In Good Company

Roses and companion plants have been carefully selected to complement each other in this spacious garden.

- Marie Esterhuyse

After his retirement in 2002, John Smalberger and his wife Mari bought a cottage in Greyton Country Village for weekend getaways.

“But the more we came here, the more we became enamoured with the place, its location and its people,” says John. “Eventually, we decided to move to Greyton permanently and started looking for a property with a bigger garden in which we could grow roses.”

The couple acquired their property about six years ago. “When we moved in, the garden was somewhat neglected. The previous owners had lived overseas so it only benefited from very basic maintenance. The overall layout was much as it is today but we developed it further as we went along, albeit somewhat haphazardly!” says John.

However, he and Mari gave careful consideration to their rose beds. These were planted in various sections, each more or less colour-coded with companion plants in each. The latter are all plants with non-aggressive root systems, making them perfect for growing in-between roses.

Source of joy

To ensure that his roses put on a magnificent show, John sprays them with Efekto Rose Care every second week during the growing season. They are also given Vigorosa or 8:1:5 every month and he occasionally applies some Epsom salts. The rest of the garden gets a good handful of 3:1:5 per square metre, usually in early spring and early autumn. Seedlings and potted plants get liquid fertiliser such as Seagro from time to time.

“In Greyton we are supposed to get leiwater but it has been very irregular of late because of the drought,” explains John. “This furrow water is the lifeblood of our garden and if we no longer receive it, we fear what might become of our plants. Our garden is simply too big to irrigate using buckets and even then, there are water restrictions in place.