On a rainy day in early September, we ventured to Elgin to visit the Flower farm on Oak Valley Wine Estate
with other members of the Cape Horticultural Society
Lynne is a member and, if you are interested in joining, do contact her
We go on very interesting trips to different gardens
and we have extremely interesting speakers at our 10 evening meetings each year
Late last year we had the now famous Leon Kluge tell us how he plans and carries out building
the winning South African display at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. With pictures
(You can now buy tickets at Webtickets for this year's recreation of that exhibit;
with other members of the Cape Horticultural Society
Lynne is a member and, if you are interested in joining, do contact her
We go on very interesting trips to different gardens
and we have extremely interesting speakers at our 10 evening meetings each year
Late last year we had the now famous Leon Kluge tell us how he plans and carries out building
the winning South African display at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. With pictures
(You can now buy tickets at Webtickets for this year's recreation of that exhibit;
it will open in Stanford on Saturday 12th September)
Into one of the flower greenhouses where they were digging up the soil, replenishing its nutriments,
fumigating and then covering up for later replanting.
Further into the same area, it was a riot of colour with many different rows of chrysanthemums
Workers picking huge bunches
which weigh quite a lot!
Busy as bees
On a side table workers (mainly women) were making bunches and packing them into cellophane sleeves
ready for one of our big retail stores, private florists or for export
Its a huge undertaking and they can strip a bed very quickly
Phone photos do not make for the depth that John's camera can take
It reminded Lynne of the Springtime tulip beds in Holland
Pretty in pink
The flower houses are very large and each has its own temperature and water controls
Vibrant reds
Yellow and peach
Such healthy flowers
And we saw some seedlings waiting to be planted out, without the weeds!
They do plant some in outside beds with irrigation with their vineyards close by
In the packing room where the ladies were putting together special orders
Freesias are in season
Mixing and matching
A "wow" bunch of crysanths
A seedling nursery
And they have attractive succulents
Multicoloured Gerberas, perfect cut flowers
Gerberas belong to the genus Gerbera in the Asteraceae (daisy) family
Wrapping orders about to go out for delivery
As are these huge bunches of Chrysanthemums
There is a skill in making up mixed bunches
These two women follow each other around the table
And this is very skillful; she wraps, attaches stickers and tapes the bunches into their wraps for retail
Almost blinding colours! The mix would be specially ordered
"Am I getting the colours balanced?"
Choices
And we were pleased to see the workers well wrapped up in the chilled atmosphere of the huge building
These flowers must be very special as each one has its own wrap
Following the very interesting tour, we two headed for the Oak Valley Tasting room for a glass of wine
John ordered the Beneath the Clouds Chardonnay
and was poured a lake of beautiful, full and fruity, well-oaked Chardonnay
Just what we needed
Lynne had the classic Oak Valley Sound of Silence Pinot Noir
A beautiful nose and palate with cherry and berry fruit,
held together with good oak. We shared both wines with such enjoyment
The previous Sommelier, Kwanele Mhlobo suddenly arrived
and we and the current sommelier Keeno had lots of catching up to do
Kwanele has been away working on cruise liners for nearly 3 years
Beautiful Azaleas in bloom in the Oak Valley Pool Room garden
and then, needing lunch, we enjoyed a good pepper steak pie and chips each at the nearby Peregrine farmstall
Before getting back onto the stormy road over Sir Lowry's Pass and back to dry, but very windy, Cape Town
All the stories we have produced since 2012
can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page
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