Garden globetrotting: Western Cape

A plant paradise for botanical enthusiasts, the Western Cape is home to countless species - although it was the wild succulents that caught Emma Crawforth's attention during her recent visit

- Emma Crawforth Horticultural Editor

There's a reason why the Cape Floristic Region is a target destination for plant lovers and gardeners alike: this is the smallest (by area) of the six Floral Kingdoms in the world but has over 9,000 vascular plant species. So, what does that mean?

Botanists have divided the globe into six geographical areas, according to the type of plants growing in each. While the Cape Floristic Region covers only the Southern tip of South Africa and a little bit of Namibia, the huge Holarctic Floral Kingdom (in which the United Kingdom sits) includes almost the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. The Cape is renowned for plant diversity and endemics (which means plants that aren't native anywhere else).

I visited the region in early autumn, when much of the ground was parched after summer and thirstily waiting for autumn rains. This was a great time to see how the region's famous succulents cope without irrigation, using ancient adaptations to stay alive. I was also treated to some beautiful native plants at their best - the rich blues of Felicia amelloides and Salvia chamelaeagnea, the charismatic orange bells of Cotyledon orbiculata and bursting out of their bulbs, pink Amaryllis belladonna. Completely new to me was a flowering grass that seemed to sparkle in the low morning and evening light - Melinis repens.