JULY /AUGUST 2016
Bringing back the Meadows
- in this Gauteng garden
At the Edge:
Where design meets Nature
Have fun with this metal flower bed
Subscribe & WIN
Trim and Rejuvenate as winter ends
A stunning Silver Aloe and Sunbird pendant valued at R1000.
IN THIS ISSUE Click on any page numbers to return to the Contents page
AT THE EDGE:
LET SLEEPING SUCCULENTS LIE:
Gardening on steep ground in Kloof
By Jenny Dean. An old metal bed is transformed
SLENDER TREES: By Jenny Dean
WILDFLOWERS: ALOE MACULATA
Needing height close to the house? Here’s your answer
A gorgeous spotted Aloe with a distinctive shaped flower
BRINGING BACK THE MEADOW: By Emmarie Otto
HOT, DRY WALL DISPLAYS: Wall gardens are notoriously difficult to plant up successfully
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Re-creating a wavy naturalistic garden in the Highveld grassland biome
MAY /JUNE Click on any page numbers to return to the Contents page
WHAT’S IN FLOWER: Our popular series is re-packaged for mobile viewing - as beautiful as ever .... take a peek
CONTAINING THE FOREST LILY: Veltheimia bulbs thrive in pots safe from ground living nibblers
Subscribe & Win FLATID BUGS: Charming wax-covered nymphs of the forest
Take out an annual subscription and stand a chance to win an exquisite Sterling Silver & Gem stone Aloe/ Sunbird Pendant valued at R1000
WILD WINTER CREEPERS:
TRIM AND REJUVENATE
Gifts from the birds and bees
Plants to trim as winter ends
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FROM THE EDITORS DESK… Dear Readers,
Once again, we are delighted to bring you another edition of our much-loved magazine – free for just one last time. As mentioned in our covering email, we have pulled the app, and so, what does this mean for you, the reader? From September, we will re-launch our paid subscription model, but with our familiar PDF format intact. However, the layout and text size of our A4 double page spread will change slightly; text size increases for easy viewing on tablets, laptops, and small desktop screens without having to zoom, images cover one page only to allow for single page viewing on tablets, and we offer you significantly more quality images than before. A subscriber I met over the weekend loves the fact that our photos are large enough to actually see the inspiring designs and flowers close-up, and we will continue to provide this feature – plus more. To ensure we update everyone with our current status, the July /August 2016 issue is freely available to all on our previous subscriber list, so please, let us know your thoughts about our new layout. Our subscriber competition will re-launch in September, the prize being a beautiful Sterling Silver and gemstone Aloe and Sunbird
pendant, valued at R 1000, kindly donated by Elaine Kool of Kool Kulture. Closing date will push out to the 15th October 2016. Links to our website subscription system will be sent out in early September. So, to the Magazine: We are excited about our new-look ‘What’s in Flower’ section – take a look and let us know what you think. In July/ August, we welcomed a new writer, Emmarie Otto, a landscape architect from the Gauteng region. In her first article, Emmarie introduces us to the installation process of the wavy, naturalistic garden installed at her home near The Cradle of Mankind. In September, we look at the gorgeous seasonal displays within this natural space. Read about a garden on the edge, one that blends seamlessly with the surrounding natural area. Jenny suggests a few slender trees for height close to the house and plays with a metal bed display. We offer pruning tips – what and when, and we spill the beans of the wild winter creepers that provide cover and nourishment during the cold, lean weeks. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Happy reading
Anno
MAGAZINE PRODUCTION: Editor: Anno Torr Publisher: The Indigenous Gardener Contributing writers: Anno Torr, Jenny Dean All photos by Anno Torr, unless otherwise stated Other Photo credits: Andrea Abbott, Jenny Dean, Some image via Wikicommons, acknowledgement given; Graphic Design: Anno Torr
CONTACT US: Editor: 8 anno@theindigenousgardener.co.za ( 072 602 5610 Advertising: 8 Veronica: info@theindigenousgardener.co.za Accounts: 8 Hermes: info@theindigenousgardener.co.za
Disclaimers and Copyrights: Opinions expressed in this magazine do not reflect those of The Indigenous Gardener or any project related to The Indigenous Gardener. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, The Indigenous Gardener cannot be held liable for inadvertent mistakes. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher.
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Subscribe & Win a Sterling Silver Aloe & Sunbird Pendant
Valued at R1000
Celebrating the launch of our new format out in September 2016
Wear your Passion
Take out an *annual subscription and stand a chance to WIN a Sterling Silver Aloe and Sunbird Pendant. Designed and handcrafted by Elaine Kool of Kool Kulture Jewellery, feather and leaf detail are exquisite. The Aloe arborescens flowers are made from Carnelian beads, a natural gemstone in the colours of fire and sunset. Purchase your subscription from our website to read on desk top or tablet.
Closing date:15 October 2016 *Annual subscription: 8 issues for R240 *Subscriptions open 1 September 2016 Silver chain included Click here to view Terms & Conditions
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N FLOWER - JULY /AUGUST
Aloe chabaudii - Chabaud’s Aloe A gorgeous stemless Aloe with grey/green leaves- 60 x 50 cm. Branched flowering stalks reach a metre in height, with a neat bunch of pinkish-red flowers. Grow in full sun to semishade,in well-drained soils, though it seems to cope better with damp conditions than most other aloes. Widespread across Limpopo Province and the Mpumalanga Lowveld and across the borders. Grassland, Savanna and open woodland.
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N FLOWER - JULY /AUGUST
Protea cynaroides - King Protea Our national flower has the largest of all Protea species, measuring almost 30 cm across. This eye-catching shrub requires acid, low-nutrient and well-draining soils and winter rains, but is quite adaptable, growing in gardens around the country. Prune old flowering stems to the ground– it will sprout from the underground rootstock. Full height is usually 1 m. South African endemic from the Eastern Cape.
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N FLOWER - JULY /AUGUST
Tecomaria capensis - Honeysuckle A well-known scrambling shrub in varying shades of peach, orange, red and yellow. The orange /red forms can scale large trees, they flower best if kept trimmed as a loose shrub. Fast-growing, drought and moderately frost-hardy, they provide nectar for much of the year especially valuable in winter. Good for coastal gardens. Habitat: forest margins, coastal bush and scrub and along streams, from the W. Cape upwards.
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N FLOWER - JULY /AUGUST
Dombeya rotundifolia - Wild Pear An upright tree with a rounded, light canopy (6 x 5 m), it is covered in a froth of white papery flower petals from July to September when the tree is leafless – beautiful against the dark brown bark. Leaves are round with a rough texture. A great insect tree, it grows fast and is good for small gardens. Habitat: open woodland and bushveld. Drought hardy and deciduous. Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West.
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AT THE EDGE Where Design meets Nature 34
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t is now Aloe Season, and visitors to this garden are hard pressed to choose between gazing ahead at the stunning gorge view, or drinking in the bright display of an African winter covering the slope far below you. The wooden deck that wraps around the front corner is the first port o’ call for everyone. Ahead of you is Krantzkloof Nature Reserve fading into the distant horizon. To the left, an outstanding form of Albizia adianthifolia that marks the change in levels from house to garden. Below, Aloe ferox, A. vanbalenii, Leonotis, Hypoestes, Erythrina, Kniphofia, Strelitzia – winter favourites that never fail to delight. The house sits at the top edge of a steep slope that drops sharply towards a line of stone cliffs, a stunning view that sold the property to Chris Dalzell and Pam Evans. In summer, Cyrtanthus sanguineus (Inanda Lily) crowd the rock face with scarlet flowers, visible even from this distance, thriveing in the moist shade where leaf mulch
collects in small crevices. What would scare the average gardener, though, did not deter Chris, with years of experience in landscaping both here and abroad. Past curator of Durban Botanic Gardens, he is perhaps, most well-known for his work as Assistant Director for the Gardens by the Bay project in Singapore, considered to be the most ambitious horticultural project ever undertaken. Still, it required site knowledge and planning to get it right, so renovation work began instead on the house, to give Chris time to become familiar with local garden conditions; 7 years on, trees and shrubs are maturing, and the success of the design is evident.
The Piece de Resistance The front garden
The borrowed backdrop is exceptional and influenced the master plan; keep the view of the gorge open; blend property edges with the surrounding natural landscape; use locally indigenous plants
CHALLENGES: North-facing steep slope with sandy, humus-poor soils, resulting in rapid run-off and quick draining conditions. Soil wash- away occurs in heavy rains.
SOLUTIONS: Work with the site conditions, but with initial inclusion of compost and fertiliser to improve severely depleted soils and increase water holding capacity. Choose plants with low water needs, able to thrive in sandy soils. Cut a network of paths across the gradient to improve usability and access.
STEP DESIGN When changing levels: keep the riser (the vertical face of the step) shallow and the tread (the horizontal surface you stand on) wide. This ratio offers a more relaxed angle of decent or ascent. Curving steps, as used in this garden, benefit from deeper treads without restricting movement too much. Gum poles strengthen the edge of each step and indicate a change in level.
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Let Sleeping Succulents Lie A
client had found a rusty old bed frame, and we had enormous fun filling it with a tapestry of succulents. Most are indigenous, but we added a few exotics for added texture and colour. A list of the plants we used follows below. You need not restrict yourself to our list - the key is to place contrasting colours next to each other – for example, lime green alongside grey, pink next to yellow. Try to intersperse some rounded leaves next to spiky leaves for contrast.
By Jenny Dean
Have some fun this winter
We used an old bed, but you can have a similar display in the tiniest of receptacles – an old teapot, a bucket, an old basket – anything you have for upcycling. Broken clay pots laid on their sides will work beautifully. We used a series of small plants with similar growth habits. Nothing too rampant to spoil our design. Aloe aristata, Gasteria croucheri, Haworthia attenuata ( the aptly named Zebra haworthia). Bulbine pallida ( a dear little Bulbine, which loves semi shade). Crassula expansa subsp fragilis cascades over the edges of the bed frame where its tiny white flowers are a delight. Crassula alba forms tight lime green rosettes. Of the exotics, Sedum and Echeveria are useful with rounded shapes and varying colours -gold through to pink.
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