Floral works of art

Hartbeespoort has a world-class flower arranger in its midsts - the only woman in the world who has won a prize at every Flower Olympics. Elsa de Jager has been arranging flowers and other materials into works of art for more than 45 years. In 1979 she took 10 crates of material to Montreal to create a 7 m high arrangement, weighing 400 kg, at the Flower Olympics of the World. The arrangement was used in the daily TV advert for the show. Protests led to Elsa not being allowed to take part once the show started. Elsa prefers arranging with calabashes, seashells, seeds and pods, and twigs.