Local gardeners are praying for every drop of rain, as wilting flowers and brown grass have been overpowering the usual spring hues due to the drought.
Grahamstown’s Flower Festival will be happening this year despite the water restrictions and lack of rain. The festival will be taking place in the Makana Botanical Gardens on the weekend of 7 and 8 November.
Local gardeners are praying for every drop of rain, as wilting flowers and brown grass have been overpowering the usual spring hues due to the drought.
Grahamstown’s Flower Festival will be happening this year despite the water restrictions and lack of rain. The festival will be taking place in the Makana Botanical Gardens on the weekend of 7 and 8 November.
Gardeners around Grahamstown have been using water-wise techniques to keep their gardens looking good for the show. Grahamstown resident Celeste Wolmarans said that she has been using her grey water to nourish her plants. "I guess bath water is better than no water,” she said. Wolmarans will be taking part in the Gardens of Grahamstown competition and says using water from the shower or bath is just one of the many techniques available for conserving water and keeping your garden fresh and alive.
The colourful festival brochure is now available to the public at no cost at a number of businesses and shops all over town: 137 High Street, Casablanca Florist, D&A Timbers, GBS Bank, The French Quarter Restaurant & Deli, High Street Medical Surgery, Home Industries, Makana Tourism, Marianne’s Style Studio, The Mustard Seed, Pam Golding Properties, the Public Library, Reddits, Spekboom Nursery, Sunnyside Garden Centre, SureGo Travel, Umthathi Training Project, the Fitzroy Street Veterinary Clinic, Dr Fred Oosthuizen’s surgery and Dr Theo du Toit’s dental surgery. Brochures are also available in Port Alfred at the Ndlambe Tourism offices, the Eastern Cape Today newspaper offices, Standerwick’s Nursery and the Flower Boutique, as well as at Flower Thyme in Kenton-on-Sea. The brochure provides detailed information on the festival programme, and includes booking forms for the exciting Spring School workshops, as well as for the floral art section of the flower competition, which is being re-introduced this year. Exhibitors who wish to enter this new section should drop off their completed forms in the designated box at the Makana Tourism office, which is also the dropoff point for workshop booking forms.
Other activities taking place over this busy weekend are the garden stalls with a wide variety of products on sale, the BotSoc Indigenous Plant Sale, and the twelve Stately Homes and Gardens which will be open to the public.
Companies that wish to rent stall space should contact Angie Thomson on 082 871 1907 or email the organisers on info@grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za. There’ll be a festival tea garden and scrumptious picnic hampers to provide sustenance for hungry festival goers. The young gardeners will be kept busy on the three jumping castles and will have an opportunity to explore the Botanical Gardens when they climb aboard one of the brightly decorated donkey carts parked just below Ornee Cottage. Music lovers will be catered for on Saturday at 12.30pm by the Chris Terry Bagpipe Band, and on Sunday at 12pm by the St Andrews’ Prep Marimba Band.
Visit the festival website at www.grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za to pick up booking forms and all information on this exciting event.
