Lanka to bloom at 2007 Chelsea Flower Show

The Sri Lankan company, Borneo Exotics was awarded the special annual Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) award, the Anthony Huxley Trophy last month. It was the very first time that a Sri Lankan company was awarded this much coveted trophy, presented for the best exhibit of ornamental plants shown in all the RHS shows in Britain during the preceding year.

The Anthony Huxley Trophy was awarded to Borneo Exotics for their exhibit at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show in 2006, for which they won a Gold Medal. In confirming the selection for the Anthony Huxley Trophy, it was minuted by the committee members that ‘it had been the best exhibit of Nepenthes they had ever seen, probably the best that had ever been shown in Britain before. It had a magical quality, with perfect, faultlessly-cultivated plants showing great diversity within the genus from terrestrial to epiphytic growth forms.’

Borneo Exotics is a wholesale export nursery, based in Sri Lanka. “We have been propagating tropical pitcher plants of the genus nepenthes and other carnivorous plant species for many years using up-to-date and conservation-friendly techniques,” said Robert Cantley, Founder and Managing Director of Borneo Exotics. “All our plants are multiplied in sterile culture in a laboratory before being transported to nurseries, sometimes being grown for several years before being offered for sale.”The company now offers by far the widest range of Nepenthes available anywhere in the world, he says, adding “we are the only nursery offering a choice of plant size.” They now operate nine nurseries in two locations in Sri Lanka and are able to grow any Nepenthes species. Their experience with Nepenthes or pitcher plants, goes back over 20 years, when they pioneered a Nepenthes nursery in the island of Borneo in the 1980s.

Borneo Exotics has prepared its exhibits for the current Chelsea Flower Show 2007, which is being held from May 21 – 26. In view of the achievements of Borneo Exotics at the Chelsea Flower Show and the special award of the Anthony Huxley Trophy, the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka, in conjunction with the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, are marking the occasion with a display of Kandyan dancers in front of the Borneo Exotics exhibit on Press Day, May 21. Around 175,000 people including the Queen and most of the Royal Family are expected to visit the show.

“Our plants are now on their way to the show,” Robert Cantley said. “Some of the specimens being sent for the exhibition are unique and possibly the most valuable plants in the world. Sri Lankan Airlines have been fantastic, even caring to the point of asking exactly what temperature the hold should be set at.”