2013年5月29日 星期三

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 台灣蘭花切爾西再奪金/Chelsea Flower Show and our island /mentality


 

25 May 2013 Last updated at 13:37 GMT
Mark Easton, Home editor Article written by Mark Easton Home editor

Chelsea Flower Show and our island /mentality

Stop the Spread garden The tiny seedling on an island in the Stop the Spread garden

More from Mark

Among the exuberant and heady nostalgia of the 100th anniversary Chelsea Flower Show is an exhibit which touches a visceral British anxiety.
You could walk past it without noticing.
But if you do, it delivers a poignant message - particularly in a week overshadowed by grim events on the other side of the capital.
A little oak tree struggles to fulfil its destiny on a small island. Here, in horticultural form, is the tension of our nation. Are we independent and proud or isolated and vulnerable?
The wider message of the garden that includes the oak seedling (these days gardens at Chelsea are almost expected to have a message) is "Stop the Spread". Our countryside is under threat from invasive non-native species, says the leaflet.
"On the island in the middle of the pool a single seedling grows," the garden's designer Jo Thompson explains in the bumf.
"While at first it may seem vulnerable, it promises new shoots of hope that reflect our aim of working together to help stop the spread."
Concern about the loss of indigenous wildlife to foreign invaders was also a theme of Wednesday's State of Nature report. Turtle doves and red squirrels, water voles and ladybirds - familiar and much-loved British species are declining, often because of external threats.
But does that fragile oak sapling also exemplify a force in our social and political sphere?
The little oak seedling Green shoots
For some, the horrifying event in Woolwich this week is another reason to question the diversity of culture and ideas in our little island nation.
The challenge of globalisation and the worldwide web of communications that shrink our planet shapes the national conversation at the moment.
The sense of national essence diluted or contaminated by multinational forces, is a large part of what drives support for the UK Independence Party. The blazered white British gent with his pint of foaming bitter is portrayed as an endangered species.
The frustration of some grassroot Conservatives is that the Tory prime minister does not appear to share their determination to hold out against the forces of change - whether that be the idea of gay marriage or the prospect of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants arriving courtesy of EU membership.
These concerns are not exclusive to the political right. In deprived Labour heartlands up and down Britain, I have heard the same fears:
  • jobs lost to the other side of the planet
  • foreigners squeezing local people out of housing, schools and public services
  • traditional habitat and customs being abandoned in a multicultural fog.
There is another anxiety reflected in that little oak tree, though. It is of an island people cut off from the wider world - isolated and exposed.
The British have a strong sense of their own decline.
Our national story is often framed in terms of a once-great global power on the wane.
You will regularly hear people talk blithely about this island country going to the dogs or to hell in a handcart.
The news may often read like a litany of ghastly events, but look beyond the headlines and it is clear that we are not.
I was talking to BBC journalists on Tuesday about the positive numbers that belie the struggles of austerity and global change.
In many ways, our neighbourhoods appear to be getting stronger:
The response to the Woolwich killing will test the strength of these improvements. The first signs are encouraging.
Challenges remain - plenty of them. But it is probably fair to say that our island nation is somehow coping in difficult times. Keep calm and carry on.
Perhaps the message of the little oak tree is that, if we take the time to look, there are shoots of hope.

 台灣蘭花切爾西再奪金 英女王也盛讚


〔駐歐洲特派記者胡蕙寧／倫敦報導〕台灣蘭花第三度獲邀參加有全球花藝與園藝奧斯卡獎之稱的倫敦切爾西花展，並且再度奪下金牌，主辦單位並當場邀請台灣參加明年一百週年大展；中華民國駐英代表沈呂巡說，金牌殊榮是對台灣很大的肯定。
切爾西花展 花藝界奧斯卡獎
深愛蘭花的英國女王伊莉莎白二世，昨天也趁著花展尚未對民眾開放之前，先率領安德魯王子、麥可親王及肯特公爵等皇家參賞團親臨台灣展攤欣賞，女王對台灣蘭花的肯定，成為台灣花業跨進國際的最佳廣告。
「龍掌乾坤」主題 豔驚全場
女王對於攤上所懸掛的天燈很感興趣，也一再問天燈上的客家花布有何意義？沈呂巡回答女王，那是今年農曆龍年的造型，古代王室以龍自居，用天燈來祈福，代表台灣人民對女王今年登基六十週年的賀喜外，再配上奧運五環的標誌，預祝今年倫敦奧運圓滿成功，女王聽後微笑頷首。
台灣蘭花產銷發展協會今年是以「龍掌乾坤」為主題，專程由台灣空運來五十種、總數達兩萬朵的不同蘭花裝飾設計，現場還以蝴蝶蘭和文心蘭創造了兩棵蘭花樹， 獲得評審團高度肯定，獲得大展棚區（Great Pavilion Awards）造景類金牌。
切爾西花展展場總裁班奈特（S. Bennett）認為台灣蘭花的優點是漂亮優雅、花期又長，很能吸引歐洲人的眼光。對台灣蘭花展攤可以同時設計對女王登基六十週年，以及對奧運的祝福感到很窩心。他認為台灣能夠拿下金牌是實至名歸。
台灣從前年開始參加切爾西花展，當時就拿下銀牌，去年更上層樓奪得金牌，今年台灣團隊再接再厲又再度獲得金牌。
台 灣蘭花產銷發展協會秘書長曾俊弼表示，今年展攤面積約有六十平方公尺，就在中央棚區內，地點較去年更顯眼，來參觀的人也更多。參展三年來，確實帶動了台灣 蘭花的出口值，外銷英國的蝴蝶蘭在二○○九年時只有約九十八萬美元，二○一○年就上升到二百五十三萬美元，成長一．五八倍，二○一一年產值更高達三百五十 二．四萬美元，成長相當驚人。蘭協未來要繼續努力向全世界推廣台灣的優質蘭花，宣揚台灣「蘭花王國」的美譽。
今年第九十九屆的切爾西花展，是英國女王每年必看的世界級花展，展期由二十二日到二十六日止共有五天，有台、泰、日、澳、法、荷、牙買加、斯洛維尼亞等國、超過五百個團體參展，預計會有十六萬人入場參觀。

 

RHS Chelsea Flower Show / RHS Gardening

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RHS Chelsea Flower Show




Video | On the road to Chelsea

Video update: February 2011
With the show now only three months away, the B&Q Garden designers, Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins are well advanced with their plans. In this video, the third in a monthly series, they talk about their progress so far.
Watch more video from the 2010 show
Bunny Guinness

Bunny is back!

Garden designer, Bunny Guinness, is back in 2011 designing the M&G Garden.
Show gardens

2011 small gardens

The 2011 small gardens have been announced. Find out who's going to be at Chelsea this year.
Planting combinations

Planting combos

Get the Chelsea look at home with some of our planting combination ideas from the 2010 show.
New plants

2010 new plants

Want something new this year? Read Matt Biggs' 10 favourite new plants at the show last year.
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