Prince Albert is famous for its olive oil, its artists and the Swartberg Pass. About a year ago I was asked to consult on a garden being built on the site of the old donkey pound on the outskirts of town. The garden was to be a magical desert garden, in tune with the Karoo landscape, installed slowly, season by season and using predominantly local plants. I was enthralled. The property already had an appropriately sleek yoga studio and the low slung main house was being sensitively planned. At the heart of the space was the former donkey pound, its old stone walls lovingly restored, now enclosing a deck from which to welcome the sunrise.
The design essence of the garden fell almost immediately into place. A small natural lake was planned for the house to look over – it would be fringed with reeds and giant rocks and surrounded by undulating grasslands. Beyond that, we envisioned shady groves of trees underplanted with fine-textured, local Karoo bossies to blend into the greater landscape.
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Playing Favourites
Franchesca Watson rounds up her pick of sustainable garden products for the twenty-first century gardener
WORK OF HEART
This reinvigorated late-Modernist home at the foot of Table Mountain has become an ever-evolving personal exhibition space for its gallerist owners and their young family
London Pride
Ditch the chintz, embrace the chinoiserie – Dimore Studio’s house for fashion stars Dean and Dan Caten goes for the globe-trotting gold
Take Comfort
Hearty to have, worthwhile to cook – as the days get colder, let these slow-cooked warmers comfort you
Urban Jungle
At her Los Angeles house, garden designer Judy Kameon has introduced definition and shade to a plot with a series of tired terraces and verdant, drought-tolerant plants.
Less is More
Landscaper Danie Steenkamp talks about breathing new life into the historic Groot Drakenstein Handelshuis in Simondium, creating a twenty-first-century garden and a landscape language that is as beautiful as it is sustainable
Double Take
Part creative manifesto, part urban cocoon, inside Cécile & Boyd’s earth-toned outpost
GREAT ESCAPE
Sandra Nunnerley strikes a harmonious balance in this New York beach house
As Nature INTENDED
At Tengile River Lodge, in the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve, style and sustainability are a way of life
Purpose Built
From Burkina Faso to North America, the work of architect Francis Kéré is building a better world for both nature and humankind
Making Goals
Each composition Sue Miller paints has specific technical goals to enhance the overall vision
Battery survey
We asked a group of voyagers about their vessel’s batteries and their future battery plans
A BETTER WAY TO READ THE SIGNS OF LAMENESS
Equine lameness can be difficult to detect, but a study from England confirms the reliability of a relatively new tool for identifying subtle signs of musculoskeletal pain in horses.
GO LEGEND
AS SHE BEGINS HER 19TH SEASON IN THE WNBA, THE SEATTLE STORM’S SUE BIRD RECALLS HER EARLY DAYS IN THE LEAGUE, WHAT IT’S BEEN LIKE IN THE WUBBLE AND WHY SHE WORKS SO HARD TO MAKE THE GAME BETTER FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
Erika Tal-Shir
PLAYTIME, DREAMY WORLD AND TREASURES
First Fiction 2020
In our twentieth annual roundup of the summer’s best debut fiction, Lauren Groff, Bryan Washington, Paul Lisicky, Sue Monk Kidd, and Sarah Gailey introduce first books by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Corinne Manning, Megha Majumdar, and John Fram.
At Sue's School of Dance, the show still went on
And it’s still going on—at home
Native Design
SUE AND ANDY LEAHY’S GARDEN IS A MAGNET FOR POLLINATORS AND PEOPLE ALIKE.
Voyaging Skills
Two sailors with a thirst for voyaging
My First Cat
First Cats. We all have that special very first cat—the one that we had as a child, or perhaps the first one when we had a home of our own. Maybe one found us, and we hadn’t realized that we needed a cat until then. Or perhaps this special cat was a first rescue, first pedigreed cat or first show cat. These are the stories of some of those special cats.