When the time has come, the best way to scale down is to surround and enclose yourself with much-loved plants...
For some folks the house and garden are like two separate entities. There is the inside and then there is the outside, and so be it. This is definitely not the case at the Johannesburg residence of Robin and Gail Kuper. Their patio doors are always thrown wide open, fusing the indoors with the outdoors and allowing them to stay intimately in touch with nature and their precious garden. And around the house, in narrow passages behind high walls, practical hard landscaping solutions like paving are softened with pretty displays of containers brimming with favourite plants and hybrid collections.
Scaling down from a park-like garden to a rubble-filled plot of modest size, which had to be terraced and retained with a raised planting area, is not for the faint-hearted.
But a clever threesome of garden lovers consisting of the owners, Robin and Gail Kuper, and garden designer Luke Maddams put their planning skills, minds and hearts together to create a lush little oasis that gives the impression that the garden has been in existence for many years.
Esta historia es de la edición April 2017 de The Gardener.
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Esta historia es de la edición April 2017 de The Gardener.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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FIRE AND Feathers!
On a dreary winter's day, a screen of fiery and feathery leaves puts up a fight against dullness!
GET THE ladies in!
At this time of year, early-flowering shrubs vie with each other to get the most attention. We say: Trust those with female names for frills and butterflies. They go the extra mile to flower their hearts out.
Vegetable Soups and dumplings
Vegetables make the most delicious soups and classic combinations are always a winner.
Yummy sweet potatoes for your good health
Boiled, baked or braaied, sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a delicious and healthy winter comfort food. Just a dollop of butter, a little seasoning and you are good to go.
Pretty and functional
If cooking is your main thing, you would probably be more interested in the culinary value of the three herbs and some of their varieties we are describing.
Dried Seedheads & Pods
Autumn and winter are the best times to see what flowers produce the best seedheads that can be left on the plants to feed the birds and bugs and for harvesting for dried arrangements.
SO MANY FACES and so many choices...
Whoever associated a Cotyledon orbiculata (pig's ear) with the ear of a pig obviously did not know about all the varieties and cultivars this species in the genus Cotyledon has.
COLOURFUL Cold Weather WINNERS!
If it comes to a vote, these dependable shrubs will be the top candidates for prime performance in winter and in other seasons...
What makes a garden sustainable?
It is interesting to note that the United Nations defines sustainable development as: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Nurturing NATURE-The Story of Kraal Garden's Transformation
Nestled within Prince Albert's rustic embrace lies a gem that is a testament to the transformative power of human vision and nature's bounty.