Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, at the Chelsea Flower Show, London.

Colonel Bird's Bath - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

I smiled when I saw a small piece of South Africa in the Great Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show in London last May. Inside a circular structure, the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens’s team had recreated two of the oldest parts of the famous Gardens in Cape Town: the Dell and the Protea Garden. A perfect tribute to celebrate the centenary of these Gardens that, on 1st July 1913, officially began their activity under the direction of Henry Harold Welch Pearson (1870-1916), botanist, with studies at Cambridge and training at Kew. He had reached Cape Town as Professor of Botany at the South Africa College in 1903, and, fascinated by the indigenous flora, became determined in creating a botanical garden devoted to its to study and preservation. Already in 1911, Pearson had identified a suitable area for this project at the feet of Table Mountain.

Bird's Bath - Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, 2011

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The land, part of Sir Cecil John Rhodes’s bequest to South Africa, was in poor conditions, but its superb position and beautiful views captured Pearson’s attention. Among the overgrown vegetation and the ruined buildings, he found precious springs of fresh and clean water where he decided to begin his work. With the help of Joseph William Mathews, the first experienced and enthusiastic curator, Pearson planted trees to shade this area, channeled the water and restored the bird-shaped pool where, now as then, spring water was collected before being used. Colonel Christopher Bird, one of the previous owners, had built the simple bird outline with Batavian bricks around 1811, creating, with this amusing self-celebration, one of the main points of interest of the Gardens.


 

Flowers - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

In August 2011, when I was spending a couple of weeks working with the Cape Town Garden Volounteers at Kirstenbosch, there were pale yellow Clivia in full bloom in the beds nearby the pool, shaded by tree ferns and high yellowwood trees, Podocarpus latifolius. In the natural environment, dappled shade and light breezes modulated the colours and scents of the flowers that I found faithfully reproduced at Chelsea with ferns, asparagus, Zantedeschia, Streptocarpus, Plectranthus, Impatiens, and the bright red round heads of Scadoxus. At Kirstenbosch, more plants grow along the cobblestone paths that emerge above the Dell in a natural amphitheatre where Pearson arranged his collection of 400 cycads, today, the oldest and most precious Living Collection of the Gardens.

Cycad Amphitheatre - Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, 2011.

The Protea Garden is not far. After Pearson’s premature death in 1916, the Gardens were further developed, and the area devoted to Proteas was completed in 1926. Protea, with Restio and Erica, are the main components of the Fynbos vegetation, the unique flora of the Cape Floristic Region. Around 9.000 species, of which 69% are endemic, grow in the area that stretches between Clanwilliam and Port Elizabeth, the smallest floral kingdom of the world. Fynbos natural vegetation mainly includes low, evergreen shrubs, with small leathery leaves, growing in poor acidic soils, but also an incredible variety of bulbs that create unforgettable landscapes in spring. At Kirstenbosch, Fynbos families are arranged side by side along the Fynbos Walk. During my stay, we spent a day working in the beds of the Erica Garden planting dozens of pots of ericas before the rain. I'm very proud of my little contribution that is growing against the imposing peak of Castle Rock.

Flowers - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

Landscape - Chelsea Flower Show, 2013.

Kirstenbosch won its 33rd gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show with these gardens that remind us of their origins and of their important work, more and more focused on the reintroduction of plants in the wild, and on projects to spread knowledge of this incredible flora among people. At the same time, the rich display recalls the hundreds of flowers that, over the centuries, had reached Europe from South Africa. For many of them the sensation they made at their first appearance vanished long time ago, but the beautiful Proteas retain their exotic and mysterious appeal, a message not to forget the importance of preserving biodiversity in our global world. This has always been the aim of Kirstenbosch, a botanical garden that, unique in the world, is entirely devoted to the spontaneous flora. Oaks planted by Pearson to shade and cool the Dell one hundred years ago were later removed to plant indigenous trees. Pearson's idea to create a place to preserve the natural vegetation is now a consolidated reality, of which people who strolled under the Great Pavilion at Chelsea Flower Show have seen a sample, hopefully, a tempting sample.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, 2011.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Chelsea Flower Show, London 2013. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, 2011.

Further Reading:
Mike and Liz Fraser, The Smallest Kingdom, Richmond, Surrey, Kew Publishing, 2011.

Further link:
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Rhodes Drive, Newlands,  Cape Town, South Africa.
http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch

Cape Town Garden Volunteers. For details on this year's trip contact: Patricia Walby, Denise Battersby and Tom Herbstein.
www.capetowngardenvolunteers.co.uk/‎