Countdown Begins for Bumper Flower Festival
Wednesday, 15th October 2014
Officially, gardeners will say, it’s the onset of spring, and the emergence of pink and white blossoms on trees, including the wild plums scattered around town, which confirms that our Flower Festival is around the corner.
Heather Surridge, convenor of the Grahamstown Flower Festival to be held in the 1820 Settlers National Monument in Grahamstown over the weekend of November 1 and 2, was all smiles last week as she announced details of this year’s festival programme, buoyed by the fact that gardeners can now begin giving undivided attention to their gardens.
Mindful of the water woes that Grahamstown has been experiencing of late, Surridge said that last Friday’s rain in town should have filled all the Jo-Jo water tanks in town, and there should be water aplenty for gardens in the weeks to come. She specifically mentioned Jo-Jo Tanks as they are one of the main flower festival sponsors, 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, while 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 Alfred trains and mentors 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 growing is Les Kingma’s passion, and his workshop deals with creating a miniature landscape using trees, rocks and moss to create a natural forest.
Surridge said that for many years the main focus of local flower shows and flower festivals has been the flower competitions for adultsand children, and this year will be no different. “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 good number of commercial stalls will form part of the flower festival, and they will be displaying and selling pretty much everything associated with gardens and gardening, and more.
Besides the children’s flower arranging competition, they will be taking 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 website https://www.grahamstownflowerfestival.co.za
