WA's top botanist goes to ‘heaven' and wins gold at Chelsea Flower Show with local flower

West Australian

26-05-2025

As Queen Camilla walked around the Chelsea Flower Show in London this week, she was particularly taken with the sight of a striking blue sun orchid, attributed to renowned Perth botanist and Waroona local, Kingsley Dixon.
Its appearance at the world-famous flower show was remarkable for a number of reasons.
It was the first time native Australian bushland orchids had been displayed at the show, and it was only possible due to a months-long international collaboration which nearly came unstuck at the last minute.
Professor Dixon played an integral role in the Orchids in the Wild – The Orchids of Asia and The Pacific exhibit which won a gold medal at the prestigious show.
The exhibit, a partnership of more than 25 global institutions including the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens and the University of WA where Professor Dixon is professor of Botany, displayed orchids from Hong Kong, South China, Singapore, Hawaii and Australia.
The blue sun orchid flowers in Australia between September and December, meaning months of planning and help from a contact of Professor Dixon's in Germany were required to make the display possible.
While the plants couldn't be transported from Australia due to the differing seasons, his friend in Germany happened to have some on hand and after months of paperwork and preparation, they were flown to London late last week.
'It was on a knife edge, there was paperwork and road blocks, it wasn't for the faint-hearted. It was like the plant Olympics,' Professor Dixon said.
'The display looked beautiful, it was amazing, we managed to get hold of some native plants and sand, and it looked just like WA's landscape.
'It was wonderful to win the gold, and Camilla was quite taken with the West Australian plants, she spent quite a lot of time looking at them.'
Professor Dixon said the blue orchids which 'bewitched' the British public with their dazzling colour were a fairly common sight when travelling through the jarrah forests near Waroona and Harvey.
'We take our extraordinary bushland for granted, we take our plants for granted; even simple things like this orchid are bewilderingly wonderful to the world,' he said.
Alongside the impressive orchid, the display showcased banksia cones opened by the terrible bushfire which ripped through his renowned garden at Cypress Farm in Waroona last year.
'They were a smash hit, people thought, 'what are these?' and then you tell the story and even the relic of a terrible fire was absolutely fascinating,' Professor Dixon said.
'They are sitting on centre stage, being looked at by the king and queen — from Waroona to Royalty.'
It was the professor's first time exhibiting at the prestigious event, and only his second time at the show overall.
For a botanist being around the displays was akin to 'going to heaven,' he said.
Waroona shire president Mike Walmsley said he was deeply impressed with Professor Dixon taking the gold at the competition.
'We're very proud he's been able to put little old Waroona on the global stage,' Cr Walmsley said.
'It's lovely that there's some small parts of our bit of the world have made it onto the world stage and managed to get gold.'