SPRING SPARKS
Time for a fresh start! Whether your garden is trendy or traditional, this summer it’s all about adding an individual edge. Any one of our simple steps could make a delightful difference
Shopping trends show how our gardening ideas have changed — and keep changing. We asked two expert trend spotters about design and demand on the nursery front
• Andrea Durrheim
Production manager at New Plant Nursery, one of our top indigenous growers and wholesale nurseries: “Design trends seem to vary between very naturalistic gardens, including veld grasses, restios and indigenous plants, and ultra-formal gardening, complete with topiaries.
“Many indigenous plants also suit formal gardens. White Freylinia tropica is a made-for-clipping subject, and confetti bushes ( Coleonema spp) also make great topiary subjects provided they’re clipped lightly and often.
“Edible gardening also seems to be big and although we’ve encouraged people to try eating their extra watsonia bulbs (once the main source of carbohydrates in the Cape), the indigenous herbs such as the wild sages and wild rosemary ( Eriocephalus africanus) are probably more popular. It seems you only have to tell people that they can roast potatoes with garlic buchu ( Agathosma apiculata) and you’ve got a sale. Wild garlic ( Tulbaghia
violacea) is handy too. The flowers have a light garlic flavour and are lovely in salads. The leaves are stronger and can be used – sparingly – in cooking.
“Fragrance also seems to be important these days. We get a lot of requests for plants with fragrant leaves, such as buchus, and scented flowers like
Psoralea pinnata (pictured above right).”
• Athol McLaggan
One of our favourite 702 garden gurus, now based in the Cape, Athol has been keeping an eye on trends at Ferndale, one of Cape Town’s leading retail nurseries: “The veggie and herb section is bigger than ever. Also, the imported vegetable seeds from Italy are selling well.
“Colour, colour and colour – the entrance area is always piled up with it. More perennial stuff than annuals, though. I do not see lots of indigenous trees getting sold, but fruit trees are moving, especially lemons. The most popular indigenous stuff seems to be the colourful hybrid aloes and
Leucospermums, and mulching is par for the course.
“Classic Viburnums still seem to sell very well, but there seems to be a move away from formal hedging to cloud pruning. Everyone seems to know who Nicole de Vésian (see below) is these days, so I suppose things are more contemporary than formal.
“Footnote: I have never seen so many people walking around in Wellington boots as this year. And the Farmer’s Weekly is always on sale.”
Gauteng garden centres report similar trends – splashy colour, herbs, veggies and succulents are filling the trollies.