Open Gardens to inspire and raise funds
IT’S spring – and time to get inspired to refresh your garden after winter.
Today and tomorrow, local gardening guru Tanya Visser is opening her beautiful home garden in Assagay to visitors. Visser and Izolda van der Merwe have created a vibrant spring garden and have a pop-up shop offering garden goodies and plants. Enjoy coffee, cold drinks, hot dogs and brekkie rolls while you take in the garden’s spring delights.
Visser is known by most South Africans as the television presenter of the Home Channel’s popular show, The Gardener, as well as the editor of The Gardener and Die Tuinier magazines. She loves growing her own vegetables for the kitchen and has impressive succulent and grass collections. Tomorrow, musician Chris Jensen will be in the garden from 10am until 2pm, so take a picnic blanket and relax on the lawn.
This open garden is a fund-raiser for the Kloof Conservancy.
A second Open Garden Weekend will be held on Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3 from 9.30am to 4pm. Three spring gardens will be on show – two in Winston Park and one in Kloof: 12 Greenacre Place, Kloof; 11 Jan Smuts Avenue (entrance in Trevennen Road), Winston Park, and 2 Eagle Downs at 27 Reservoir Road, Winston Park.
Funds raised will be distributed to various charitable organisations supported by the Rotary Anns of the Rotary Club of Kloof.
Spring Gardens are supported by the Thousand Hills Community Tourism Organisation.
For Tanya’s Open Garden at 6-8 Controversy Drive, Assagay, tickets cost R50 per person and R20 for children under 12 at the gate. The garden is open from 9am to 4pm on both days.
For the Rotary Anns Spring Gardens next month, tickets cost R25 per garden per person, payment by Zapper or cash. Gardens are open from 9.30am to 4pm.
For queries, e-mail: hillcrestconservancy@gmail.com or visit the website at www.hillcrestconservancy.co.za.
NO MATTER where you are, spring, generally is a very colourful.
Just observe the different colour flowers and leaves that come to life as we move into a new season and towards summer.
There are two trees with very colourful leaves that appear in spring, and they are the broom cluster fig, Ficus sur and the Mitzeeri or Bridelia micrantha.
If you drive to Hillcrest from Durban or up and down the north and south coast you will see these bronzy coloured leaves appearing on all these trees.
Many deciduous trees flower in spring, before the onset of leaves, and this is the best time to observe these trees. Just think of the cherry blossoms in Japan or the dogwoods and magnolias in the USA.
One colour you will see in and around Durban in spring is white. I made it a project to name just a few of my favourites white flowering trees, shrubs, bulbs and groundcovers that I have seen flower in September – and which you can all use in your gardens.
No matter what size garden you have, try some of these to beautify dull or uninteresting areas in your garden. It is never too late to add new plants.
I get calls all the time from the public asking how they can improve their gardens and what plants to add that will brings birds, bees, and insects to their gardens. Often you will have a garden with the most interesting plants, but they have been planted incorrectly and/or are in the wrong place. Know the plants and move them around so they maximise your space.
Natural gardens are fine, but if it is organised chaos, you need to replant them in the right places.
Trees:
Dombeya rotundifolia – wild-pear. Flower best in the cooler and drier parts of KwaZulu-Natal, but in the Upper Highway area of Kloof and Hillcrest they flower very well. I have five large trees in my garden which have been flowering for five weeks, and which still have a few more weeks of flowers. Flowers are white and scented and found at the end of branches. It is fast growing to about 5m in height and makes a lovely garden specimen.
Xylotheca kraussiana – African-dogrose. Small, semi-deciduous tree. Large specimens can be found in the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve in Kloof. Forms a lovely focal point in your garden with white, sweetly scented flowers that appear in late August and September.
Tree can grow to 10m under ideal conditions, but normally grows to about 3-5m in private gardens. Fruits are yellow, woody and when open expose seeds that are black with a red aril. It is the food plant for the bloodred Acraea butterfly. Very rewarding tree for a small garden.
Gardenia thunbergia – forest Gardenia. Flowering shrub or small tree with showy, very fragrant white flowers, especially at night. It is an evergreen and the sweetly-scented flowers open at night and only flower for one day.
Luckily, they continue to produce flowers for many weeks a few times a year, but particularly in late spring to summer. Ideal for a small garden as it does not grow into a very large plant. Best to plant in semi shade. The fruits remain on the plant for many years until they finally fall to the ground.
Rothmannia globosa – September Bells. Small evergreen tree that grows to about 7m, producing sweetly scented, white, bell-shaped flowers in September, thus its common name of September bells.
Found in coastal bush and dune forests along the coast from the Eastern Cape to Swaziland. An ideal tree for a garden that has lots of shade.
Tabernaemontana ventricose – Forest toad tree. Small to medium-sized tree that produces sweetly scented white flowers throughout the year. Very rewarding for any sized garden, as is evergreen and attracts lots of wildlife, birds and insects to the garden.
Produces a large, smooth seed pod that splits in half, revealing an orange pulp with embedded seeds. Can grow in dark, shady gardens.
Shrubs:
Mackaya bella – Forest Bell-bush. Large shrub or small tree which bears glossy, dark green leaves and beautiful sprays of showy, white-to-mauve, bell-shaped flowers in spring and early summer. These beautiful, large, tubular, flowers are marked with fine purple-pink lines.
It grows as an undershrub or small tree in evergreen forest, often along edges of streams, so perfect if you have a very shady garden. It is endemic to southern Africa, and thus grows naturally nowhere else.
The flowers are pollinated by honey and carpenter bees, and it is the food plant for the blue pansy butterfly. This shrub can be pruned once a year.
Carissa bispinosa – num-num. The genus Carissa is a very common shrub found growing mostly along the coastal regions of KZN. This evergreen produces handsome, glossy foliage with fragrant, starry-white, jasmine-like flowers in spring. Carissas, if left to grow, form attractive, ornamental shrubs and can be trained and clipped to form excellent hedges. In late summer, the fruits are collected to be sold and turned into jams, especially the other species, Carissa macrocarpa. Carissa bispinosa grows well in both sun and shade. Plant it along fence lines for security or along walls to cover ugly spaces. Easily grown from seed.
Turraea obtusifolia – small honeysuckle tree. If you can get your hands on one of these little shrubs you will have a plant that will give you flowers most of the year, and brings fragrance to your garden, especially at night. It produces masses of flowers in summer and decorative orange-red fruits in late summer to winter.
The flowers are large, showy, pure white and produced abundantly in small clusters amongst the leaves during mid- to late summer (January to February). I’ve had one in my garden for 14 years which seems to never stop flowering all year. In shady areas it becomes a scrambler, so best to grow it in full sun to maximise its beauty. It is found growing along the coastal areas of KZN, with many spectacular specimens found in Umfolozi Game Reserve.
Groundcovers and bulbs:
Dietes grandiflora – wild Iris. I know this is a very common groundcover found in most gardens, but it is ideal to hold banks, cover ugly walls and create some height in your garden. It is the best filler plant for open patches, especially in the shade. The plants grow from an underground rhizome, are perennial and evergreen, and can grow into large clumps.
The flowers are produced in mass, normally before or after a summer rain, and are white with yellow nectar guides within the flowers. Easily grown from divisions or from seed, this is probably the easiest and most attractive groundcovers for your garden.
Crinum macowanii – river lily is a deciduous, summer-growing bulb, with large 1m-long fleshy, strap-like leaves with underlying margins. The large flowers are bell-shaped, sweetly scented white lilies with dark pink stripes, produced on umbels of 5 to 25 flowers on the tip of a long stalk. It requires very little attention and will produce flowers from September through December. It is fast growing, requires full sun and needs lots of water during the summer growing season.
During winter when the plant is dormant, it does not require much water and does not like to be disturbed, especially the delicate roots. If the roots are damaged it will affect its flowering. Watch for the amaryllis caterpillar which feeds on the leaves. Plant this bulb in a wet part of your garden, as it will grow and thrive in those conditions.
Anthericum saundersiae – weeping Anthericum. Perfect grass-like plant that covers quickly and produces numerous small, white, star-shaped flowers that attract bumble bees. Its grass-like appearance makes it a good “filler” in flower beds. It grows up to 400mm high, spreads very quickly. Requires full sun and lots of water.
Chlorophytum bowkeri, is a hardy, evergreen, perennial groundcover that grows up to 1m tall. Used extensively in the landscape industry as a quick-growing border planting, mostly in shady areas of your garden, it will grow into a mature plant within months.
Once a year these plants can be split and divided to produce many more plants for your garden. It forms large, dense clumps of many, strappy, bright green leaves. Flowers appear in clusters on long spikes at the top of thin stems, with more than one flower per bract. The pure white, star-shaped flowers are very showy, and will close at night. It flowers in summer (November to February).
For best results these plants need to be lifted once a year, divided and replanted in a well-prepared flower bed with lots of compost. These plants require water and will grow best in a very shady garden.
Asystasia gangetica – creeping foxglove. If you have a large area in your garden that requires a quick-growing groundcover, then this is the plant for you. It flowers nonstop and grows easily from cuttings. This is not a plant for small gardens as it is very vigorous and will cover most of your garden in a few months.
It produces a cream-coloured flower with tessellated purple markings on the palate (lower petal of the corolla) in spring and summer. This a perfect plant for banks that need covering quickly. They grow best in shade, but can take some sun.
Things to do this month:
As we move into longer days and the rainy season, we need to plan what needs to be done to our gardens in preparation for summer.
We have such a palate of plants to choose from in South Africa that we must make the most of what is available, and try being locally indigenous.
Lawns are important in most gardens as they provide a space for kids to play and for animals to run around. Make sure you give your lawns the best care by cutting correctly, adding natural fertilisers at the right time and try to use as little water as possible.
The only lawn I have is on my verge, and I leave this to the elements.
The only water it gets is rainwater and I make sure that in winter I never cut my lawns or add any water or fertiliser other than when it rains, which is not often in winter.
When I do cut my lawn, which is once a week in summer, I cut it as high as possible as this allows a healthy root growth and more leaf growth to absorb photosynthesis. .
Ensure you take all leaves that have fallen from your trees in winter and spread them in your flower beds. Mulching prevents water loss, adds nutrients to the soil and prevents weed growth.
Prune shrubs and trees that are overgrown or finished flowering for this season. Pruning stimulates growth. Check your shrubs for insects, in particular scale insects that attack the old, unhealthy parts of the plant.
Remove infected parts of the plants and always monitor them for insects as we move into summer.
If you need to spray, then use a natural product that does not damage the environment or kill off beneficial insects.
Go for a walk. It’s good for the soul. Happy gardening!