South African gardeners
inspiring Your indigenous garden
A Winter Garden
Savanna-style
Along a quiet residential road in the hills above Durban is a sun-drenched savanna-style garden of thorn trees, aloes and wild grasses reminiscent of the Lowveld region around the Kruger National Park, considered by many to be the ‘real’ Africa. It is remarkable how well-established is this young garden.
LATEST ARTICLES
Tangled Habitats
for Wildlife
The dense foliage and tangled limbs of climbing plants are loved by wildlife of all types as they provide shelter, roosting sites, and food all packed into a small space. And they offer great value to the gardener too.
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Simple Autumn & Winter Containers
The clean lines of these elegant clay pots need no embellishment other than the strappy leaves and white Paint brushes. For sunny areas, try our succulent arrangement.
Flowering through
May and June
Late autumn and early winter offer a cornucopia of situational and regional pageants for South African gardens. Their value is many-fold: providing wildlife food and adding bright, cheerful colour.
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Pink Joy in the Garden
Crassula ovata
This year’s flower display is breath-taking, barely a single leaf to be seen beneath the mass of white and pink flowers resembling an out-sized bridal bouquet.
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Autumn
Fruits for Birds
The autumn months are a crucial time for our fruit-eating birds, and they’ll be on the hunt for ripe berries and fruits before supplies tail off with winter’s arrival.
Water Wise Design
for Frosty Gardens
This water wise design provides a delicious mix of texture and form, a melding of subtle colours that will change through the seasons!
Resilient Verge Designs for the home garden
Successfully planted verges provide us with a list of resilent species for our gardens as roadside plants battle challenging conditions to survive.
Designing for
Water Scarcity
Beyond the drought – what then? Focusing only on drought-hardy planting suggests to me a temporary fix, a way to ease a garden through a current crisis.
Perennial Combinations; Shrub Combinations; Wall Gardens, Steep Slopes, and more...
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Begin your Garden with
Easy-care Shrubs
Start your garden with shrubs that embody a trifecta of valuable traits suitable for current gardening conditions: easy-to-grow, low-maintenance & water wise.
Bold or Pastels
for Summer?
What’s your colour flavour for the coming summer? A walk on the wild side with piping hot pinks and pepper yellows, or a cooling summer salad of pastels?
Cape Covers
The right plant cover protects against frost, fierce sun, wind and rain. And adds beauty & year-round interest.
14 Trees for
Small Spaces
WILDLIFE
Plant a Bee Carpet
Imagine a floral carpet fragrant with the scent of citrus, mint & jasmine - rich in pollen & nectar for bees.
Autumn Fruits for Birds
The autumn months are a crucial time for our fruit-eating birds, and they’ll be on the hunt for ripe berries and fruits before supplies tail off with winter’s arrival.
Autumn Butterfly Foods
Autumn butterflies have a single purpose in mind, to mate and lay eggs and, to be successful in this, they require sugar-rich liquid food for energy and a host plant on which to lay them.