Orchid Society wins gold

The Orchid Society of Great Britain in partnership with Sri Lanka Tourism won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show for their exhibit, 'Orchids in a Natural Setting' where Sri Lanka is the home to more than 170 species of orchids, 74 of them found nowhere else in the world.

On her tour of Chelsea, Her Majesty the Queen visited the display and was introduced to Sanjika Perera, Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, UK and Ireland, the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka and his wife, and Wanigatunga, the Horticultural Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka who presented the Queen with a bouquet of flowers of Dendrobium Queen Elizabeth II, a new hybrid orchid created by Wanigatunga and named after the Queen.

The Orchid Society of Great Britain exhibit included two Guard Stones, replicas of the ones standing at the gateways to the ancient Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka with vanilla orchids cultivated on plantations in Sri Lanka displayed alongside many rare and hybrid orchids grown by amateur gardeners in the UK.

"We were delighted to be able to name a new hybrid orchid after the Queen and present it to her at the show in partnership with the Orchid Society of Great Britain at the Chelsea Flower Show.

At this juncture, with prospect for peace dawning to Sri Lanka this is a good time as any, to promote the different facets of Sri Lanka, gardens like Peradeniya in Kandy and virgin rain forests like Sinharaja in particular," Perera said.