When London’s King’s Road bursts into a trailing floral display, it can only mean one thing: time for the annual Chelsea Flower Show run by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the UK’s leading gardening charity.
Once inside the show gates, I’m tempted to begin with the closest gardens, but they would have to wait: minutes before my arrival, there’d been a hearty cheer as team South Africa again received a gold medal, and I wanted to be among the first to congratulate them. By the end of the day, the excitement surrounding the installation felt even more justified when it received the coveted Best in Show award.
Leading the collaboration between the Rupert Nature Foundation, Hazendal Wine Estate, the Grootbos Foundation and Southern Sun is botanist Leon Kluge. As landscaper, artist and flora extraordinaire, Kluge has showcased South Africa’s rich botanical heritage around the globe. With artist Tristan Woudberg, this year’s Life After Fire features a spiralling base of charred wood, with sections above illustrating the destructive and regenerative effects of fire on the fynbos plant kingdom.
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Creating the display posed significant logistical challenges, as Kluge explained to me: “When we needed to harvest flowers for the show, the Cape floods had just struck, making it impossible for farmers to pick flowers. I had to develop plans B and C, but there were none as proteas were essential to the display. We almost had to cancel, but fortunately some farmers managed to harvest flowers during a brief 12-hour break in the rain.”
Leon elaborated on the theme: “This garden, named Life After Fire, reflects the Cape’s recent wildfires. While devastating, fires are vital for the region’s fire-adapted ecosystems, especially for the fynbos, which needs fires every 15 to 20 years, not annually. Because of the fires, I wanted to tell their story, reflecting the process from scorched protea skeletons releasing seeds to young proteas,or teenagers, that dominate after two seasons and shade the bulbs. These bulbs require about 15 years to bloom again.”
On the edge of the water feature, standing prominently in the smouldering smoke, I was captivated by the rare red disa — I’d usually only spotted them in high, wet ravines on Table Mountain.
Kluge confirmed: “This is a genuine Table Mountain species, with that striking, fire-engine orange colour, and we’re grateful to a UK collector who brought the flowers here for the show. They quite literally opened on the first day of the show. We weren’t sure whether they would open and here they are. It’s one of this year’s highlights.”
Joining Kluge and Woudberg is Bulelani Bashe, head horticulturist and Green Futures Nursery manager at the Grootbos Foundation. I asked him about the visitor interactions he was witnessing: “It’s incredible meeting people from around the world, some familiar with Grootbos and South African flora. Many ask to touch and say, ‘Wow, is this real?’, especially when they see the dark-red king protea named Madiba, honouring Mandela. To me, it symbolises love, peace and unity.”
The 2026 RHS Chelsea Flower Show features sculptural gardens, rare botanical displays, a spot of shopping, and immersive outdoor spaces that blur the line between landscape and art. From wild naturalism to refined urban retreats, all offering a glimpse into the enthralling world of garden design.
Of course, I couldn’t go far without recognising the sign for Babylonstoren, coupled with a throng of happy show-goers sipping on the salmon-coloured tipple. The estate has been the official drink of the show for six years running, and standing at the bar with cellar master Klaas Stoffberg, he was brimming with pride pouring the 2026 rosé.
“We’ve an important relationship with the RHS, with Babylonstoren being the first RHS garden in Africa. We also have something unique here, as this is the first rosé of the new vintage in the UK. The French and English will only harvest grapes in August and picking our grapes in January and getting the wine into the bottle in April, we are unofficially the first.”
There’s a moment’s silence, and then with an unquestionably familiar accent he says: “Ag, it’s really an honour being here.”
I concur as our glasses chink, toasting to the remarkable fruits of our country, rightfully celebrated on the global stage.
