The Grahamstown Flower Festival will have two added attractions this year in the form of speakers who are recognised as experts in their respective fields and are bound to draw large numbers of gardeners and horticulturists.
The Grahamstown Flower Festival will have two added attractions this year in the form of speakers who are recognised as experts in their respective fields and are bound to draw large numbers of gardeners and horticulturists.
The Makana Botanical Gardens on the slopes of Gunfire Hill is the ideal setting for the festival which takes place over the weekend of 23 and 24 October.
Besides the ever-popular flower and plant competition, there will be a couple of dozen garden and commercial stalls of interest to every gardener and garden lover, musical entertainment and superb presentations by two high-profile garden personalities.
Tanya Visser will talk on the Saturday, and Diarmuid Gavin on the Sunday. Both talks will be presented in the Eden Grove blue lecture theatre adjacent to the festival venue.
A qualified horticulturist, Visser says that gardening fills her day, every day. “It is my life, and what an exhilarating experience it is to share this with everyone.”
Diarmuid Gavin is an Irish garden designer and television personality based in London. The celebrity gardener and innovative garden designer has won numerous awards for his work, including silver medals at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2004 and 2007.
The festival’s garden competition will cater for four categories of gardens: small gardens (under 500 square metres); medium gardens (500 to 1000 square metres); large gardens (over 1000 square metres); and township gardens.
Entry forms for the garden competition are obtainable from Pam Golding Properties in African Street, MakanaTourism on Church Square and the Umthathi Training Project offices at 21 West Street.
All information pertaining to competition deadlines and conditions of entry will be found on the entry forms and the festival website www.grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za.
