Carol’s vegetable garden

Carol’s garden was a natural draw at Open Gardens Constantia 2014.

Why? Tea was served there! Also a lot of cake, and sandwiches.

But the surprise waiting for everyone at the garden gate was the beautiful herb and vegetable garden, which was very popular with visitors. Above, Thai basil and an Alpine strawberry collection formed a luxurious border at the entrance.

Carol told us, “I enjoy vegetable gardening as it is so worthwhile eating what one has produced, and knowing that it is organic.”

Knowing what you are eating, how it was grown, is one of the great pleasures of the home gardener, regardless of scale.

Giant mustard is flanked by companion marigolds, natural pest controllers. They have long been used by organic gardeners as pest traps. In the background is the indigenous and familiar Tulbaghia, or wild garlic. Both edible and useful, it also has a reputation for driving away harmful pests.

Picture-perfect ruby chard (the stems are delicious cooked in their own right as a side dish).

The centre of the vegetable garden has a rustic wooden tuteur as its focal point, drawing the eye and supporting tomatoes.

Now that the guests have left, Carol can get back to eating her vegetables again!

Colleen’s flowers

Visitors to Colleen’s corner garden in Bergvliet were entranced by the flowers they found.

They spilled from baskets…

…grew up trellises…

…tumbled from urns…

…made focal points in beds…

…floated in a fountain,

…and provided pretty backdrops for friendly cats.

Here’s a trick question:

What is Colleen’s favourite flower?

We did it!

It’s over. What a wonderful two days.

We’ll post many more garden pictures over the next days, weeks and months. There are dozens of gorgeous views and interesting gardening details we have not yet shared, so we hope you keep visiting.

We will keep up with local garden news on this blog and on the Facebook, too.

THANK YOU to everyone who supported Open Gardens Constantia. Your ticket and raffle money went to a very good cause (when everything has been sorted out we will report on the takings). We loved meeting you, and we look forward to seeing you again in 2016.

THANK YOU to all garden club members and their families, friends and staff who organized, volunteered, baked, poured, cleaned, washed, guided, directed traffic, drove golf carts, carried plants, planted, deadheaded, propagated, watered and fertilized, labeled, sketched, scanned, counted, sold plants, fetched, carried, photographed, wrote, and supported.

THANK YOU to the five garden owners – Carol, Colleen, Julie, Nicholas and Rosemarie – who looked after the volunteers in their gardens (we mean people, not weeds), gave them cups of tea and treats to keep them going, and who were generous enough to allow thousands of visitors through their garden gates.

THANK you to the OGC committee, chaired by Maureen Viljoen, who pulled off a very successful 10th Open Gardens Constantia, in the face of wild November weather.

(About the photo above: Nicholas’s wife Zanette a Cordon Bleu-trained cook, produced these wonderful treats in her kitchen, for all the fortunate volunteers and workers at their garden. This blogger can attest to their deliciousness).

Photo: Marie Viljoen

Author visit

Beautiful Marijke Honig at Rosemarie’s garden, photographed with her new book, Indigenous Plant Palettes, which is the first prize in our OGC raffle.

You still have till 5pm to enter to win! Proceeds to Abalimi Bezekhaya and Soil for Life.

Julie’s Garden – preview

Julie’s garden is looking beautiful today. Above, clipped Coleonema.

Sprightly onions.

And picture-perfect strawberries!

Open Gardens Constantia days are today and tomorrow. Visit the link for more information.

The gates open at 2pm!

The 10th Open Gardens Constantia is upon us. And so is the western wind!

The good news is that all gardens photograph best under cloudy conditions. It’s true.

Visit the link for garden locations.

Plant sale

Just some of the interesting and beautiful exotic and indigenous plants – all in excellent condition – at our Open Gardens Constantia plant sale, on Friday and Saturday.

Friday hours: 2pm – 5.30pm
Saturday hours: 10am- 5pm

Visit this link for ticket information.

Feverfew at the plant sale

There will be quite a few of these plants available at the Open Gardens Constantia plant sale (tomorrow and Saturday) in the herb section.

Tanacetum parthenium is a quick-growing perennial, native to the Caucusus region. The pretty herb sows itself freely in the garden and can also be propagated by taking cuttings. Feverfew needs a sunny position in the garden, as it is liable to get mildew when grown in the shade.

Apart from being a most attractive addition to the garden and indoors as a cut flower, feverfew can be used as a deterrent for moths and is planted in the garden to keep away aphids, especially in the vegetable and rose garden. The leaves and flowers are dried and used in pot pourri.

(Follow this link for open gardens ticket information.)

Photo: Marianne Alexander. Text: Lyn McCallum