A low-maintenance design

Because Simon and Toni were short on free time and money when they first moved in, they opted for a low-maintenance garden. The solution was to choose plants that were easy to propagate and needed very little water. In the beginning they had a lot more grass, but it needed too much attention and water so the lawn area was reduced.

“The garden is simply too big to be anything other than low maintenance. We use a lot of succulents; they are hardy and require very little water. During the hot summer months, they do shrivel a bit but as soon as the first rains come, they bounce back,” explains Simon. “Although we’ve had a borehole since September 2016, I only water when it is really necessary. Over the past 15 years, my philosophy has been that I’ll water plants for the first year of their lives and then they must survive on their own. Not all of them did, but the majority of the more than 200 trees that I planted are indigenous so they require minimal water.”

Because the garden borders on a nature reserve, a number of fynbos plants have sprung up randomly. Most of them are left to their own devices. “Some bushes seemed to take over a bed but we didn’t mind, we just moved the path to give them more space.”

Simon propagates many of his plants from cuttings. “With such a large garden it’s impossible to go to a nursery and pick up a plant or two – I need to buy 20 or 30 at a time! This is very expensive, so I propagate what I can. Most of the time I simply walk around the garden, break off pieces and stick them into the ground. It’s so easy to do and the success rate is very high,” he says.

“This is my paradise. I love being able to stroll around it with a cup of coffee in my hand. As I drive home after work, I leave my stress behind. This is my escape. Strangely enough, my favourite task is weeding, especially in the winter months when the soil is soft. I find it very relaxing.

“I used to look through gardening magazines and think that in order to have a garden like that you need to know a lot about plants. Having plodded along for the past 15 years, never being able to remember the names of the plants, I realised that gardening is not about how much you know about each plant, but more about just getting out into the garden and experimenting with different ideas – some work and the results look good, some don’t.

“Do what pleases you – there’s no right or wrong. The garden is always changing and there is always something else I would like to do. I enjoy the fact that I can potter in my garden.”

To me, the plants in my garden hold memories of people and places. – Simon

One of the sections that the garden was divided into is a formal vegetable garden with a lemon tree in the centre; in the background is Sir Lowry’s Pass winding over the Hottentots Holland Mountains.

These pots are filled with plants that Simon is propagating for a new area in the garden that he’s still busy clearing. “A lot of our plants were cuttings from friends and some even came up by themselves,” he says. “It wasn’t so much a choice as a surprise when we saw what thrived.”