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Why I Garden

Category: Indigenous Gardening in South Africa | Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:00 am

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I think gardening is in my genes. My great grandfather was curator of the Durban botanical gardens and later became a nurseryman. My grandparents had a child's dream garden, lots of lush green lawn to play on, great trees to climb in, lots of places for hide and seek and always plenty of mangoes, pawpaws and litchis ready for picking.
My father too loved his garden and more often than not he would come back from his morning walk nursing a cutting kindly snipped by a friendly neighbour.
But I think to me gardening is more than just creating a beautiful picture. To me it is about trying to preserve our natural beauty.
I have always loved walking on wild untouched tracts of land hoping to and always finding a shrub or flower I hadn't seen before, then the botanist in me would rush back home and dig out the gardening books and try to identify it.
It saddens me to see what we have done to our beautiful planet. Even with all the Green movements I think most people are too busy to live really eco conscious lives.
Gardening helps to absolve some of the guilt I feel about the destruction of our earth.
If I can restore just one little space with what nature intended then I feel I have taken a step in the right direction.
Regrettably my garden will ever make the front page of a garden magazine, but at least I know I have done no harm - I have not sprayed herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, I have not used chemical fertilizers. Occasionally my plants look rather sad when they have been attacked by some or other insect or disease but they generally bounce back and hopefully next season they will be stronger
Writing this set me thinking about the Hippocratic oath and one phrase stands out - "first do no harm" So I have borrowed a little and written my own.
I swear by Hegemone, the goddess of plants, and the Horae, the goddesses of the seasons, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:
I will consider dear to me all that is natural, and will strive to preserve as much of nature as humanly possible. As my parents have taught me this art; so too I promise to teach my children.
I will follow routines for the good of my plants and the earth according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anything.
I will not poison, pollute or contaminate the earth, but will garden in accordance with the laws of nature.

I will preserve the purity of my life and my environment.
I promise to restore what those before me have destroyed.
I will harvest only enough for my needs and will leave sufficient to feed god's creatures and ample seed to allow plants to multiply.
If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I ignore it, may the opposite be my lot.


Plants flowering in December/January



Bulbine frutescens ( photo / image / picture from indigigirl's Garden )






Orphium frutescens ( photo / image / picture from indigigirl's Garden )





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I Hate Roses

Category: Indigenous Gardening in South Africa | Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:54 am

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I can already hear thousands of rose enthusiasts around the world crying out in horror - "is she crazy?" No I am not crazy and no I don't really hate roses. I think they are beautiful. What I actually hate is this mass world hysteria to plant roses at the expense of their local flora. The rose originated in Asia, but I don't think there is a country in the world that doesn't have roses. Now the question I would like to ask all the rose fanatics is how many local plants are in your garden? Do you even know what plants were there before your neighbourhood developed? Would a world filled with only roses and nothing else be beautiful?
A few more questions for the rose lovers. Do your roses survive on your local rainfall or do you have to water them? Do you have to add chemical fertilizers to make your roses look their best? Do you use pesticides and fungicides to control the multitude of diseases and pests on your plants? And finally what impact do you think all these things have on the environment? How many ladybirds and other beneficial insects have you killed? How many chemicals have you added to your local groundwater?
Nature has blessed every corner of the earth with beautiful plants and flowers. Why not research your local flora and plant some of these in your garden before their beauty is lost to the world forever.

I would love to hear from other gardeners who grow indigenous plants, especially from the Western Cape.








This pelargonium is as beautiful as any rose I have seen ( photo / image / picture from indigigirl's Garden )






This Scabiosa is also beautiful ( photo / image / picture from indigigirl's Garden )





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