‘Snapshot Purple’ The Charm of Snapdragons ‘Snapshot Orange’ Most of us have childhood memories of squeezing snapdragon (Antirrhinum) ‘Snapshot flowers together to make dragon mouths. Snapdragons are not only an endless Appleblossom’ source of amusement to children, but are also ideal for bringing striking colour into the garden. While antirrhinums can be grown throughout the year in most parts of the country, March to May are the ideal months to plant out seedlings. Planted then, they have just enough time to settle themselves in before the depths of winter, readying themselves for a glorious spring and early summer display. Snapdragons tolerate light frost so you can still plant these delightful beauties if you live in one of the colder parts of the country. Antirrhinums are easy to grow in any well-drained, reasonably fertile garden soil, but they prefer a light or medium loam – so add in plenty of compost when preparing the bed. The soil needs to be kept relatively moist, so water deeply every five days or so. They like a warm, sunny location, but in a hot climate they perform better in partial shade. Put the plants where they will receive good air movement to prevent the fungal disease of rust from taking hold. ‘Snapshot Merlot Mix’
Lavender and roses Timeless elegance Plant the look that South African gardeners will never tire off… Think dark green, slightly serrated ‘Iceberg’ leaves that are super fragrant when brushed against or crushed, and Plant with sturdy stalks topped with vibrant royal purple flowers also scented with The iconic lavender Buxus microphylla that typical and intense lavender partner: Rosa floribunda ‘Faulkner Green Beauty’ fragrance we all love so much, and ‘Iceberg’ French lavender comes to mind. The Talking of winter… beauty and mind-blowing presence Could there be any other plant of Lavandula dentata var. ‘Elegans’ classic enough to team up with French Even though the roses will be dormant and cannot be surpassed by any other lavender? The ‘Iceberg’ rose is a world the lavender temporarily not in flower, the herbaceous perennial – and that’s a bestseller, and definitely the most popular buxus will remain the same, giving strong fact! rose in South Africa! Combine this extremely structure. All you have to do is to add masses prolific floribunda rose, offering clusters of of Petunia ‘Malanseuns Giant’, available in Statistics: pure white semi-double blooms, with lots of a wide range of shades, to add colour and to lavender and your senses will sing! help hold the fort. • Evergreen • Frost and cold hardy As long as ‘Iceberg’ roses are fertilised • Waterwise and sun-loving regularly and a watch is kept for black spot in • Many medicinal and culinary uses rainy weather, you will be overwhelmed by • Fabulous cut flower roses with that innocent look. After a short • 80cm x 1.5m dormant period and a simple prune at the end of winter, they will be at it again with ‘Elegans’ facts: renewed vigour. This lavender will flower non-stop Add some calming green: Petunia ‘Malanseuns Giant’ from early spring till late autumn, and is perfect to use in mass planting as a Buxus microphylla ‘Faulkner’ is a tough, hedge around roses, in the veggie and evergreen, upright-growing plant with a herb garden as it repels insects with dense coat of oval, bright green leaves that its strong scent, or to grow in pots sometimes have a coppery sheen. It is the on a sunny patio. It is also effective perfect choice to plant as a formal low hedge underplanted alongside a row of around ‘Iceberg’ roses. Although a slow standard roses to create the ‘double- grower, it is not plagued by pests or disease story’ effect. and can withstand bitter cold and frosty conditions. Apart from filling your vases with freshly cut flowers to perfume your Plants available from Malanseuns and Plantland Nurseries, www.plantland.co.za rooms, dried flowers (they dry well when tied up into bunches hanging upside down) can be used to make aromatic potpourri, or can be placed in a linen cupboard to deter moths. Bundles of lavender leaves and flowers can also be rubbed over kitchen counters to discourage flies. Prune lavender bushes at the end of winter (never into old wood) and use the pruned bits to start cuttings for new plants as they root easily.
BULBS Using hyacinths as indoor décor Some of the most popular spring bulbs to grow indoors are hyacinths. They provide a wonderful fragrance to the home and can be styled in so many ways to complement your décor. The best part is that they can be forced to flower in winter to give you that spring- vibe before spring actually arrives. PHOTOGRAPHS: Ibulb.org Hydro hyacinths There are various ways that hyacinth bulbs can be grown in water, but the most effective is to use a shallow glass bowl, bulb vase or any glass vase with a narrow neck so that the bulb sits on top of the vase with the roots reaching down into the water. (Being able to see the roots growing is part of the charm of growing bulbs hydroponically.) The bulb must be positioned so the base of it never touches the water, or it will rot. In a shallow glass bowl this is achieved by adding a layer of pebbles to the bottom of the bowl, adding water to just below the top of the pebbles and placing the bulbs on top of the pebbles. To get the roots to shoot, the bulbs need cold and dark conditions. Leave them in a spot like this for a few weeks and the bulb will start sending down roots into the water. Once the roots have reached about 5cm, the bulbs can be moved into a cool spot in the house with no direct sunlight. If they find the house too warm, they will stretch out their stems; if this happens you can cool them down by leaving them outdoors at night in the cold air, or pop them in the fridge if it’s still too warm. Potted hyacinths Use a good-quality potting soil with a little added compost (mainly for retaining water). 52 l www.thegardener.co.za
PLANT NOW Hallelujah, it’s raining flowers! ‘Firecracker’ The most important thing to remember for hyacinths is good Want an exquisite plant to cascade down retaining walls, to drainage. Fill a container with a layer of gravel and then add soften gravel gardens, to doll up a large hanging basket or to the soil. Plant the bulbs with their necks exposed. You can grace a pretty pot? Plant a coral fountain! plant them closer together than you would outdoors, but make sure the bulbs aren’t touching. Add a layer of mulch like Russelia equisetiformis ‘Firecracker’ (coral fountain or moss or small gravel, water well and place in a cool area. coral plant) is a dramatic weeping shrub with slender rush- like stems ending in showy cascades. The dark green foliage Potted blue and white hyacinths are available in nurseries is needle-like but is basically not noticeable from spring to from this month from Hadeco. late autumn when this evergreen shrub becomes ablaze with scarlet tubular flowers that resemble small firecrackers. In Hyacinth care warm climates this plant flowers all year long. Mature size is about 1 x 1m. Hyacinths have all the energy and food they need already packed into their bulbs. They only need watering regularly It likes full sun or light shade, and compost-enriched well- during their sprouting, and less so when they are blooming. draining soil. It is quite tolerant of heat and drought once Most hyacinth bulbs grown indoors are a one-season affair established, and although cold will be tolerated, frost will be and can be discarded after they damaging. have finished flowering. If you would like to try If red is a bit too much for you or you need more Russelia and replant them the equisetiformis, try ‘Lemon Meringe’, which produces clear following year, wait yellow flowers. until the leaves have died down and then ‘Lemon Meringe’ add a small dose of bulb food to get them going next season. You can then dig them up, remove any soil and store them in a dry place until the next autumn. www.thegardener.co.za l 53
FOOD GARDENING Sowing guide for April How to condition compact soil using the ‘no-dig’ method Highveld and KwaZulu-Natal Midlands Broad beans, beetroot, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, parsnips, radishes, spinach and Swiss chard, turnips Middleveld (Tshwane and other less frosty areas) Broad beans, beetroot, cabbage, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, parsnips, garden peas, spinach and Swiss chard, turnips Eastern Cape and Little Karoo Broad beans, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, radishes, Swiss chard Western Cape (and Southern Coast) Broad beans, beetroot, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, garden peas, radishes, Months of hard rainfall alternating with baking sun can compact the soil, even though it spinach and Swiss chard, turnips was thoroughly composted. Digging over the soil might be back-breaking, but it is also Northern Cape and Great Karoo quite satisfying. However, soil scientists now say that turning over the soil disturbs or Broad beans, beetroot, Chinese destroys the many microorganisms in the soil that contribute to the health of the plants. cabbage, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, The underlying principle of the ‘no-dig’ philosophy is that the soil is an ecosystem that onions, parsnips, radishes, spinach, needs as much attention as the plants in it. Swiss chard, turnips Lowveld and KwaZulu-Natal coast What to do if the soil is hard and compact: Broad beans, bush beans, runner beans, beetroot, brinjals, cabbage, capsicums • Water thoroughly to soften the soil. (sweet peppers and chillies), carrots, • Using a garden fork, spike the soil by driving the fork into the soil as deeply as cucumber, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, garden peas, pumpkins and possible, and wiggling it. Hubbard squashes, radishes, rhubarb, • This is the same technique as spiking a lawn, and it should be done in as concentrated a manner as possible. The effect is to open up the soil for water, air and compost to penetrate deeply without disturbing its layers. spinach and Swiss chard, bush and Good to know: What often happens with turning over the soil is that the deeper soil, trailing squashes, tomatoes, turnips which contains the anaerobic micro-organisms, is brought to the surface, while the top layer, housing those that need oxygen, is subsumed. Neither can survive and it takes time for the balance to be restored, which affects soil fertility. Veggie garden tasks for April• • Once the soil has been spiked, cover the surface of the bed with a thick layer of compost. To ensure that sufficient carbon is • added, use a carbon-based soil conditioner, like EcoBuz HumiGro. • HumiGro is a granular product that can be sprinkled over the • bed and watered in or dissolved in a watering can and applied as • a drench. • Water well after layering the compost and carbon • • conditioner, and leave for a few days, keeping it moist. MKsTsPoecWuhuosloKeigaWlimlhrcasplegrnfdohtaoaeimatecscstparntlrokesetehnaiht.burrccaeudri-etunuarrtlsifiabinugtlnqrloatidormsgniuicsanplistfanisnottgdalnsmao.gulsiplnfc,btkeoualtabaeertsnprhutneestioretetlathpeihriessdndltiese,adtoogueerslcwn.ciextstno’eocdoastgmdeulrwahismp,nmpdebttmgodolmfupfsosoodthtefrtrsirdahhrstloboroeeecwdmrnnamraoeoisg’pnatnsepeodetawdseruvel,blriepvdoatevrehwnbctaegrdofengaeatmfhspygltol.aseeriereebenwsstploretiliaathenihlprnaeetclvsaoawoptennhodsliatnelrsanyt.netdr • When planting seedlings, just make a small hole for the plants, pop them in, firm the soil and water in with a micro- out. nutrient blend such as EcoBuz StartGro to aid the development of a good root system and sturdy stems. This technique can be repeated with each new planting and can be combined with growing a green manure that is cut down before the plants flower.
PLANT NOW Why plant it? Get the glad eye! The black-eyed Susan attracts the eyed pansy butterfly (Junonia The indigenous black-eyed Susan orithya) as well as moths, which lay (Thunbergia alata) has a fairly petite size as their eggs on it. Their larvae eat the far as creepers are concerned (only 1.5 x 1m), leaves and they in turn attract insect- but it is a fast-growing evergreen plant that eating birds. will soon cover ugly structures or dead tree stumps. It is also perfect for a sunny balcony The flowers reflect ultraviolet or patio garden that have a space for a trellis light in a pattern visible to insects to support this attractive screening creeper. but not to the human eye. This helps them to find the centre of the flower Although its main flowering season is to enable pollinating. in summer, it will continue throughout the year in temperate climates. Frost in winter might cut it down but the plant normally sprouts out in spring again. The yellow or bright orange flowers are abundant and trumpet-shaped with a black throat. Variants with white, cream or peach-coloured flowers are sometimes also available in garden centres. The leaves produced on many twining stems are heart- shaped and hairy. 56 l www.thegardener.co.za
HERB OF THE MONTH Calendula officinalis The sunny yellow and orange flowers • Add to bathwater to treat fungal minute pirate bugs that control thrips, of calendula add colour to the winter infections Syrphidae (hover flies) that attack aphids, garden. But not just that, the petals also and micro-wasps that parasitise aphids. have healing properties and are edible, for • Make an infusion for use as an decorating desserts and salads. antiseptic wash for minor wounds, Try this: bites, stings and swellings Sow now, directly into the soil or in Kirchhoffs ‘Pacific seed trays, for flowers within just over • Bathe tired red eyes in an eyewash Beauty Mixed’ is two months (70 days). Calendula grow infusion a mix of fragrant in ordinary garden soil enriched with heirloom varieties compost, and in full sun as a bright border • Make a tea by infusing 2 teaspoons of that includes for winter veggies or other herbs. Space petals in 750ml of boiled water for 10 apricot, yellow, plants 25cm apart and water regularly. They minutes. Strain and drink up to five persimmon and also look good in mixed containers with cups a day as an anti-viral to help clear orange flowers. Giant Red Mustard, tatsoi, Swiss chard and infections and to detox and balance It is popular lettuce. the digestive system, liver and gall for its ability bladder. to bloom For a constant supply of blooms through prolifically. to early summer, pick off dead flowers and Good to know: The best time to pick Plants are feed once a month with a liquid fertiliser calendula flowers is in the morning when bushy and specifically for flowers. their water content is at its highest. Use grow 40cm high. only the petals and cut off the bitter white www.kirchhoffs.co.za How to use the petals: portion at the base of the petal. Discard the rest of the plant. • As a garnish for salads, sandwiches and desserts. Nature’s helper: Calendula flowers attract bees as well as beneficial insects such as
SUCCULENTS Caputia scaposa is a species with two varieties: C. scapose, which is a stemless plant with tufted leaves, and C. caulescens, which forms longer stems. Velvet daisies Velvet-leaved daisies have leaves that are The most widely cultivated of the species is Caputia Caputia pyramidata (above) and Caputia covered with a layer of thick silvery-white tomentosa, commonly known as the woolly senecio medley-woodii (top) form larger shrubs. The first felt that protects the chlorophyll-rich green or cocoon plant, a small shrub with woody stems has long grey cylindrical leaves and the latter has below. Formerly classified as a species of covered in white, cocoon-like leaves. flattened leaves, often with serrations. Senecio, this small group of closely related species has been separated into its own They provide curiosity with their artificial genus, Caputia. The name was derived from appearance, and an added reward of Caput bonae spei, a historical name that golden-yellow flowers – food for the soul referred to The Cape of Good Hope, or the and butterflies. greater Cape area. The genus belongs to the daisy family Asteraceae, due to the typical Article by Sean Gildenhuys from Kambroo daisy-like flowers (except for C. haworthii) Plants. Online orders at that are known as a capitulum – a floral disc https://kambroo.com/ or contact Sean on with ray florets all the way round. The five [email protected]. species are found in Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape provinces. They are relatively slow-growing plants that are easy to grow and can withstand harsh conditions, with their adaptative leaves most certainly aiding as sun protection. They can be planted in rockeries in lower-rainfall areas and are also well-suited to planting in containers. They are easily propagated by stem cuttings or division of clumps. Caputias are very attractive plants that are definitely worthy of cultivation. 58 l www.thegardener.co.za
PRESERVING SPINACH Quick and tasty Spinach is one of the easiest plants or two portion sizes (whatever suits to grow and can produce large yields your family) into plastic bags, then that often exceed what you can use add a label and date and freeze. To use immediately. frozen spinach, add it straight to a soup from the freezer or casserole, noting At the first signs of spinach or Swiss the extra liquid that comes from frozen chard starting to seed, the whole spinach, or thaw and drain it before crop needs to be harvested. There using in the normal way. are several ways to preserve spinach, such as freezing, drying, dehydrating, Spinach and feta gözleme bottling or canning, but by far the best method and the most useful is For a quick and easy snack or dinner, freezing. Once prepared and frozen it these ‘cheat’ gözleme are tasty and can keep for up to a year in the freezer, super-fast to make. Gözleme is a and can be used in many different ways savoury stuffed Turkish bread. The straight from the freezer or thawed and bread is usually thin unleavened drained. Turkish bread, which is hard to come by, so we used ordinary wraps. Freezing method 4 wraps Wash the spinach in cold water to 1 bunch fresh spinach or 400g frozen remove any dirt from the garden. Bring a pot of water to the boil and have spinach, chopped another big bowl of iced water at the 200g feta ready before you begin. You may want 100g mozzarella, grated to chop up the spinach before you Salt and pepper blanch it, but you can also do whole 1 lemon, cut into wedges leaves. Drop batches into boiling water for 10 or so seconds – but not Meat version option: Prepare minced for longer than a minute. Use a slotted lamb to add to the spinach by adding spoon to move them quickly into iced a chopped onion to a pan with a water to stop the cooking. Once all the little olive oil and a chopped garlic leaves are blanched, pack them in one clove. When the onions are soft, add 500g lamb mince and cook until well browned. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a wrap to the dry pan. On the one side of the wrap, add a couple of spoonfuls of the lamb mince and top with a few spoonfuls of spinach, leaving a space around the edge. Crumble a bit of feta over the top. The filling should be quite thin; it’s not meant to be packed in. Place the grated cheese around the edge of the half circle and flip over the half of the wrap and seal it together. Flip over the whole wrap to brown the other side and remove when nice and toasty. It will be quick, so make sure it doesn’t burn. Cut the halves in half and set on a serving plate while the other wraps are made. Serve with the lemon. A sprinkle of the lemon when eating it makes this dish, so don’t leave it out.
PLANT NOW Blue Dart Juncus tenuis ‘Blue Dart’ (blue dart rush) is just what you need to smarten up a bog garden or water feature, with its linear and unique blue foliage that intensifies in winter. It will grow fine in moist soil and even in standing water in full sun or shade. Growth is upright to a height of 36 – 40cm and a width of 25 – 30cm. If you want to plant a bold patch of them near the edge of a pond, space them about 20 – 25cm apart. Looking for an interesting, grass- like houseplant? Try ‘Blue Dart’ in a pretty glazed pot without any worries about over-watering. Juncus ‘Blue Dart’ Stachys byzantina Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ 60 l www.thegardener.co.za
PEST CONTROL Italian cypress aphid Popular conifers like Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Gold Crest’, C. sempervirens ‘Stricta’ and ‘Swane’s Gold’, Cupressocyparis x leylandii and Juniperus scopulorum ‘Skyrocket’ are susceptible to infestations of the Italian cypress aphid in the cooler months of the year, when these plants are also in active growth. The result is often only noticed in summer when the plants turn brown and dry, often dying off altogether. Unlike ordinary aphids, which cluster around new growth, these aphids create massive, hidden colonies on main stems and are not easy to spot. They not only excrete honeydew (a black and sticky substance), which can lead to black sooty mould, but they also inject a toxin into the plants they feed on. To add insult to injury, the honeydew attracts ants that then spread the aphid eggs. Treatment is a two-pronged approach While Italian cypress aphids do have some natural enemies, such as ladybugs and praying mantises, ants will defend the colonies in exchange for honeydew. Managing ant nests around your conifers will therefore help to control the cypress aphid population, and using systemic insecticides like Koinor 350 SC as a soil drench around the plants as a preventative measure will kill off the aphids and shouldn’t pose a danger to natural predators that could be present in dense plants.
PROPAGATION Time for hardwood cuttings Many deciduous shrubs and • Make a horizontal cut about 6mm below the lowest bud at the base. • Next, identify a bud about 15 – 20cm away from the base to make a sloping tip cut, about 6mm above the bud. There should be more than 3 or 4 buds between these two cuts. • If making quite a few cuttings, place the ones already prepared in a jar of clean water. trees can be propagated from hardwood cuttings – an easy and fulfilling job to do. Which plants? ‘Wounding’ a cutting • If the cuttings were waiting in water, dry them off lightly on a piece of Plants that can be propagated by hardwood Rooting hardwood cuttings successfully kitchen paper towel and then dip the cutting include ‘Iceberg’ roses, Viburnum can be helped along by using a sharp blade base into rooting hormone (available opulus ‘Roseum’ (snowball bush or to gently scrape off the outer layer of bark at garden centres), making sure to guelder rose), Nandina domestica (sacred at the base of the cutting to expose the tap off the excess rooting hormone. bamboo), frangipani, wisteria, crepe myrtle, cambium, a light green layer of meristem hydrangea and berberis, as well as fruit tissue. If you have a lot of material available • Use a dibber or pencil to make a hole trees such as figs, pomegranates, quinces to use there is no harm in trying this in the soil medium and insert each and mulberries. method, which commercial growers often cutting about 2/3 into the soil, about use. 5cm apart. When to do it? Planting your cuttings • Press down the soil medium around • Hardwood cuttings must be mature them and water the cuttings well and woody, not soft and green, and • Fill up a deep pot, or other container with a watering can. should be at least as thick as a pencil, with ample drainage holes, with soil. taken from the current season’s You can use ordinary potting soil or a • Keep the cuttings in a protected growth. home-made mix of 1 part river sand place, and keep the soil medium and 1 part palm peat, or 2 parts river slightly damp throughout winter and • The best time to take such cuttings is in sand and 1 part compost. you should have rooted plants with the dormant season after the first leaf the first signs of top growth next drop but before frost – normally from summer to plant out. late autumn to early winter. Watch how to make cuttings on Garden Tube • Take your cuttings early in the morning and try to cut them off where the current season’s wood has developed from older wood. The base of the little stem at this junction has the best potential for root development as it contains a number of dormant buds that supply hormones required for developing roots. • Be sure to clean your secateurs properly with a disinfectant before you do any cutting. Prepare your cuttings • Take long cuttings if you can (at least 20 – 25cm in length), as these will contain more food reserves. 62 l www.thegardener.co.za
Annique ‘Annique’ is a deep velvety-red picking rose that stands out for its full, old- fashioned shape. It produces single stems as well as clusters of blooms, with a white fleck on each of the outer petals. As one of the Antico Moderno roses, it combines old-world charm with modern disease resistance. It is an excellent garden rose that grows to hip height. Rose care for April • Extend the autumn rose flush by deadheading and disbudding. Remove the centre bud from a cluster to produce longer-stemmed blooms. • Watering can be reduced, except in warm sub-tropical areas, because the roses are entering their prime blooming time. • Prevent black spot and insects by spraying with a Black spot combination of Chronos and Ludwig’s Insect Spray. • For a biological solution, use Sheba for aphids and thrips or Adino for just aphids. Both are wettable powders using mushroom spawn that is diluted for spraying the leaves or drenching the soil. It works on contact and should be used with a sticker like Picanta. • This is the last month to fertilise the roses except in warm subtropical areas. Don’t fertilise rose bushes that have lost their leaves.
DIRECT SOWING Flower scatterings The stands of flower seed Toad flax packets in supermarkets and garden shops attract the What to sow: gardener just like the stands of sweets and chocolates do Alyssum (Lobularia) – Blanket your children in a café. The variety of annual garden flowers that garden with sweetly honey-scented flowers can be sown directly into the available in mixes or white, pink and violet. garden now to flower from late Flowering: 60 days. winter and early spring is just African daisy (Dimorphotheca) – irresistible! The very popular Namaqualand daisy is Soil prep and care in a available in plain white, mixes of white, nutshell: yellow and orange, or in ‘Pastel Shades’, which is a new release on the market. • Identify your sunniest patches Flowering: 85 days and dig in ample amounts of compost. Lobularia ‘White Stream’ • Rake the soil into an even tilth, Cornflower taking care to remove rocks and old plant roots. • Use a rose sprayer to water gently the night before you are intending to sow your seed. • Don’t sow on a windy day, and if you are sowing very fine seeds, mix them with some mealie meal or fine river sand to prevent them from all landing in one spot. • Rake very lightly and tamp down the soil with the back of your rake. (Remember that most of these flower seeds must not be buried much deeper than 2mm). • Water afterwards with a soft spray and keep the soil constantly moist until germination. On hot days your seed beds might need to be lightly watered twice. • Once true leaves have formed you can cut off over-sown seedlings to give the others more growing space, or you can prick out some to plant further apart. Also cut down on the watering to only when the soil feels dry. 64 l www.thegardener.co.za
Bokbaaivygie Fun fact: This plant produces two completely African daisy African daisy different seeds, one flat and oval, and the other Virginia stock round and worm-like. Both seeds are viable and www.thegardener.co.za l 65 perform with the same result. A seed packet can contain both. Toad flax (Linaria) – Resembling miniature snapdragons and available in mixed colours. Great for mass sowing. Flowering: 70 days. Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) – Upright growth habit with violet blue flowers, but also available in mixed shades of pink, purple, blue and white. Their sweet nectar attracts beneficial insects. Great cut flower and also edible. Flowering: 90 days Bokbaaivygie (Cleretum bellidiforme) – Jewel- like mix of bright flower colours on ground-hugging succulents. Must be sown in full sun or the flowers with their dark centres won’t open. Flowering: 80 days. Virginia stock (Malcolmia maritima) – Strong fragrance early morning and late afternoon. These plants thrive in part shade to full sun. Flowering: 70 – 80 days. Fun fact: The Virginia stock was formerly known as virgin’s stock, or cross because of its cross-shaped flower. In religious art, it was associated with Our Lady (Virgin Mary) and was planted in monastery gardens, especially those on pilgrimage routes. It is also known as French forget-me-not.
+\\GUR]RQHGHÀQLWLRQV Hydrozone Summer rainfall region Winter rainfall region People have begun to understand that Detailed definition Annualised gar Annualised landscapes can be sustainable and still definition maintain their aesthetic appeal and Detailed definition wdefi/nvitieonry function, by hydrozoning. Hydrozoning Very low/ No watering Receives less than is defined as grouping each plant variety No required unless in 300mm effective No watering Receives less than according to their water requirements. extreme cases watering per 300mm effective You can then water each group of plants annum reqisuirerd unless in watering per according to its needs, ensuring that exetrefmfieccaiseesnt. annum the irrigation system is specific to that hydrozone and that each group (hydrozone) Summer: 12mm Receives annual Winter: 12mm Receives annual has its own valve. This presently forms per week effective watering per week effective watering the basis of many landscape designs and Spring/ of between 300 - Spring/ of between 300 - ensures that water use is focused and Autumn: 7mm 500mm Autumn: 7mm 500mm applied in correct amounts. per week per week Low Winter: 12mm Summer: 12mm A landscape can have four main every second every second hydrozones (hydrostations): high, moderate, week (including week (including low and very low water usage zones. lawns but not if lawns but not if Planting in these zones can reduce water dormant) dormant) usage by between 30% and 80%. These zones must each be watered individually Medium Summer: 15mm Receives between Winter: 15mm Receives between and have their own professionally designed per week 500 - 750mm per week 500 - 750mm and installed irrigation sprinkler types Spring/ effective watering Spring/ effective watering and their own valve (whether manual or Autumn: 12mm per annum Autumn: 12mm per annum automatic). The concept can be applied per week per week regardless of the water source or how much Winter: 7mm per Summer: 7mm water is available for use in the landscape. week per week When designing a landscape, it is High Summer: 25mm Receives over Winter: 25mm Receives over suggested that you use a landscape per week 900mm effective per week 900mm effective irrigation water-use model. This technology Spring/ watering per Spring/ watering per can be used to determine the amount of Autumn: 15mm annum Autumn: 15mm annum water that is required in each hydrozone in per week per week the landscape, based on the unique site and Winter: 12mm Summer: 12mm environmental aspects for that hydrozone. per week per week There are several such models available internationally and one in South Africa. Hydrozoning is an efficient tool that can guide landscapers and property owners The South African model incorporates in leading the way with regards to water a range of design, site, edaphic, climatic, conservation and ensuring that ornamental hydrozone, irrigation and maintenance landscapes are more sustainable. factors that all contribute to determining the amount of water that should be used in the landscape. It allows for landscape designers and maintenance managers to adapt designs up front as well as in the field to reduce water use. Contact Water Wise for more information. www.randwater.co.za and click on the Water Wise logo FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON WATER WISE, PLEASE CONTACT US ON: 0860 10 10 60
APRIL CHECKLIST 9 Invest in a leaf-blower to collect all 9 Grow your own garlic from bulb sets 9 the fallen autumn leaves from hard 9 available in garden centres. Pick a surfaces like paving and driveways. 9 sunny spot with well-draining soil 9 Use them as light layers of mulch and plant the cloves about 15cm around plants, to add in thin layers apart in drills of about 7cm deep. 9 to your compost heap, or to make The cloves’ noses should be just 9 leaf mould by stacking them in covered with a thin layer of soil. plastic bags to break down. Water regularly. You can also plant Winter care for the compost heap garlic in containers. means covering it with canvas or Keep your gardenias well-watered plastic to prevent heat and moisture at this stage. Although they flower loss (or too much water in winter- mostly in summer, they still form rainfall regions). You can add new buds until late autumn, which chicken or rabbit manure for heat- mature on the plant and will open generating nitrogen. Small amounts as soon as temperatures rise again. of wood ash from your fireplace will If they experience a lack of water in enhance the calcium, phosphorus this phase, the buds fail to open and and potassium content of finished fall off. compost. Feeding young lemon trees that are 9 Plant your own veld flowers. not yet established is not a critical 9 Osteospermum, Arctotis and thing in the first year or two, but Diascia bloom now and love older trees are gross feeders. To the cooler weather. Fynbos like ensure a great harvest of fruit you ericas, acmadenias and buchus have to fertilise at least four times (Agathosma) are also easy to per year, in July, September, January grow and lots of them flower in and April – use a balanced granular April. As their root systems are fertiliser for fruit and flowers. very fine, they should never be Citrus trees growing in pots need allowed to dry out completely additional and more regular feeding if grown in containers or newly with a liquid fertiliser. planted in the garden. Also fill up Toss some waterblommetjie bulbs garden beds with lots of lasting into your pond – they will grow well and tough golden daisies (Euryops in water between 10 - 60cm deep pectinatus). and will soon settle into the mud Clean out hanging baskets and sediment at the bottom of the pond, plant them up with pelargoniums giving you a tasty flower harvest in and cascading petunias. late winter and spring.
DIY You will need Savvy storage Shutterply board (21mm) cut to the following: Planter Box (top): There is always room for 2 x 600mm x 200mm (longer sides) more storage, and what 2 x 564mm x 200mm (shorter sides) better way to pack away 1 x 564mm x 564mm (planter base) the hosepipe, wellies Hosepipe hanger Box (bottom): and half a bag of potting 1 x 564mm x 564mm (back panel) soil than in a neat and 1 x 564mm x 564mm (base) functional planter with 2 x 582mm x 582mm (side panels) storage underneath. It’s 1 x 510mm x 564mm (top panel) easy to make and will be 1 x 600mm x 582mm (door) ready to use in no time. 4 offcut pieces for the feet 2 x T-hinges 1 x hasp and staple latch Pack of 4mm x 40mm wood screws 3 x 16mm screws 2 x 25mm screws Exterior varnish – we used Plascon Woodcare Varnish (Oregon Pine tint) Hosepipe hanger Tools: Sander, drill, screw pilot and the required drill bit, paintbrush, tape measure and pencil. Steps 1. Start by giving all the wooden panels a light sanding and label your panels. 2. Paint all the panels with the varnish and allow to dry (following the manufacturer’s instructions). 3. Assemble the top box first by using the one base panel, two short and two longer sides. Place the longer sides at the front and back to cover the ply edges. Drill a pilot hole and secure with 40mm screws. Do the same for all four sides. 4. Build the lower box in the same way. Note that the top panel has a small gap towards the front. 5. Position the hosepipe hanger on the inside of the door and attach using 2 x 25mm screws. Don’t mount it too low; rather try to get it higher on the inside of the door. 6. Attach the door with the T-hinges and the latch. Use the smaller 3 x 16mm screws for this. Ensure that the latch can open and close freely before marking and attaching. 7. Attach an offcut piece to each bottom corner to hold the box slightly off the ground. 8. Screw the two boxes together before lining the top with plastic and a good layer of gravel for drainage and planting with colourful flowers, or even a small herb garden. 68 l www.thegardener.co.za
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The team Editor Tanya Visser Assistant Editor Anna Celliers Managing Editor Wendy Moulton Process and Operations Manager Cindy May Wang Copy Editor Stephen Smith Design Gillian O’Donoghue, Wendy Moulton Photography and Styling Izolda van der Merwe Digital Platforms Manager Stephani Green Office Administrator Nokuthula Zuma Garden Shows Adele de Welzen Video and Digital Megan van der Merwe Bulb pics: ibulb.org Editorial Contributors Alice Spenser-Higgs, Anna Celliers, Connall Oosterbroek, Ilona Thorndyke, Izolda van der Merwe, Madison Moulton, Mike Rickhoff, Stephen Smith, Tanya Visser, Wendy Moulton Contact us Subscriptions Nokuthula Zuma 031 003 0940 [email protected] Chané Taylor – [email protected] Editorial enquiries [email protected] Advertising Tessa Cadman 072 544 5362 [email protected] General Enquiries Switchboard 031 003 0940 [email protected] Garden Shows Adele de Welzen 083 225 3574 [email protected] Visit us on the web www.thegardener.co.za Facebook: @TheGardenerMag @DieTuinier @TanyaVisserGardener @TheGardenShow Instagram: @TheGardenerMag @TanyaVisserZA @The_Garden_Show Copyright subsists in all work published in this magazine. Any reproduction or adaptation, in whole or part, without written permission is strictly prohibited. The Gardener will not be held responsible for any omissions or errors. Unsolicited material will not be accepted. Publisher Lonehill Trading (Pty) Ltd Head Office 64 Old Main Road, Botha’s Hill PO Box 184, Botha’s Hill, 3660 Telephone 031 003 0940 Email [email protected]
GROUNDCOVER
STOEP STORY by an individual telling us all that there be safe since the Botrivier’s lagoon (a few were amphibians hopping around on their kilometres away) had not been forcefully By Anna Celliers kitchen floor. Not to be outdone, another opened lately, which resulted in the salt remarked that walking around outside pan now being filled with fresh water. Blight or was impossible without stepping on them, Somebody even suggested that the blessing? and that they were even jumping up onto platannas be relocated to a farm dam in people’s legs. Apart from infesting the yard, Botrivier, as the owner would accept them Some thought that another they invaded the braai room, said another with open arms. Then the question was plague had hit us. Others said it post, followed by a swift suggestion that asked whether it was legal to relocate frogs was a blessing. But in between, we should all have a huge frog braai! More to another town, and that those suggesting the twain nearly did not meet! wisecracks remarked that the frogs have this option should first contact a local simply rocked up for a free-for-all pool party animal control department to find out. We In the early morning hours of 9 February or are practising for a swimming gala! also learnt that just this side of Aggeneys 2022, after some exceptionally hot days, a in the Northern Cape, a new mine had soft rain shower came down, followed by a The doomsayers shouted ‘PLAGUE!’ in been developed and that a very scarce frog veil of thick mist covering an extraordinary capital letters, referring to the frog plague species was discovered in the process. They migration. in The Bible that was inflicted upon the were apparently not allowed to relocate it Egyptian Pharoah, while others regaled and had fenced off his habitat to keep him The folk of Vermont and Onrusrivier tales about similar migrations of frogs safe. woke up as usual and walked out into called ‘frog rain’ about 28 years ago in a their gardens to enjoy yet another day in nearby town. Somebody jumped in to An entrepreneurial thinker butted in paradise, secure in the knowledge that the wonder what was going on, as first there that they should be caught and sold to the local neighbourhood watch, the cameras were worms on the coastal path and then angling shops as fish bait, while the non- and other wakeful guys had kept them safe there were frogs? Then came a warning conservationists advised us not to worry from crime and bad stuff going bang in the about snakes that can apparently smell a as survivors would eventually move on night. frog from far away, which was enforced by to where they want to be, unless the sun someone informing us that a rinkhals had breaking through the mist clouds sorted The sight that greeted them when they been found on a back veranda just the day them out. The poets and philosophers let gazed onto their swimming pools, and before… A latecomer, probably trying to rip with some modifications of old idioms the slimy carpet that they felt underfoot comfort the traumatised, suggested that like, “It’s not raining cats and dogs, it’s (in some extreme cases), left them gob- these frogs were quite funky little creatures. raining frogs!”. smacked. After all, they’re not used to being The more serious, however, warned that overrun by anything worse than migrations frogs migrating could be a sign of either The practical among us explained that of friendly holidaymakers, or occasionally a large flood arriving soon, or that their we need a ‘toad saver’ and suggested a less-friendly poachers… previous habitat (believed to be the salt piece of shade cloth draped over the side pan in Vermont) had become too polluted of the pool and weighed down with stones These invaders had wilfully wriggled to survive in and that it would be fatal to to give them an exit point. Others reckoned under fences and ‘water-grabbed‘ return them there, as was overwhelmingly the municipality should advise the people the residents’ pools and ponds, and suggested in previous posts. and sort out this garden-infesting plague ‘land-grabbed’ their lawns, with a lot of post haste. opportunists also squatting on patios, The more calm and collected members in braai rooms and even kitchens – the of the community reported that no frogs The authorities, which included all latter spots probably picked because the had been seen at the salt pan on a recce by conservation departments in the vicinity, pools were more overpopulated than any foot, but that many had become roadkill soon had the frogs identified as platannas, beach in South Africa on New Year’s Day! due to early morning traffic. They were with the typical webs on the back feet and Thousands of platannas (African clawed apparently moving in a southerly direction, long claws on the front feet, and informed frogs) had suddenly appeared out of towards the ocean. us that this migration was a natural nowhere. phenomenon. They sent their workers The conservationists, upon realising with nets to catch them and asked for Then the local social media came that folk were getting desperate to find volunteers, who gladly pitched up to help. alive, proving just how entertaining and a solution and worried that it might be Around 1000 platannas were saved from enlightening the cyber ‘grapevine’ can be violent, vehemently said that this was not swimming pools and released into the in a crisis. There was an astonished post a plague but a blessing that is important to Onrusrivier, which was their destination. the ecosystem. They said that we should all Barely a frog was seen the next day, 72 l www.thegardener.co.za be glad of this sign that they are still here although I came across one underneath my with us, and that the frogs should be left washing line and wondered if I should use alone as their eggs were there all the time it as a pregnancy test. (Platannas were used anyway. A lot of arguments ensued about extensively the world over for pregnancy whether they were platannas at all or a tests between 1940 to 1960. The urine of different species of frog, and whether they a woman suspected of being ‘up the duff’ should be taken back to the salt pan and if was injected into a female platanna. If the so, how, as they are so slippery and difficult platanna spontaneously started laying eggs to catch. The animal lovers were agonising a few hours later, it meant a positive result over their wellbeing, as they were all for the lady.) worried about the chlorine in the swimming pools harming them. A late post claimed that quite a few toads had been kissed in the hope of some It was advised that the frogs should princes arriving soon, so we are all looking be taken back to the salt pan as it should out in the mist…
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