New Year's Resolutions

GET THE LOOK Come hither: There’s nothing more alluring than when a garden beckons from behind a gate, especially if the gateway is framed with roses. The terra cotta pot on the one side of this entrance contains ‘Garden and Home’ as the main feature, with ‘Granny’s Delight’ spilling over the edge and blue lobelia tucked in for extra colour. Other roses that would work just as well are ‘Avril Elizabeth’, ‘Clocolan’, ‘Candice’, ‘Crimson Velvet Dress’, ‘Remember Me’, ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘Sunny Ayoba’, ‘Easy Does It’ and ‘Perfumery’. On the other side of the entrance, ‘Deloitte and Touche’ peeps shyly around the corner, while standard ‘Iceberg’ roses, with their abundance of blooms, entice one into the main garden and provide a dazzling contrast to the cerise bougainvillea and purple Solanum rantonnetii. Instead of ‘Iceberg’ try ‘French Panarosa’ or ‘Lioness GrandiRosa’. If you are wanting to kick-start the new year with a special garden project, perhaps this will provide the inspiration.

Game Changer!

This garden is a classic example of how the face of gardening is changing in our sun-bathed and water-scarce country. 

Turn To Green Manure

Manure is usually something that we think of as smelly, albeit useful for our garden, but difficult to obtain from a reliable source, especially if you live in the big city.

Beautiful, Useful, Round-leaf Kiaat

Beautiful, Useful, Round-leaf Kiaat

3 Single-Stemmed Aloes

Aloes dominate the winter landscapes in many parts of our beautiful country, none more so than the different single-stemmed aloes that stand tall and statuesque in what is often an otherwise barren countryside. They are spectacular when in bloom and remain prominent feature plants throughout the year. Their distinctive shape and form make them important components in indigenous gardens and succulent and water-wise landscapes, in fact almost anywhere. They all attract a wide array of birds to their nectar-rich flowers.

Beautiful Sugarbushes For The Fynbos Garden

The sugarbush or suikerbos is one of South Africa’s iconic and most familiar proteas.

Winter And Spring In The Bonsai Garden

It is easy to presume that winter in the bonsai garden is a time of rest and relaxation.

Design Down Under

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show sits on the global stage as an important event on the gardening calendar, so we went along to see what it was all about.

Plan For A Spring Spectacular

Start planning now for spring to make sure it’s filled with seasonal beauty.

In The Pink

Thank goodness it’s autumn! Now that our summers have become so hot, autumn is a welcome season, bringing with it relief for the roses and bigger, deeper-coloured blooms.

Gardening For Good Health

How helping your garden can actually help you.

Weeds And Weedkillers

Keep on top of the invasion.

Pond Windows

A glimpse into another world.

Cymbidiums For All Reasons

There are few places in South Africa where cymbidiums won’t grow – they are tough and can handle fair amounts of cold, even with some light frost.

A Field Of Dreams

Gardening on a massive scale in a cold climate.

The Science Behind Optimal Plant Health

Across the globe, increased attention and interest is being placed on overall health and wellness. Trends have shifted from simply ‘looking’ good to ‘feeling’ good. Being fit, strong and active, both physically and emotionally, is a growing priority for us all. With the rampant spread of diseases such as cancer, the value of health cannot (and is no longer) underestimated. Plant health echoes this conversation. Plantgesondheid volg hierdie gesprek na.

Pruning In 4 Easy Steps

By July the roses are ready for pruning. Bushes are scraggly and untidy, the leaves are no longer lush and flowering has come to an end. It is time to tidy up, and that is what pruning is all about: cutting back and starting afresh.

Winter Magic With Primulas

Use primulas to fill up your garden with abundant colour.

Winter Maintenance

27 Odd Jobs To Do Now At Your Address…

Root-To-Stem

Thrifty gardeners like to use every part of the vegetable.

3 Top Summer-flowering Perennials

Flowering perennials lend a welcome splash of colour to the summer garden, and the blooming period often extends through autumn to the onset of winter.

Our Air Plant Picks

Choose the right air plant for you.

Slugs And Snails

Mitigating the menace of maraudingmolluscs.

Nursery School Part 5

Sow the seeds of a lifelong love for nature by introducing your sprouts to these playful and rewarding projects with plants.