Plant wisdom

Botanist and garden designer rowena Smuts shares her passion for colour and building biodiversity in the garden at La Cotte farm.

The ecological side of colour choice played a pivotal role in our final colour palette at La Cotte Farm. The intoxicating selection of colours available when selecting perennial planting is not only a feast for the human eye, but the colour in the garden is irresistible to pollinators and a great way to lure biodiversity back into the garden. The salmon-hued flowers of Cotyledon orbiculata and the firey Leonotis leonurus are magnets for sunbirds and grace us with electric colour in the garden during the winter months. Pelargoniums produce swathes of pinks and deep magenta flowers from November to March and attract bees, bumblebees, carpenter bees and a host of local butterflies. Be aware that perennial planting is seasonal, and planting with a carefully considered backbone of evergreens, clipped spheres, and cloud hedges will visually carry your garden through the offseason. 8