Sunday Times

THE OLD VICTORIAN HOTHOUSE

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In its heyday in the late 1800s Joubert Park was the green jewel at the heart of the rough mining camp, boasting a bandstand, a fountain and a clock set into a bed of flowers. Plants and seeds were brought in from across South Africa to populate the park, and an impressive conservato­ry, known as the Hothouse, bloomed with exotic imports. The park may have faded over the years, but it still offers breathing space for the occupants of the high-density apartment blocks of Hillbrow, and the precinct buzzes with life. In the northwest of the park the ghost of the old conservato­ry still glimmers in the sun. It’s fitting that it has been repurposed as a food garden, and there are plans to house bees in its airy spaces.

Wolmarans Street, Hillbrow. www.greenhouse.org.za

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