Garden diary

Spring is the best time to see vygies bloom in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden

Spring is the best time to see vygies bloom in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden, and is also a good time to tackle a project such as beautifying a Vibracrete wall.

Strumaria, Haemanthus, Brunsvigia, Nerine, Hessea, you name it! – bear flowers, and the quiver trees and aloes start to bloom.

Only 11 ha of the total 154 ha in the garden have been “tamed”. The rest is covered in Robertson Karoo and the threatened Breede shale renosterveld vegetation. About 400 plant species occur naturally in the garden, and 2 500 species are grown in the greenhouse.

It’s wonderful to stroll along the shale footpaths. The information pamphlet you’re given at the entrance gate includes a hand-drawn map showing the different sections of the garden. The Karoo beds feature plants from the Little, Great, Tankwa and Robertson Karoos; the Heritage Garden on a small hill features medicinal plants, a Khoekhoe cooking screen and a rush hut; the Richtersveld section includes quiver trees; and then there is the area devoted to succulents. And each one tells its own story.

Keep your eyes open for the three tortoise species, dassies, shy grysbok and dwarf chameleons.

The garden had its beginnings in 1920 – not here, but at a railway station near Whitehill, just beyond Matjiesfontein. The town’s station master, Joseph Archer, an admirer of succulents, was appointed as the garden’s first curator in 1925.

Unfortunately, the construction of the N1 at the time – and a drought – resulted in the garden having to move. In 1945, the new garden opened here, at the foot of the Hex River Mountains, with Jacques Thudicum, a Swiss botanist who worked at Kirstenbosch for many years, as the new curator.

Don’t miss the magnificent quiver trees near the lower parking area, which came from the original garden. Thudicum took great care to ensure their survival. He reportedly irrigated them with buckets of water, which he’d balance on his bicycle’s handlebars. Today, the yellow-orange daisies (Drosanthemum thudichumii) that are named after him continue to give thanks when they bloom on the shale koppies every spring.

Visiting hours The garden is open Monday to Sunday, 07:00–18:00, all year round Contact sanbi.org/gardens/karoo-desert 023 342 1298

September and October has the vygies in this botanical garden in Worcester in full bloom.

Quiver trees (Aloidendron dichotomum) in the Richtersveld section of the garden. This is a popular spot for taking photographs, especially when the mountains are snow-capped.