Lifestyle Home Garden, Randpark Ridge | 24 October to 8 November 2026
Chelsea Flowers in Joburg is almost here, so we can’t wait to show you what’s coming to Lifestyle Home Garden in Johannesburg. We’re proud to present Life After Fire, the Best on Show, Gold award-winning botanical design by Leon Kluge, created for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026. It’s a celebration of fynbos, flowers and fire.
This display has already travelled far. Leon Kluge created it for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026, where it won a Gold Award and took Best on Show. After that, it went to Stanford in the Western Cape, so thousands of South Africans could enjoy their floral heritage up close.
Now, for the first time in three years, Leon Kluge and Tristan Woudberg are bringing it home to Johannesburg. Leon and his team are recreating the display right here, in South Africa, for South Africans. So join us from 24 October to 8 November 2026, and watch these flowers bloom again.
South Africa is home to a wealth of botanical treasures, and the Cape Floristic Region is the crown jewel. In fact, people often call it the hottest of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.. In an area of just under 91 000 square km, you’ll find 9 250 species of flowering plants. Also, about 70% of them grow nowhere else.
Fire plays a surprising part in this story. In fact, fynbos needs fire about once every 10 to 15 years to thrive The flames clear away old, woody stems and return nutrients to the soil. Then seeds germinate, and wildflowers appear. Many insects and animals have also learned to survive, escape and recover in its wake.
That’s the idea behind the display. During the 2025/2026 summer season, wildfires tore through several mountainous areas of the Cape. Still, for fynbos, fire is far from a disaster. Instead, it’s a crucial trigger that resets the fynbos “successional clock”.
The display celebrates South Africa’s vibrant cut flower industry. In addition, it includes native species and many hybrids that growers have developed especially for cut flowers. For example, look out for:
Around the display, you’ll also find artworks from the Grootbos Florilegium. More than 40 artists have contributed to this collection, and each botanical portrait comes with a small story about a plant and its pollinators.
While the exhibition is on, join The Garden Sessions in our lecture hall. Two feature talks cost R100 each, In addition, a line-up of guest experts will cover everything from orchids to Gauteng’s grasslands, and those talks are free.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to win Best on Show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. You’ll also hear about the challenges, the laughs and the unexpected surprises along the way, as team South Africa showed the nation’s diversity on the world stage..
Leon Kluge is an internationally renowned landscape designer and botanist. He has created award-winning gardens across the globe, In fact, his gardens have represented South Africa on the world stage, including at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where South Africa has won multiple gold medals. His work blends a passion for South African plants with a contemporary approach.
Tristan Woudberg is an artist-gardener and self-taught botanist who documents South Africa’s diverse flora on his extensive travels. As a prolific hiker, he has explored many of the country’s diversity hotspots to capture rare wildflowers in bloom. Tristan has created gardens all over South Africa. He is also the artistic force behind multiple gold-winning displays at international flower shows, including the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
View the full talk calendar and book tickets
All profits go to the Grootbos Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Gansbaai, in the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom. The foundation is also committed to the conservation and preservation of fynbos and local communities.
You can lend a hand in a more direct way too. Alien invasive plants are one of the biggest threats to fynbos, and the time after a fire is the best moment to clear them. So, use the QR code in the exhibition brochure to donate to Rise of the Fynbos. Together with the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy, this work protects the landscape and creates local jobs.
Whether you love gardening, plants or landscape design, there’s something here for you. Bring your friends and family, and come and see what grows after fire, from the 24 October to 8 Novemeber 2026 at Lifestyle Home Garden. Book on Webtickets
