Robert Beers, Contributor

Cicely Tobisch (left), Jamaica Horticultural Society member, with British garden expert Melanie Francis.

The quest for gold often ends with heartache. And so it was for seven Jamaicans in London recently, dreaming of a gold medal at the world's largest and most prestigious flower show.

The Chelsea Flower Show judges awarded the Jamaicans a silver medal much to the disappointment of the contingent from the Jamaica Horticultural Society (JHS) for their presentation entitled, 'Island Bounty'.

It was the first time we had so many orchids," said Cicely Tobisch, one of the JHS members in England, "It was really a landscape with flowers," added the former president of the St Andrew Flower Arranging and Garden Club.

unconventional

According to several Chelsea veterans, the two-tiered Jamaican display with an array of vivid island flowers on one side of the presentation and orchids set in tropical scenery on the other side, might have been a bit unconventional in the mercurial world of flower-show judging.

Nonetheless, the lush assortment of island flowers, especially the indigenous orchids, including a variety of the broughtonia, certainly brought a large number of visitors to the Jamaican exhibit including Queen Elizabeth II.

"I always come to the Jamaica exhibit because it makes me feel so warm," said the British monarch.

On the first day of the Chelsea Flower Show, BBC television aired a meeting with the six-woman and one-man team and Prime Minister Bruce Golding in Kingston before the JHS group departed. The prime minister heard the group's strong intention to get a first place for the first time at Chelsea in 13 trips to the exhibition. "Bring home the gold," was his response.

While in the United Kingdom this week for a series of events with the Jamaican diaspora, Mr Golding opened the exhibit, received Queen Elizabeth II during her Chelsea visit and met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

high praise

The BBC also helped stir interest in Jamaica's presence at Chelsea with extensive coverage on the nation's horticultural history and recent developments in the field during BBC television's nightly prime-time Chelsea coverage. Over the course of the reports from Jamaica, Kingston botanist and orchid breeder Claude Hamilton was profiled and JHS President Blossom Levene was interviewed. The Jamaican display of anthuriums, heliconia, birds of paradise, as well as the many orchids got high praise from the BBC commentators.

Jamaica also benefited from being one of the first exhibits on display when any of the 157,000 visitors entered Chelsea's Grand Pavilion. The country's colourful display, along with those with from Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, all with bright Caribbean floral arrangements, were in contrast to many more subdued exhibits around the 12,000 sq metre hall.

"The colours this year are quite muted with lots of greens, pastels and trees," said Ms Tobisch who is also co-author of Orchids of Jamaica.

In that colourful group of West Indian competitors the only gold medal-winner was Trinidad and Tobago. "Jamaica had very tough competition, everyone had stepped up a notch this year. The Cayman Islands and Barbados entries were exquisite," said British gardening expert, Melanie Francis.

disappointed

The five-day show had 900 entrants in this its 85th year.

The group of gardeners and botanists from Jamaica, while disappointed in their showing, were determined to be back in the London's borough of Chelsea next year.

Their quest for floral gold is apparently as perennial as the plants that travel with them.

A rich display of Orchids formed part of Jamaica's display at the 2008 annual Chelsea Flower Show in London.- Contributed