Showy Buttonbushes For The Fynbos Garden

The buttonbush or vleiknoppiesbos (Berzelia lanuginosa) is one of the familiar components of fynbos vegetation, and a member of the family Bruniaceae.

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas

Why not give the gift of greenery this festive season.

A Rosy Christmas

GET THE LOOKSunny patios are the ideal place for showing off roses, especially those with fragrance. This built-in plant box that defines the outer edge of the living area is filled to capacity with roses: ‘Amarula Profusion’ cascading outwards and downwards, ‘Garden and Home’ growing upwards, and ‘Garden Queen’ adding a splash of contrasting colour.

the colours of mexico

when it comes to colour and vibrancy, there’s nothing like mexican garden or patio styles for inspiration. sunny yellow, electric blue, warm oranges and reds are all combined in a colour scheme that shouts bold and beautiful. 

an apple a day, the​​​​​​​ doctor's way...

a while back we were approached by dr nevin stewart, a hobby cider maker from guildford in surrey, england, to see if we were interested in sharing his ‘juice and strain’ method of making apple cider at home. when it comes to apple season there is always a good supply around, and what better way to use them up? what we wanted to verify before publishing is how easy it is to find the equipment you need in south africa, and also how easy cider really is to make. while experimenting with beer brewing for the ultimate braai magazine, we also made good use of the time and made a batch of apple cider, with the help of brad and chris from beer bros. our conclusion? cider is very easy to make, and is very tasty indeed. we’ve adjusted the steps for local products available. this is nevin’s story:  

Gardening For The Birds

Encouraging our feathered friends to the garden is popular these days.

Spectacular Ninepin Heath For Fynbos Gardens

The ninepin heath was first described by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus in 1771, in his tome Mantissa Plantarum.

Breeding Koi

Great satisfaction can be found in rearing your own koi stock

Living Wall Art

These innovative planters brighten up a dull wall.

Dwarf In Size Huge In Flower Power

These prize performers produce masses of flowers over a long period.

Fine Planting Is Fynbos!

Heritage plants like proteas, pincushions, blushing brides and cone bushes are common sights in garden centres nowadays, so there’s no excuse for not planting some of your own.

Cascading Plants For Indoors

Growing plants add a special dimension to the interiors of homes and offices. Usually those with plain green or sometimes variegated leaves are the easiest to grow in the low light and less humid conditions found indoors. We’ve selected three of the easiest and simplest indoor plants that perform admirably in a wide range of conditions. All they need is regular watering when the soil is dry to the touch and a splash of plant food every 4-6 weeks, and they’re styling.

5 Easy-To-Grow Indoor Flowering Plants

If you’re a gardener and a mother, chances are you’ll receive an indoor flowering plant for Mother’s Day. The timing is good, because it doesn’t take much effort to keep the flowers going through winter, and who knows what this winter will bring?

Freesias And Tulips

Breeding experiments turned two bulbous plants from different continents into the late-winter-and spring-flowering darlings of gardeners all over the world.

Striking Cobra Lily For Seasonal Colour

Although commonly called the cobra lily due to its hooded upper petal, Chasmanthe aethiopica is actually a member of the iris family (Iridaceae).

How many koi can I keep in my pond?

To determine how many koi your pond can hold, you need to take into consideration a number of factors.

A Garden Full Of Rooms

When the time has come, the best way to scale down is to surround and enclose yourself with much-loved plants...

Fertility And Friability

Organisms in the soil influence these important performance factors.

Raise The Bar In Your Food Garden

Want to make your veggie garden more productive? Raised beds provide better drainage (which veggies love) and a friable mix that makes it easier for the roots to draw up water, oxygen and nutrients, especially in gardens with clay, sand or very stony soil.

Magnificent Cape Saffron For Small Gardens

The Cape saffron or lepelhout is one of South Africa’s most rewarding evergreen trees to grow.

Drought-Proof Dollar Plants

Indigenous and water-wise, crassulas can be jewels in a dry garden.

Black Diamonds

As a result of the extremely dry conditions over the last few years, everybody is struggling to find plants that will survive the harsh water restrictions.

Blushing Beauties

Harness the power of pink for your summer garden.

3 Great Summer-Flowering Shrubs

Summer gardens throughout most of the country are luxuriant with trees and shrubs in full growth. Many produce an abundance of blooms during the heart of the growing season, adding to the allure of these warm months. The flowers are offset by a background of greenery that is often in stark contrast to winter and spring, when so many blooms appear before the new spring leaves. Shrubs perform many important functions in the garden, including creating a permanent foundation to give the landscape shape and form. Flowering shrubs add a little extra to the entire garden when they’re in full bloom.

Roses' Many Bedfellows

Companion plants for roses need to be carefully picked for success.

Caring For Air Plants

They cannot live on air alone!

August In Your Garden

This quick checklist is to remind you what to do in your garden in August.

No Frills

A terracotta pot with some salvias that had been in there for two years needed much attention. If the plants could have issued an instruction it would have been, ‘Please free me from this pot!’ So, armed with a few plants, I set to giving this gorgeous pot a new look, and at the same time transplanted the salvias into the garden where I am sure they will be much happier.

Regenerate And Build

Plant in pots near kitchenGet some basil seed to plant with these – great for pizza nights this summerQuick and easy – great taste for saladsDon’t plant these 2 together!Mom’s quick pickles for these!Use these for the carrot mousse recipe – the kids love it!

Moonlighting!

By day silvery leaves stand out gently between all the different shades of green. But when illuminated by only the light of the moon, they create a magical lustre…