The commercial farming of flowers is termed floriculture. Floriculture in South Africa can be seen as two-fold. Firstly, it is the production of non-indigenous flowers and foliage such as roses, carnations, chrysanthemums and grasses.
Secondly, floriculture in South Africa also includes the cultivated production and wild harvesting of fynbos or ‘Cape Flora’. ‘Cape Flora’ is the term used by retail flower buyers to describe South Africa’s ‘indigenous’ cut-flowers and foliage.
Proteas have been associated as a typically South African produce, but are farmed worldwide, in contrast, chrysanthemums farmed in South Africa, are popular in the Middle-East. The complexity of the flower industry requires much capital, specialist knowledge and the right markets, which demands meticulous planning.
In this Cut-flowers in South Africa section, we will focus mainly on ‘Cape Flora’ and the South African indigenous cut-flower industry.
By Marinda Louw
In South Africa, the production of indigenous cut-flowers for export is focussed mainly on proteas, Leucospermum, Leucadendron and ‘greens...
Indigenous cut-flowers from South Africa include a range of farmed and wild-harvested flowers and greenery - foliage. Retail buyers often us...
Proteas, recognised world-wide as flowers ‘indigenous’ to South Africa, actually grow wild in many countries, in fact, on all of the sou...
The flower industry in South Africa is divided into two sectors - Cape Flora SA and the South African Flower Growers Association....
The cut-flower industry in South Africa may have developed from the wild-harvesting of proteas and fynbos, but has since evolved to the comm...