The scores of leafy trees in the historical botanical gardens at the foot of Gunfire Hill have, for many decades, witnessed school and church groups enjoying picnics and fellowship, couples walking the pathways hand-in-hand, and students sitting silently in groups swotting for exams.
This weekend the gardens, which acquired the official name of Makana Botanical Gardens some years ago, will take on a distinctly different look as townsfolk and visitors flock to the annual Grahamstown Flower Festival, a two-day event packed with just about everything a gardening enthusiast would want to see and experience.
The scores of leafy trees in the historical botanical gardens at the foot of Gunfire Hill have, for many decades, witnessed school and church groups enjoying picnics and fellowship, couples walking the pathways hand-in-hand, and students sitting silently in groups swotting for exams.
This weekend the gardens, which acquired the official name of Makana Botanical Gardens some years ago, will take on a distinctly different look as townsfolk and visitors flock to the annual Grahamstown Flower Festival, a two-day event packed with just about everything a gardening enthusiast would want to see and experience.
The centre of attraction for festival goers will undoubtedly be the flower competition, commercial garden stalls, workshops, lectures and an art exhibition with refreshments and musical entertainment thrown in for good measure, but there will be those who will enjoy ambling along the pathways between events, looking on in awe at the sheer beauty and age of the trees.
In the book Grahamstown Reflected, author Emily O’Meara says the gardens were established in the 1850s and “somehow managed to keep growing through disturbances, droughts and depressions”.
O’Meara continues: “Now it [the botanical garden]is getting back to grassroots level, as the winds of change whistle through the lofty trees, towering survivors of a past era, majestic in their maturity.”
Indeed, a perfect setting for a flower festival.
The main sponsors of this year’s festival – Pam Golding Properties, Makana Brick, GBS Mutual Bank and JoJo Tanks – are looking forward to a bumper event.
Festival hours are 9am to 5.30pm tomorrow and 9am to 3pm on Sunday. Admission charges are R20 for adults, R10 for students and R5 for children.
And it is at the foot of these majestic giants that much of the flower festival’s activities will be taking place tomorrow and Sunday.
Just inside the entrance gate is the stall of the Albany branch of the Botanical Society of SA, stocking a large variety of indigenous plants.
Turn left and you’re headed for the Pam Golding Hall at the Rhodes Environmental Learning Centre where the flower competition and children’s section are located.
Be prepared for an explosion of colour and fragrant aromas as you enter the hall, and set aside a few minutes as you inch your way around the large variety of flowers and plants on display. There will be begonias, pelargoniums, cacti, cut flowers, indigenous plants, proteas, the all-time favourites roses and orchids, plus many others.
Local primary schools have been encouraging their pupils to enter the children’s section, and once again there will be keen competition among the youngsters as they allow their imaginations to run wild arranging their displays using flowers, plants and ornaments.
Then it’s back under the shade of the majestic giants for a short stroll to the garden stalls spread across the expansive lawns in marquees. And festival convenor Sharon Richner was upbeat this week when she announced that no fewer than 36 stallholders had booked spaces. “That’s a record for the flower festival,” she exclaimed.
The stalls will be displaying and selling a wide range of gardening tools, outdoor furniture, garden ornaments, water features, as well as a wide selection of seeds, seedlings, shrubs and trees.
Now it’s time for a break and some refreshments at the food court. Esme Basola will be running the Festival Restaurant and Mary-Jane Moodie the Festival Tearoom.
Musical entertainment will be provided by the St Andrew’s College pipe band (12.30pm tomorrow), the St Andrew’s Prep marimba band (11.30am on Sunday) and the Kingswood College jazz band (2pm on Sunday).
This year’s guest speakers are evoking considerable discussion and interest among local gardening types.
Tanya Visser, editor of The Gardener magazine, is a regular speaker at flower shows and other functions across the country, and her talk on Saturday morning (9.30am) will be on “New trends, eco-gardening and getting the most out of your gardening”.
Famed Kirstenbosch horticulturist David Davidson, winner of numerous Chelsea Flower Show gold awards, will give two talks during the festival. Tomorrow’s talk (2pm) is entitled “The Chelsea Experience – South African blooms abroad”, while on Sunday (2pm) Davidson will talk on “Floral festivals in the Far East” which includes a look at Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan.
Tickets are still available for all three talks which will be held in Eden Grove adjacent to the botanical gardens.
Festival goers attending the lectures will be eligible for entry into lucky-draw competitions. Those attending Tanya Visser’s talk and David Davidson’s Saturday afternoon talk will have their names entered in the draw for a JoJo Slimline rainwater tank, while those attending Visser’s talk will go into the draw for three annual subscriptions to The Gardener magazine.
Richner is particularly elated at the decision of the publishers to launch the book Veld, Vlei & Rose Gardens at the flower festival. The recently-published coffee table book features 40 of the country’s leading rose gardens, one of them being that of Grahamstonian Vernon Marais, who has some 4000 bushes on his smallholding outside town. The launch takes place in Eden Grove at noon tomorrow, and Marais will be present.
The official opening of the festival, and prize-giving for the garden and flower competitions, will be held in Eden Grove Blue at 4.30pm tomorrow.
The flower festival’s very own art exhibition will be on display in the Glass Box at Eden Grove from 9am to 5pm tomorrow, and from 9am to 2pm on Sunday.
The build-up to this weekend’s flower festival has included the critical judging process in the Pam Golding Properties’ “Gardens of Grahamstown” competition.
Winner of the large garden section is Vernon Marais (15 Belmont Road) and runner-up John and Rosalyn Davies (Albany Cottage, Three Chimneys Property). The medium garden winner is Robyn James (St Aidan’s Guest House, Worcester Street) and runner-up Irene Ellis (3 Cartwright Avenue).
Wilf and Barbara Stout won the small garden category (33 Kings View Estate), while Robyn James (Elizabeth House & The Suite, Worcester Street) was runner-up. The township garden section was won by Mzam’Omhle (Mayfield Kaolin Mining), while Thabisa Edna Sihawula (4623 Extension 7) is the runner-up.
These gardens will be open to the general pubic, by donation, on the two days of the flower festival.
Several other local gardens will also be open to the public, at a charge of R10 per person, with proceeds going to charity. They are 27 Fitzroy Street; 1 Glennie Close; 5 Schonland Avenue; Mountain View farm, Southwell Road; 16 Webbs Avenue; 1 Florence Street; and 11 Worcester Street.
Now it’s back to the botanical gardens. A varied and interesting workshop programme has been arranged for the weekend, and comprises: “Indigenous medicinal plants and basic phytotherapy treatments by Don Green (11.30am tomorrow); “Fun with plants” by Warren Lange (2pm tomorrow); “Say it with pizzazz” by Elmarie Retief (10am on Sunday); and “Bug Busters – preventing insects from becoming bugs!” by Prof Rob O’Donoghue (11.30am on Sunday).
Festival programmes are available today from Pam Golding Properties at 51 African Street or from Cathy Braans at 24 African Street. More festival information can be found on the website www.grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za.
