The organising committee of the Grahamstown Flower Festival has been getting together on a regular basis over the past few months preparing and formulating plans for this year’s festival.
This year’s Grahamstown Flower Festival will take place at the Makana Botanical Gardens over the weekend of 23 and 24 October.
The organising committee of the Grahamstown Flower Festival has been getting together on a regular basis over the past few months preparing and formulating plans for this year’s festival.
This year’s Grahamstown Flower Festival will take place at the Makana Botanical Gardens over the weekend of 23 and 24 October.
Albany Horticultural & Lilium Society chairman Sharon Richner says that the big change this year will be the relocation of the everpopular flower competition from a marquee on the copious lawns to the new Environmental Education Centre adjacent to the historical botanical gardens.
Richner says the environmental centre is currently under construction but will be ready for occupation in July.
A large teaching room will become the Pam Golding Hall for the flower competition. “This will provide garden enthusiasts with improved facilities for entering their plants and flowers into the competition,” says Richner.
The flower competition will again comprise nine sections catering for a wide spectrum of horticultural activities – container plants, roses, cut flowers, indigenous plants, proteas, orchids, herbs/vegetables, children’s section and floral art.
In turn, each section is split into a number of classes identified under the schedule of entries section in the festival brochure that is available online at www.grahamstownflowerfestival. co.za.
Hard copies of the brochure will be available free of charge from August at Pam Golding Properties, Makana Tourism, the Public Library in Hill Street and local nurseries.
Richner says the festival brochure contains the rules and regulations for the flower and plant competition, as well as information that will prove helpful to prospective exhibitors and entrants.
The brochure will also contain the full programme of events and activities planned for the weekend of the festival, enabling members of the public to start planning ahead for a feast of horticultural entertainment and education.
A variety of trophies will be on offer for the exhibits adjudged to be the best by a panel of local horticultural experts, while a range of prizes will also be awarded to exhibitors winning first and second places in the various sections.
“The overall winner and runner-up will receive generous prizes donated by regional and local businesses,” adds Richner.
Fees for exhibitors will be R40 for adults and R10 for children, enabling them to enter as many exhibits as they wish.
Richner stresses that the flower competition is open to all and is not restricted to members of the organising bodies.
The myriad commercial stalls and stands, which include garden furniture, features and ornaments, plants, seedlings, and fertilizers, will continue to dot the lawns of the beautiful shaded gardens.
Since the flower festival moved from halls around town to the botanical gardens two years ago, many visitors have described the latest venue as being the “ideal place for such an event in its natural surroundings”.
