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Chelsea Flower Show exhibit spirals through Cape Town show

The 2007 South African floral exhibit at the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show is coming to town.

Inspired by nature's Golden Ratio, the Fibonacci spiral, the exhibit entitled Abstracts from Nature features a variety of natural and hand-made artworks, combined to represent earth, wind, fire and water.

Designed and created by David Davidson and Raymond Hudson, the exhibit represents one of nature's most favourite designs - the spiral. This design is commonly found in many natural forms, such as the galaxies decorating our night skies, hurricanes and our marine environment. It also abounds in the plant kingdom in flowers and leaves.

The Kirstenbosch-South Africa exhibit is co-ordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and sponsored by First National Bank. "This is the third year that we've been involved in sponsoring the exhibit," says Brett Erasmus, Head of Segment Marketing at FNB. "South Africa has participated in the Chelsea Flower Show 32 times - and if one considers that 30 tonnes of indigenous flowers have gone into creating these masterpieces, it is an immense feat."

The 2007 design was complemented by contemporary pots and furniture from Durban-based Obbligato. Umcebo Trust, a non-profit organisation assisting people with special needs to develop artistic talents and generate income, together with the Woza Moya income generation project for people affected and infected by HIV, created for specimen plants made entirely from beads. Both these organisations are also based in KwaZulu-Natal.

Only indigenous plants are used for the exhibit. These include: Osteospermum, Nemesia fruticans, Diascia, Strelitzia Reginae and Cynodon Dactylon. The exhibit has been recreated at the Cape Town Flower and Garden Show to showcase the silver award winning design.

South Africans will have three opportunities to view the exhibit, courtesy of sponsor FNB. It will be recreated at the Garden World Spring Fair in Gauteng (July 27 to September 2), the Sunday Tribune Garden & Leisure Show in Pietermaritzburg (October 5 to October 7) and the South African Airways Cape Town Flower Show at Lourensford Estate, Somerset West (October 24 to October 28).