My Indoor Jungle

This avid gardener discovered a new passion after filling her house with plants.

- Marie Esterhuyse

“Because plants have so many different growth habits, there are myriad possibilities for styling them,” says Saffron. “I love trailing and climbing plants as they add levels of height that can be difficult to achieve with indoor plants.”

I’ve always loved plants,” says Saffron de la Rouvierewho, at last count, had 450 plants in her house and greenhouse.

Saffron and Rose busy in the greenhouse – formerly a courtyard. The greenhouse plants are watered three times a week as it gets much hotter in here than the house, and there’s much more light. The greenhouse has an irrigation system that uses rainwater from tanks.

“My mother was an avid gardener and as a young kid I would watch her at work in the garden. I went through a succulent craze in my early twenties but during the drought in 2017 I decided to garden indoors rather than outdoors. I was battling to keep my garden alive and the few indoor plants I had gave me a wonderful sense of relief and calm. They were my sanctuary from the drought.”

Saffron’s first indoor plant was a small delicious monster. “When we moved into our new house, I noticed how it exploded with growth, turning into a statement piece. All it had needed was a change of light and scenery! The new house had a staircase and I realised how beautiful it looked when I draped plants all the way down the stairs. I was fascinated by all the possibilities of the various leaves, colours and shapes and couldn’t wait to fill my house with plants,” she says.