We have managed to propagate a number of this charming Pelargonium with its frost- edged leaves and bright pink flowers. A good foliage plant and very waterwise.
Snap one up at our plant sale on our Open Gardens days: November 14th and 15th.
Text and photo: Marianne Alexander
Ochna serrulata – Mickey Mouse bush.
Mickey Mouse bushes will be available at our popular plant sale on our Open Gardens Constantia days: November 14th and 15th.
The names carnival bush or Mickey Mouse plant couldn’t be more apt: these are the most cheerful and almost frivolous of shrubs. They are also an essential addition to ‘bird’ gardens.
Each season has something new to offer. Early spring sees the arrival of a profusion of delicately scented five-petalled flowers with bright yellow crinkled petals, often on bark branches. The new foliage, which starts emerging while the flowers are still on the plant, are an attractive bronze. Then the fruits begin to develop and turn from green to black while the calyx turns a vivid scarlet.
Although the fruits may be consumed by birds the colourful calyxes remain on the plants from late spring and persist well into summer. In cold winters these shrubs also have some appeal – when their attractive tan stems are bare of leaves their twiggy growth habit is revealed.
Photo credit: Marianne Alexander
The first (self-sown) flowers have appeared in Rosemarie’s garden. Queen Anne’s lace and Flanders poppies.
Come and see the rest of her beautiful garden, with eco pool and indigenous plantings, on November 14th or 15th.
Photo credit: Rosemarie van der Pas
Toe-Toe in his/her(?) favourite spot in Julie’ garden…
Open Gardens Constantia raises money for Abalimi Bezekhaya and for Soil for Life.
This simple and moving 21 minute film tells the story, in the poignant and matter-of-fact words of women microfarmers, of what the support of Abalimi Bezekhaya means in their daily edible gardening lives on the Cape Flats.
“We would plant, but nothing would come up…” says one of the farmers. Enter Abalimi, with training, compost and manure, and the supplies to set farmers up to be self sustaining.
“We eat from the garden, we sell from the garden, we help from the garden,” sums up an Abalimi gardener.
On the open garden days on November 14th and 15th you’ll have a chance to enjoy fresh Abalimi produce, which will be on sale in Nicholas’s garden, and chat to a staff member to find out more about what they do, and how.
Help us support Abalimi by visiting our open gardens on November 14th and 15th. Your entry ticket will be money well spent.
Attracting sunbirds to a garden might seem as easy as installing a sugar feeder, with sugar or honey water, and red dye (read further down for a short rant*).
But nectar-rich flowers are prettier and contribute better to biodiversity in a garden. Agapanthus inapertus (if that darn Agapanthus borer has not drilled into them all, yet!) are one of several flowers attractive to sunbirds (see above).
Here is a list of plants that will lure the tiny, gorgeous creatures to your garden:
Aloes, Cotyledons (see below), Erica, Hibiscus, Cape honeysuckle, Proteas, pagoda bush (Mimetes), perennial Fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica), pincushions, red hot pokers (Kniphofia), Watsonias, and wild dagga.
In addition to slurping nectar (pollinating as they brush up against flowers), sunbirds also feed on the juice of over ripe fruit, and on insects and arthropods, picking them off stems and leaves, and out of bark.
* If you absolutely cannot resist using a feeder, please do not use artificial red colouring (sunbirds are attracted to red) – instead, use grated beetroot for the red, and strain it out of the sweet solution before bottling. Once they are used to the feeder they will return even if the sugar solution is clear. Or tie something red to the outside of the feeder, or PAINT a part of it red. You get the picture. And remember to wash and sterilize the bottle often or bacteria will grow (this has proved to be a problem for hummingbirds, in the United States). Avoid using honey: honey and water solutions can ferment quickly and create harmful bacteria. Sugar is safer.
Best of all, plant those flowers.
Have you seen sunbirds feeding on plants not listed above? Please let us know in the comments
Photo credit: Marie Viljoen
Pretty enough for you? This garden belongs to Nicholas Walker, and is one of the open gardens for 2014. Note the permeable paving, which helps prevent run off from hard surfaces after rain.
Open Gardens Constantia will be held on November 14th and 15th this year. Tickets are on sale from early October, from the gardeners themselves, and from selected merchants. An advance ticket costs R50, otherwise tickets will be available at the garden gates for R60. Tea and cake included!
(Addresses will be provided much closer to the time, but they are with easy driving distance of one another.)
Open Gardens Constantia 