London Olympics 2012

It’s started, at last.  No matter how cynical you imagine yourself to be, do yourself a favour and jump on the Olympic band wagon it cost nothing and promises 17 days of fun, facts, victory and heartache.  As South Africans we generally get caught up in the negative sentiments of these events - who can forget the furore about the one medal in Beijing. (Men's Long Jump Mokoena Khotso –silver)  I can just imagine the hoopla that will follow us not returning home with 12 medals. The media machine is already churning about Banyana Banyana as token entrants.  For goodness sake let just stop and have some fun. The excitement we all enjoyed last night thanks to Cameron Van der Burgh’s gold medal win in the 100m breaststroke should be enough to lift all our spirits.

I was thrilled to learn that Joy Packer, a renowned British floral designer created the bouquet which will be handed out to all winners at the London Olympics and Paralympics. Sadly she passed away in November 2011 but leaves behind a beautiful legacy.  The bouquet consists of four different types of roses sectioned into quadrants to mirror the 2012 logo. The roses being used are Illios (yellow), Marie Claire (orange),  Wimbledon (green) and Aqua (pink). The quadrants are then separated by English lavender, rosemary, apple mint and wheat which also provide a lovely fragrance. All of the elements of the bouquet are home-grown The 4,400 bouquets required will be made with the help of floristry students throughout Great Britain.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics 1,800 Winter Olympic bouquets were handed out.  For two years prior to the event the floral designers submitted 23 design samples using flowers native to British Columbia. The design panel chose an all-green bouquet tied with a blue bow. The inspiration was to showcase flowers and greenery grown in British Columbia. 

I thought that the bouquets handed out at the Summer Olympics in Beijing 2008 were really gorgeous. They were composed of nine Chinese roses and six different ornamental grasses, tied together with a red ribbon in the shape of a red flame. The number nine is an imperial number that symbolizes immortality and cooperation.

Can you just imagine the fantastic bouquets we would produce should we host the games, Protea, Pincushions, Kol Kol, Cape Green; it would be a show stopper. I hope the opportunity arises for us to stand together again and show the world the wonder of the southern tip of Africa we are lucky enough to call home.

Written by Jackie West-Evans owner of Country Flowers “Living my dream”