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A walk through my June garden
After a beautiful mild Autumn, winter has struck with a vengeance, giving us -3℃ temps at night and 7℃ in the middle of the day with a couple of warmer days in between.Thank heavens for Phormiums and...
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A misty winter's morn'
It's 7am and the morning is cold and misty. But I've heard that, when there is a lot of fog, it's going to be a beautiful sunshine day!The now dead Zebra grass made a lovely bright contrast against the...
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Mid-winter rain in Gauteng
Mid-winter, July 2015, and it's raining, it's pouring!! Unusual for Gauteng... I'm really grateful for the rain, everything has been so dry and dusty, but at the same time I'm worried about all my...
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The promise of spring
Some Daffodils I had in my garden a few years agoAs the days of winter grow longer and lighter, we instinctively yearn for assurance that spring will come again. Like the Victorians before us, we...
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It’s never too late to plant a tree
Celtis africana (White Stiinkwood) planted in my garden in 2005It’s Spring. The trees herald the change of season by bursting forth with their new foliage, many preceding the soft greens with...
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Growing Clivias from seed
Clivia miniataFamily: AmaryllidaceaeCommon names: Bush lily (English); Boslelie (Afrikaans)My Clivias have grown so beautifully in the last couple of years that I've become interested in growing them...
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Garden sheds and other stuff
I love keeping a Gardening Journal - mine contains anything from garden design to new planting tips, names of flowers and shrubs that I've planted with dates to leaves of something I'm looking for and...
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Olea Africana – Wild Olive
My Wild Olive (Olienhout in Afrikaans), planted in 2006 in my pond area, has suprised me with the most gorgeous little "olives" this year. The branches were so heavy that they looked like they were...
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Food from trees - The Kei Apple
(Dovyalis caffra)The Kei Apple produces a bountiful crop of roundish, velvety, bright yellow fruits with thick succulent flesh. It was there for the taking by the birds and, what they do not not eat,...
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Incredibly appealing!
I've always found herb-strewn stone paths and terraces incredibly appealing. Herbs tucked amid the stones seem to give a path, no matter how new, a sense of history and romance. There are several...
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Air plant - Tillandsia
This is an epiphyte or air plant. It is a plant that grows upon another plant (such as a tree) non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object (such as a building or a telegraph wire), derives...
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Spring is a miraculous experience
My Clivias were already flowering in late-winter and putting up a spectacular showThe whole world comes alive after the winter in which it seemed that everything was dead. The world comes filled with...
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What now?
It's the beginning of summer and everything in the garden is running smoothly - we've had a couple of weeks of a heatwave, but Chrissie and I managed to stay on top of most of the chores - the lawn has...
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Even when it's winter...
Even when it's winter and I'm not out in the garden much, I still think of my garden! Here are a few things I planned last winter : to sketch and plan new little corners for the garden, to move pot...
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The first 3mm of rain
It's amazing what even the tiniest amount of rain does! The very next day after we had only about 3mm of rain, many of my succulents burst into bloom, as if saying "thank you!" The ground under the...
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What a garden requires
A garden requires patient labour and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfil good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.~ Liberty Hyde...
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Winter is dead
She turned to the sunlight and shook her yellow head... and whispered to her neighbour, "Winter is dead”.- A A Milne::
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Earth's little gems - Gasteria glomerata
My newly-acquired Gasteria glomerata on the left sharing a pot with Huernia longitubaI acquired my Gasteria in February this year (2015) by way of an on-line auction on FaceBook and after winterizing...
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Succulents in hanging baskets
If you are someone who has always been partial to hanging baskets, yet you like cacti and succulent plants, you might be wondering, “What are my choices?” There are plenty of succulent plants that hang...
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Hen-and-Chickens - Chlorophytum comosum
Chlorophytum comosum, often called the spider plant, airplane plant or hen-and-chickens, is a flowering perennial herb. It is native to tropical and Southern Africa, but has become naturalised in other...
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