show - Clanwilliam, South Africa.

Flower shows thrive in spring all over the world. South Africa is no exception, and, from late August, the Cape Floristic Region offers many tempting initiatives to celebrate the beginning of springtime in the southern hemisphere.

Clanwilliam Wild Flower Show, for example, is a tradition that dates back to the 1940s. At the time, flower enthusiasts arranged simple pots full of wild flowers to decorate school and town halls in this small agricultural town along the Cape Namibia National Route, approximately 230 km from Cape Town. These spontaneous initiatives converged in an annual event with the creation, in 1971, of the Clanwilliam Wild Flower Association, focused on the protection and study of the local flora, and the choice of the Old Dutch Reformed Church as definitive venue. 

Inside the Blomkerk (the Flower Church), a neo-Gothic building completed in 1864, dark wooden beams stand out against white walls, and bright windows frame flowers arrangements that fill the nave with the richness and beauty of the local flora. An extremely varied topography, which includes the Cederberg Mountains, the banks of the Olifant River, and the nearby ocean, favours the growth of a wide variety of plants. They are part of the Fynbos vegetation, a type of vegetation characterized by small shrubs, mostly evergreen, associated with herbs, bulbs and perennials, that stretches along the southwestern coasts of South Africa, from Port Elisabeth to Clanwilliam. Typical Fynbos plants are Proteas, Ericas and Restios, but many other families are part of the mosaic of textures, colors and shapes that, between September and October, covers the Cape Floristic Region, the sixth, the smallest and the most diverse floral kingdom of the world.

In Clanwilliam, volunteers wisely take advantage of this diversity creating each year an original display choosing among the flowers those favoured by unpredictable elements. Last year, early and abundant rainfalls privileged the Renosterveld type vegetation, with carpets of daises and colonies of bulbs. The previous year, Karoo plants flourished in the dry valleys, succulents with fleshy leaves, shaded grey-green, and with a prevalence of yellow and white flowers. Few days before the beginning of the show, volunteers swarm with their secateurs in public and private reserves to pick flowers. Inside the church, these are arranged in a structure prepared early in the month with wooden crates, straw balls and sand, and, then, completed with moss and sods to return fragments of the surrounding landscape. In a separate room, different species are carefully labeled with their botanical and common names to satisfy visitors’ curiosity. This newly acquired botanical knowledge can be immediately tested exploring the nearby area. Ignoring the white graves of the first settlers in the churchyard and the lively stalls with food, crafts and local products, visitors can explore the botanical trails that wind through the Cederberg mountains with their unusual rock formations and spectacular rock paintings, heritage of the San people. Further botanical interest can be found in the Ramskop Natural Reserve, close to the town with views on the mountains and the Clanwilliam dam, popular for summer water sports. Following the footpaths you are immersed in the different landscapes of the region, up to Springbok, the capital of Namaqualand; the arid land that spring rains transform in an unforgettable carpet of flowers weaved with minute details.

Flower shows may offer you rare plants and inspired gardens, Clanwilliam Wild Flower Show offers you something different, namely the discovery of the strength and beauty of the spontaneous flora. An invitation for sophisticated gardeners to enjoy the refreshing vision of hundreds of flowers and rest.

Links:
For more information
www.clanwilliamflowerfestival.co.za

Photos:
TravelinaGarden

A Swallowtail (Papilio Machaon), Red Admiral (Vanessa Atalanta) and Other Insects With Shells And A Sprig Of Borage (Borago Officinalis) - Jan van Kessel the Elder.

I would like to have a room, an empty room.

In a sunny day of late spring, I would spread seashells on the floor looking for those shiny and mysterious shapes painted in this Flemish still-life dated around 1659. 

The author, Jan van Kessel the Elder (1626-79), lived in Antwerp where he was a distinguished flower painter member of the prestigious St. Luke’s Guild. Painting was a family tradition, his father being Hieronymus van Kessel, a portrait painter, and his mother, Paschaise Brueghel, the daughter of Jan Brueghel, famous for his still-life paintings of flowers. It was a dynasty of talented painters that, begun in the sixteenth century, would continue up to the first years of the eighteenth century.

Jan’s subjects include allegories, fables and landscapes, but his best compositions are those suggested by the collections inspired to natural history with flowers, butterflies, insects and shells. Art reflected the increasing interest in natural science, a study more and more based on direct observation and experiments rather than abstract theories, spurred by the introduction of new exotic specimens from the West and East Indies derived from the Dutch successful trades. Painters glorified the abundance of nature and the prosperity of the country with beautiful paintings whose subjects never withered, an important tool for scholars and valuable works of art. Still-life paintings, until then an exercise for beginners, turned into a refined and very competitive market divided into specialized niches according to the subjects. In the “vanitas” still-life, the passage of time and transience of life were remarked by skulls, bubbles and watches, the “banquet” still-life offered the image of sumptuous and luxurious tables that invited to celebrate, and the “floral” still-life exalted the fleeting beauty of flowers. 
Shells were often part of these compositions as rare and exotic specimens, as symbols of the sea that brought wealth to the country. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, seashells from the South Seas were expensive objects of desire for rich collectors, fascinated by their beauty and endless variety. Their purchase was considered an investment and a sign of distinction; specialized clubs thirved. Jan van Kessel included seashells in his paintings, often working on wood and copper, painting from nature or scientific texts, to create panels to decorate collectors’ cabinets. In this painting, a white background emphazises the individual specimens, represented with extreme attention to details, colours, shadows, and shapes. Butterflies, insects a blue flower of borage and shells: Tectus Conus, Conus Marmoreus, Strobus Fasliatus, Murex Rectirostris, Conus Recurvus and other shells.

In the evening, after a useless day of research, I would close my room and leave for the sea.

Photos:
A Swallowtail (Papilio machaon), a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and other Insects with shells and a sprig of borage (Borago officinalis), Jan van Kessel Wikipedia commons;
TravelinaGarden.