It's In The Genes!

For this mother and daughter, a shared love of gardening is a sure-fire recipe for success

- Marié Esterhuyse

If your mother is rose guru Gwen Fagan, you can’t help but be passionate about old-fashioned roses.

“Although I have many roses in my garden these days, they weren’t always my first love,” says Jessie Walton on her farm outside Grabouw. “My mother is the one who has always had a love affair with oldfashioned roses but her enthusiasm eventually rubbed off on me and now I adore the masses of roses that bloom in my garden each spring!”

“My husband Ian and I moved to the farm 37 years ago. Back then, there was only a small garden with a few cut roses and some ground around the house that was overgrown with kikuyu. I encouraged our two daughters to each create a small veggie garden and later my father-inlaw agreed to clear an area for a proper garden. That was 25 years ago.

“I turned to my mom for advice. She told me: ‘Create garden rooms with paths leading up to them; you should always be able to see the next room but there must be another pathway winding away from that to arouse your curiosity’. It was such good advice. My garden now has the most wonderful sense of continuity.”

Jessie initially grew only indigenous plants, mostly propagated from seeds and cuttings. “But the magnificent Rhododendrons and roses at Fresh Woods, a nearby farm garden, inspired me to also create an exotic plant section. That’s when my love for Rhododendrons, azaleas and Japanese maples took root. About 10 years ago, I got the opportunity to buy well-known breeder Jan van Bergen’s collection of camellias and Japanese maples. I was thrilled as I already had plants that thrive in acidic soil. Our climate here in Grabouw is cooler than surrounding areas, so we are able to grow these plants very successfully,” she says.

From orchard to nursery