Sandton based nursey wins best plant at Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London since 1912.
A journey that started many years ago has finally come to fruition for the CND Nursery, based in Sandton.
Andy de Wet, a 70-year-old nurseryman or plant breeder, expressed how happy they are about winning the best flower of the year at a Chelsea Flower Show.
“The Chelsea Flower Show is the most important in the world, and every big plant company tries to win it. We were competing against the best in the world. It is regarded as the annual World Cup of flowering plants.”
Wet pointed out that his love for plants started back in the days when he studied botany at UJ, started working on plants in 1973, and had already had his first landscaping water feature installation business, running a small nursery on the side.
“Our indigenous plants are normally bred overseas, so we decided it was high time our plants improved locally- this is what led me to be a plant breeder. We did a complete and comprehensive study of the genus and sprung to work about 28 years ago to produce this beauty.”
He explained that the excitement of creating new colours is endless; the more they explore and work on a genus, the better the results and quality they have, and that keeps them going as a nursery.
“Winning the Agapanthus Blackjack Plant of the Year was a team effort. Quinton Bean, my partner, and I did this as a team effort. We do at least 12,000 hand-pollinated seedlings each year to find one or two beauties.”
Wet elaborated on the challenges they faced, and it was finding the right agent to represent them that was the most difficult for the competition.
“The Agapanthus Blackjack Plant is a strong, healthy floriferous plant with black buds and large, velvety purple flowers,” he concluded.
Related Article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/327198/indoor-plants-with-a-big-heart/
