Lanka's orchid collection at Chelsea flower show
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Wanigathunga, Sanjika Perera of Sri Lanka Tourism, Sri Lankan
High Commissioner, Nihal Jayasinghe, Mrs. Jayasinghe, Queen
Elizabeth II, President of the Orchid Society of Great Britain,
Dr Henry Oakeley, President of the Royal Horticultural Society,
Giles Coode-Adams, at the Chelsea Flower Show.
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Sri Lanka Tourism sponsored the Orchid Society of Great Britain (OSGB)
stand at the Chelsea Flower Show held from May 19 to 23, 2009. This is
the country's first appearance at Chelsea.
Two Guard Stones, replicas of ones standing at the gateways to the
ancient Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka, forms the centre-piece to the
exhibit with flowering vanilla hybrid orchids, cultivated on plantations
in Sri Lanka, cascading in profusion alongside other rare and beautiful
hybrid orchids flown in for the Chelsea Flower Show.
Sri Lanka is home to over 170 species of orchids, 74 of them found
nowhere else in the world. Some of the most precious orchids can be seen
in the wild in the Sinharaja Rainforest and Horton Plains.
The Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya near Kandy is world famous
for its Orchid House, where visitors can see more than 300 varieties of
exquisite orchids, from the rare indigenous Foxtail and Vesak orchids,
to many natural and hybrid species.
The OSGB encourages support for many conservation projects, such as
the Tourism Earth Lung project set up by Sri Lanka, to make the country
a carbon neutral visitor destination by 2018. |
