Officially, spring has graced us with its presence once more. That means that it's almost time for the Grahamstown Flower Festival, to be held in the 1820 Settlers National Monument over the weekend 1 and 2 November.
Officially, spring has graced us with its presence once more. That means that it's almost time for the Grahamstown Flower Festival, to be held in the 1820 Settlers National Monument over the weekend 1 and 2 November.
Heather Surridge, convenor of the Festival was all smiles last week as she announced details of this year’s festival programme.
Mindful of Grahamstown's water woes, Surridge says that the recent rains should have filled all the Jo-Jo water tanks in town, meaning plenty of water for gardens in weeks to come. Jo-Jo tanks are one of the main sponsors of the festival, and the company’s Eugene Cerino will talk about the positive aspects of owning a Jo-Jo water tank.
“At the conclusion of his talk, a lucky-draw will be made, and one of those attending his talk will go home with a new Jo-Jo water tank,” said Surridge.
Cerino will be one of six speakers and workshop presenters at the two-day event. Ian Weir of Essential Amathole at Hogsback will talk about an essential oils project based on an innovative partnership model.
Bruce MacFarlane will present a workshop dealing with the propagation and feeding of orchids, and how to enter them into competitions.
Gary Burgess from Port Alfredmentors new entrants into the field of aquaponics, and will talk about innovations, new products and how to use them.
Adele Steck of Red Leaf Nursery in Port Alfred will present a children’s workshop dealing with succulents and egg-shell halves.
Bonsai expert Les Kingma’s workshop deals with creating a miniature landscape using trees, rocks and moss to create a natural forest.
The flower competition, a crowd-pleaser in previous years, will continue to be the main focus of the festival.
“The flower competition will be held in the area surrounding the fountain and should attract a multitude of blooms in many different shapes, sizes and colours,” she enthused.
Once again, a number of commercial stalls will form part of the flower festival, displaying and selling pretty much everything associated with gardens and gardening. Besides the children’s flower arranging competition, they can also take part in their treasure hunt.
“This year’s musical entertainment comes in the form of two very different genres of music – bagpipes and steelbands,” added Surridge. She said the Graeme College steelband will perform at 1pm on the Saturday, and the St Andrew’s College pipe band at 1pm on the Sunday.
For more flower festival information and to view the full programme, visit grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za
