Trailfinders South African Wine Estate Garden
Design Jonathan Snow Sponsor Trailfinders Build Stewart Landscape Construction Theme South African wine estate in the fynbos region
“THE IDEA for this garden came while I was on holiday with my wife Birgit, exploring the wine regions of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. They’re surrounded by the fynbos landscape. We were sitting on the veranda enjoying the evening sun, looking out across the garden to the vineyards and mountains beyond. So many things about the setting were perfect – it all just resonated with me. “The fynbos is a precious, scrubby heathland habitat where pelargoniums and agapanthus grow wild. There are four main plant groups – proteas, restios (reed-like plants), ericas (which can grow up to chest height) and geophytes (bulbs and corms). It’s a botanist’s dream! The area is about the size of Portugal and includes 9,000 flowering plants, two-thirds of which are endemic. Exoticlooking proteas grow like weeds; whatever the time of year, there’s always something in f lower. “My design is divided into two sections: a representation of the fynbos, with plants such as agapanthus, kniphofia and proteas; and a formal homestead garden containing cultivated forms of some of the same plants. The two areas are divided by a mini vineyard – two rows of vines plus some annuals, which are used to fix different nutrients in the soil. “Bush fires regularly sweep through the fynbos landscape, scorching everything in their path, but plants recover within just a few weeks. A section of blackened stumps underpinned with a blaze of colour shows how the bulbs surge back into life. Creating this part of the garden will be our biggest challenge.”
“Exotic-looking proteas grow like weeds... there’s always something in flower”