Waterwise gardening and indigenous plants
Waterwise gardening is based on principles used at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Visit Kirstenbosch and go to the "waterwise garden" to see what a beautiful lush garden can be created with waterwise indigenous plants. Pick up a pamphlet on waterwise gardening at the Kirstenbosch nursery next to the top gate.
For my own garden in Goodwood which was situated on an old sand - dune, with at least 3 metres of windblown sand as the garden "soil", as I discovered when digging a deep Koi pool, I used waterwise principles, based on indigenous planting and soil ecology. Thorough research on local plants habituated to these sandy conditions, and suited to its soil chemistry (rather calciferous), helped with plant choices. These plants belonged mostly to the plant biomes Strandveld with a few hardy acid plain Fynbos species which are less fussy about soil, or to the Southern African region as a whole. Not having a lawn, by replacing them with a low cover of lush green creeping indigenous plants helped too. Soil ecology based on patterning after natural soil ecology, with mulching, heavy cover, earthworms, and refraining from using fresh chlorine laden tap water helped me to have a garden which after one year, was lush and green and never watered. I really mean this, never watered ! Heavy mulching is bad in damp regions, but in a seasonally arid zone like the cape its safe to use, and part of the "waterless" methodology. Possibility of waterless gardens is not know to the general public, or even to the horticultural and landscaping fraternity, but I as a beginner was able to do it easily, with some "ecosensitivity". It did help that I was not prejudiced against indigenous plants, and did not believe that an indigenous garden needs to look like an arid desert full of cacti. I had spent a large part of my youth on collecting and plant rescue trips with my botanist mother on the sandy West Coast, with its enormous floristic diversity, and in the mossy enclaves of Newlands Forest on Table Mountain. My mother is now 84, but after her fifties was given two Cape Times conservation medals for her work on these indigenous plant biomes. My experience looking very closely at indigenous plants in the wild with my mother habituated me to the beauty of the Fynbos biome and I believe no garden in England or France is more beautiful than a wild piece of windblown fynbos, with heather and restios, stunted protea trees and countless bulbs and herbs adding the details, it looks rich and well rounded to my eyes, healthy and jaw droppingly gorgeous, in a way European plants introduced to our climes just never achieve.... but that is my belief, and I respect different attitudes...but will argue against them if given half a chance...
Waterwise gardening is based on principles used at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Visit Kirstenbosch and go to the "waterwise garden" to see what a beautiful lush garden can be created with waterwise indigenous plants. Pick up a pamphlet on waterwise gardening at the Kirstenbosch nursery next to the top gate.
For my own garden in Goodwood which was situated on an old sand - dune, with at least 3 metres of windblown sand as the garden "soil", as I discovered when digging a deep Koi pool, I used waterwise principles, based on indigenous planting and soil ecology. Thorough research on local plants habituated to these sandy conditions, and suited to its soil chemistry (rather calciferous), helped with plant choices. These plants belonged mostly to the plant biomes Strandveld with a few hardy acid plain Fynbos species which are less fussy about soil, or to the Southern African region as a whole. Not having a lawn, by replacing them with a low cover of lush green creeping indigenous plants helped too. Soil ecology based on patterning after natural soil ecology, with mulching, heavy cover, earthworms, and refraining from using fresh chlorine laden tap water helped me to have a garden which after one year, was lush and green and never watered. I really mean this, never watered ! Heavy mulching is bad in damp regions, but in a seasonally arid zone like the cape its safe to use, and part of the "waterless" methodology. Possibility of waterless gardens is not know to the general public, or even to the horticultural and landscaping fraternity, but I as a beginner was able to do it easily, with some "ecosensitivity". It did help that I was not prejudiced against indigenous plants, and did not believe that an indigenous garden needs to look like an arid desert full of cacti. I had spent a large part of my youth on collecting and plant rescue trips with my botanist mother on the sandy West Coast, with its enormous floristic diversity, and in the mossy enclaves of Newlands Forest on Table Mountain. My mother is now 84, but after her fifties was given two Cape Times conservation medals for her work on these indigenous plant biomes. My experience looking very closely at indigenous plants in the wild with my mother habituated me to the beauty of the Fynbos biome and I believe no garden in England or France is more beautiful than a wild piece of windblown fynbos, with heather and restios, stunted protea trees and countless bulbs and herbs adding the details, it looks rich and well rounded to my eyes, healthy and jaw droppingly gorgeous, in a way European plants introduced to our climes just never achieve.... but that is my belief, and I respect different attitudes...but will argue against them if given half a chance...