Our Landscape is coming together

By: Steve Ruddy - 21/04/2010

What a couple of weeks - phew - it's been full on. Most of the elements of our Landscape are now installed at the British Museum, including thousands of cape daises and our magnificent quiver tree.

When the quiver tree was planted, Richard and I had a tear in our eyes...(well not me, Richard is more delicate than I). It looks absolutely magnificent, and no, its not made of plastic!

Then came the strange fokeas and pachypodiums, closely followed by a group of wild west desert doppelgängers, which are actually euphorbias and not 'wild west cacti' at all. The rock art is also really amazing and brings even more interest to the Landscape. Well done Tas, our rock artist, for producing the carvings.

Throughout the build, we had reports of frosts and even snow. As a result we had to cover our plants with a warming quilt, otherwise known as a fleece membrane. Then we had the 'ash cloud', but thankfully, that only posed a threat to high flyers and not sea containers.

As our build comes to its final stage, I want to say a huge thanks to everyone on the team that has helped to make this project a reality. A truly great start, we will build on our achievement over the next six months as we continue to tend to our Landscape. The next challenge is to keep our plants from South Africa alive and healthy throughout the summer months.

At the end of this week, we will add the final touches and lay the path surface. Then it's all go for the official South Africa Landscape opening on Tuesday 27 April.

- Steve Ruddy -

(Head of Garden Development Unit at Kew)

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Discover more...

• Discover the South Africa Landscape
• South Africa Landscape on Flickr
• Building a global network - Kew's work in Africa
• Explore plants and fungi with Kew
• British Museum

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About the South Africa Landscape

This spring, Kew and the British Museum are bringing a small corner of South Africa to the heart of London. The South Africa Landscape, sponsored by Barclays, which opens on 29 April 2010 on the Museum’s west lawn, will highlight the rich diversity of plant life from South Africa’s Cape region – an area that is home to all three of the country’s internationally renowned biodiversity hotspots. 2010 has been declared International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations and the Landscape will also coincide with the spotlight on South Africa in the run up to the FIFA World Cup.

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