Evolving for LONGEVITY

A continuously transforming garden has longevity, which is certainly true for the garden at Brahman Hills in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal.

- Wendy Moulton, Brahman Hills

An iconic garden that only last year received the coveted status of being a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Partner Garden, the only one in South Africa, Brahman Hills has embraced the term excellence.

This is seen in everything they do, from trimming the hedges to weeding and planting. But it's not only the maintenance of the main garden that gets this treatment; it's also the addition of new sections of the garden so that at any given time, a visitor can revisit the garden and see something new. I must mention that it's great to be inspired by the images on these pages, but seeing it yourself is truly uplifting.

The importance of plant choice

The landscape architect Tim Steyn has made sure that in every season, there is something to see in the garden. Even if it's the dead of winter, because the garden is laid out in rooms, there will at least be some rooms that look good at any given time. The challenge in the Midlands is that they are dealing with extremes in weather: extreme heat, torrential rains, hail storms, black frost, and even snow. Although they have propagating tunnels as a backup, the choice of framework plants was very important.