Chelsea Flowers in Stanford

Uncover the Cape Floral Kingdom through Leon Kluge’s Gold-Award-winning flower show display and the Grootbos Florilegium.

King Protea: Protea cynaroides by Jenny Malcolm

A story from the Grootbos Florilegium

Perhaps the most iconic of the fynbos blooms, if not all of South Africa’s flowers, is the king protea, Protea cynaroides. It’s the national flower of South Africa and the emblem of our national sports teams. It was also chosen to be the cover art of the Grootbos Florilegium, to represent the 144 artworks which depict some of the fynbos found on Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. It is, therefore, a fitting flower to begin to tell the story of fynbos and the Grootbos Florilegium.

The king protea is a species that has been selected and cultivated both in South Africa and abroad for its magnificent cut-flower stems, as seen in Leon Kluge’s RHS Chelsea Flower Display.

On Grootbos, the king protea is only found on the upper, rocky sandstone slopes and hilltops. In these harsh, windswept sites it produces a magnificent floral display in late summer and early autumn. Its large flowers act as 'landing pads' for nectar-feeding birds such as sugarbirds and sunbirds, as well as bees and protea beetles - but it is the birds that are the primary pollinators. As they feed on the flowers' nectar, their feathered heads brush up against the pollen presenters and pollen is transferred in this manner from flower to flower. Despite this efficient system, flowers produce very few seeds and the shrubs rely on resprouting after a fire to remain healthy.

Life in fynbos begins and ends with fire. It is the force which breathes life into dormant, waiting seeds and burns away tired, ageing vegetation. The king protea is able to resprout from an underground rootstock following fire.  As with many other fynbos plants that resprout after a blaze, it is fire that revitalises them, rejuvenating the soil with vital nutrients and resulting in fresh foliage and magnificent floral displays in the years after. Rootstock can survive fire after fire, even as the foliage and visible branches burn away, life below ground continues.

Jenny Malcolm is one of the Grootbos Foundation botanical artists and part of the team who built the South African Fynbos exhibit at  RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Text adapted from the Grootbos Florilegium Book

Grootbos Florilegium: Preserving the Cape Floral Kingdom on Paper

The term "florilegium" comes from the Latin words "flos" (flower) and "legere" (to gather), literally meaning a "gathering of flowers". It refers to a collection of botanical artworks, typically collated into a book.

Like many things in life, the creation of the Grootbos Florilegium happened slowly at first and then all at once in a flourish. The Grootbos Florilegium project may have officially begun in 2018, but botanical research has been flourishing at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve for the better part of 30 years. In 1991, Heiner Lutzeyer and later, botanist Sean Privett, began documenting the indigenous fynbos plants found at Grootbos, a project which laid the groundwork for the establishment of Grootbos Foundation. Grootbos Foundation is a non-profit organisation which is dedicated to conservation and community upliftment in the unique Walker Bay Region of the Cape Floral Kingdom.

From a distance, or to the untrained eye, fynbos may not look like much - it may appear as a sea of grey shrubby plants in sandy rocky soil. A closer look into the thicket will reveal fine leaves and delicate flowers indicating the vast variety of plants within the fynbos landscape. The Grootbos Florilegium, allows guests to dive headfirst into this botanist’s paradise and immerse themselves into one of the most diverse botanical biospheres in the world.

Chelsea Flowers in Stanford will include a selection of botanical artworks from the Grootbos Florilegium. These artworks are typically housed in the Hannarie Wenhold Botanical Art Gallery on Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. The gallery is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and is one of very few galleries dedicated to the field of botanical art. It is a world class gallery where this rare art form can be proudly displayed and where the diversity of our fynbos is celebrated. The gallery at Grootbos was featured in TIME Magazine’s list of the world's greatest places in 2024.

All profits generated from the Grootbos Florilegium are donated to the Grootbos Foundation to reinvest into youth development and conservation of the Cape Floral Kingdom.

Book your tickets to see the two botanical displays

Stanford is bursting into bloom this September for the ‘Stanford in Bloom’ spring festival. Leon Kluge’s Gold-award winning Chelsea Flower Show will be on display alongside artworks from the Grootbos Florilegum.

Chelsea Flowers in Stanford will take place between 10-24 September 2025.

Tickets available for purchase at R200 per person via Webtickets or in-store at Pick ‘n Pay

Click here to book your ticket on Webtickets

Watch below: A CNN Inside Africa Feature

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Behind the scenes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

The Grootbos Ambassadors champion fynbos on a daily basis through their work at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and Grootbos Foundation but during the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, they represented South Africa’s Flora to an international audience. They helped build the display in London and now they will bring the Gold medal home to the Cape Floral Kingdom for Chelsea Flowers in Stanford.