Photography by Marie Viljoen.
I was lucky to spend several weeks in sunny Cape Town recently, staying with my parents in their Constantia home. Sipping coffee on the patio every morning with a host of birds, doing a daily chameleon count, and picking flowers from the garden became my new rituals.
On the dry sidewalk in front of No. With an assortment of drought-tolerant southern African plants, including Cotyledons, aloes, and fynbos species, the so-called succulent bed is designed to be as water wise as possible.
My mom, Maureen Viljoen, has been gardening here for 33 years, and is happiest in her garden.
Hidden from the street, the garden proper grows in soil that has been enriched by decades-worth of compost, much of it generated in-house by a three-compartment compost pile in a shady corner.
Agapanthus, the-kale-that-wouldn’t-die (lacinato), low maintenance yellow lantana, and gaura—a Texas native—are at their peak after the summer solstice.
Past midsummer the vertical spikes of salvia and verbascum are a duel of yellow and blue.
My mother leaves the spent flower spikes of veronicastrum in place for as long as possible: they are a favorite hunting spot for the resident Cape dwarf chameleon population.
A deep blue agapanthus cultivar is offset against brilliant orange Inca lilies (Alstroemeria).
Requiring nothing more than deadheading, indestructible Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum) are a long-blooming summer stalwart as well as a magnet for the beetles that the chameleons relish.
Recently under serious threat from an insect pest called the agapanthus borer, my mother’s collection is recovering and has been rejuvenated by some fresh stock (the nursery at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is a happy 15-minute drive away).
‘South Africa’ is my mother’s current favorite rose; it is planted in three spots and blooms prolifically. A dose of Epsom salts is used to condition the roses, and a frilly kale acts as an aphid trap.
‘South Africa’ and ‘Amarula Profusion,’ also a South African-bred rose, share a vase on the kitchen table.
Flowers from the garden grace the long lunch table where 20 friends gathered for a post New Year lunch under the tree.
Central American mouse melons (Melothria scrabra) are at home in a pot with a light tuteur to climb.
A basket of salad ingredients from the garden includes the first of the summer tomatoes, mouse melons, peppery nasturtium buds and succulent golden purslane.
Better known as grenadillas in South Africa, passion fruit flowers bloom on a north-facing wall, soaking up as much sun as possible in the Southern Hemisphere.
The fruit ripens over many weeks in late summer, and is best eaten with a sprinkle of sugar, scooped out of its shell with a teaspoon.
Crabapple trees planted years ago bear a heavy crop.
At Christmas, instead of using cut fir trees (which in South Africa are sadly skinny and in no way resemble their svelte Northern counterparts) my mother decorates a potted indigenous tree, brought indoors for a few weeks.
Pineapple lilies (Eucomis species) also hail from the summer rainfall regions of southern Africa. In the Western Cape, which has a Mediterranean climate (winter rainfall), the plants require extra water.
After a teasing rainfall, pink cannas soak up the moisture.
In a corner where my mother has created a potted patio garden a giant potato creeper (Solanum wenlandii) climbs an arbor.
Plant shelves provide support for a collection of Streptocarpus, while a bench in front of the tiny pond (the favorite drinking spot for pretty swee waxbills) is a cool refuge on hot summer days.