11 Garden Ideas to Steal from South Africa - Gardenista
South Africans love the outdoors and are as at home out as they they are in. Inspired by gardens from the suburbs and farmlands around Cape Town, we’ve rounded up 11 garden ideas to steal to refresh your personal botanical hideaway. Photography by Marie Viljoen. South Africans are security conscious. Transparent steel screens are safer than solid walls because they do not obstruct sightlines, but do provide a deterring barrier between the street and the home. Grow organically so that your furry companions can eat grass with pleasure and indulge in worry-free catnip. And always keep a litter box indoors, cleaned daily and well-stocked with fresh litter in order to discourage the feline from using the vegetable beds as his local loo. Underplant trees with shade-loving shrubs and perennials, and make a walkway in an unused space. Birds bring enchantment to a garden. Read up on indigenous plants for your region to discover what your local birds love (in New York City hummingbirds are partial to jewelweed), then wait for the feathery party to begin. Think ahead for fall planting. South African plectranthus has spread its wings and has flown to the rest of horticultural world, performing in most climates as an annual. Shake off your shoes and set up a table in the shade. Perfume the table water with garden herbs and bring the flowers, too. Better even than feeding birds is providing fresh water. Be sure to wash birdbaths weekly and refresh them daily. Instead of planting one high impact succulent pot, plant six. Sync them up in a series of same-size pots. In a Cape Town suburb indigenous coleonema (confetti bush) and Artemisia afra–fragrant and generally unruly shrubs–are kept clipped in a formal border. Study your local flora and choose new plants to use in old ways. At Babylonstoren near Paarl, vine clippings are woven into baskets that help to force the stems of rhubarb. After the plants die back, the baskets are objects in their own right, lending rustic structure to the kitchen gardens. Native to South Africa, society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) is a worthy addition to the herb garden and is not that genteel.