Page 26 - Landscape-Issue160

FEATURE

Designer Leon Kluge (left) and artist-gardener Tristan Woudberg at the
International Flower Show in Shenzhen, China
LEON KLUGE WINS AT

CHINA FLOWER SHOW

South African landscape designer Leon Kluge and his team took top honours at the
April 2026 International Flower Show in Shenzhen, China. They won ‘Best on Show’
and ‘Grand Gold’ for their display entitled Living Contours.

luge explains that the ‘Garden of take centre stage with their high impact, a peaceful sound of falling water.
Discovery’ is a contemporary African contrasting colours. Kluge says his inspiration for the
Kgarden inspired by the need to seek Wherever possible, materials were structure was a chestnut fruit husk,
refuge in natural spaces, especially in a repurposed for the garden and the floating the spiky exterior contrasting with the
futuristic metropolis like Shenzhen. “The walkway was constructed from old scaffold smooth interior. In South Africa there is
pod is a place of relaxation and emotional planks used on construction sites around the lowveld Chestnut (Sterculia murex),
restoration, perfect for holding a traditional the city. They received the same treatment and in China the edible chestnut (Castanea
Chinese tea ceremony, doing yoga or as the branches which were sanded and mollisima) and despite being unrelated,
observing wildlife in a garden,” he explains. blackened by fire to create a charred finish. they both have an alien-like spiky texture
He adds that thousands of tree branches, Several South African plants were on the outside and a smooth finish on
originating from the maintenance of on display, namely Melinis nerviglumis, the inside of the shell. “We often take our
street trees, were used to create the Ornithogalum saundersiae, Dietes bicolor design cues from nature, whether it’s a
textured exterior, with the view from and Salvia chamelaeagnea. Dietes served as humble seed pod or a type of rock found
inside overlooking a wild, wetland garden. inspiration for the mural inside the pod. in the mountains – nature is the seed that
Here, large-leaf species such as Colocasia There were three waterfalls which germinates the expanded ideas making up
‘Black Magic’ and Zantedeschia aethiopica overflowed into the wetland pond, creating these creative gardens,” he explains.

24 Landscape SA • Issue 160 2025 Check us out www.salandscape.co.za