Gardenig in South Africa. Tips & Guides

Gerbera daisies are native to South Africa and offer large, vibrant daisy-like blooms in red, pink, purple, orange, off-white, and peach. If you want to enjoy its bloom and save time–try Growing Gerbera Daisy from Cuttings! Here are all the details.

If you want to grow an easy-to-care succulent that attains a good height and looks the part, then read on to learn about Aloe Hercules Care!

Chinese Fan Palm is an easy-to-grow subtropical plant that can be grown both indoors and outdoors. Check out the details about how to grow it.

Hobit Jade Plant is one the excellent choice for small areas of your home. It not just looks beautiful but also has minimum care needs. Here are the simple growing tips that will guide you to keep it thriving all year round.

Red Hot Poker Plant is valued by gardeners for its upright structure, bright, eye-catching blooms, and ability to attract pollinators like bees and butterflies to the garden. Here’s everything about growing it.

Lychee (Litchi chinensis) is native to Southern China and grown extensively in China, India, and other Southeast Asian countries. The tall evergreen plant can attain height up to 49-92 feet (15-28 meters). It has evergreen leaves that resist water. Small whitish or yellow-green flowers bloom in clusters usually in spring and early summer in warm climates.

Ixia (Ixia spp.) is a beautiful spring-flowering plant belonging to the iris family, boasting star-shaped flowers in a range of colours including pink, red, white, blue and purple. It’s native to South Africa, where it grows in the wild on rocky hillsides and in grasslands. A perennial plant, ixia flowers come back year after year.

Schizostylis Coccinea Major is a total eye catcher in the garden at a time when perhaps, you think its all over. Possibly the star of all the Autumn flowers, it is a vigorous clump forming perennial with erect sword shaped leaves and single red flowers.

I love surprises, and that’s precisely what I got when I received an envelope from 10 speed press the other day containing of all things, a graphic novel about vegetable gardening written by my friend Joseph Tychonievich and illustrated by Liz Anne Kozik. But first, I should share some background here, about me. In my previous life, I was a creative director for Hasbro (you know, Transformers, My Little Pony, Marvel Comics, Star Wars, etc). Comic books were part of my everyday life, from Comicon to day-long meetings at Marvel Studios. Not that I am anything close to a comic book fan, but I can appreciate the medium and especially the higher-end category of graphic novels, like this.

I can remember the first time I read about Zaluziantkya – trying to pronounce it in my head before daring to speak it out loud. It’s one of those words that once you master pronouncing it, you just love to say it over and over again like a two year old. At the very least, you will impress your friends. Za-loo-zee-ann-ski-ya.

Saturday was dark and rainy, the sort of day that you spend indoors huddled up, moving slowly, drinking warm liquids, binging on movies or a series, and making stuff.

Drought-tolerant plants, usually native to dry regions such as the Mediterranean, have evolved to thrive in dry soils with little rainfall. With climate change and extreme weather events such as drought increasingly likely in the UK, growing drought resistant plants means you can still have an attractive garden during a hosepipe ban.

Amaryllis is native to Peru and South Africa. The name is derived from the Greek word ‘Amarysso,’ which means ‘to sparkle.’ The flowers can be single or double and size up to 4-10 inches. They mainly come in red and white but are also available in salmon, pink, apricot, rose, or deep burgundy. If you have liked reading about it so far, scroll down to learn about Growing Amaryllis Indoors!

Everybody and their mother seems to own a succulent or two. And why wouldn’t they?Succulents are easy to care for, extremely portable, and can ha

When I think of a plant hunter—as in, someone who goes to places like South Africa, Vietnam, China, and Nepal to find rare species and bring them back to the United States—I imagine a swashbuckling Indiana Jones type running through the mountains complete with hat and whip. And to hear famed plant collector, horticulturist, and botanist Daniel Hinkley tell it, there is a bit of daredevilry to the job. “I’ve had hard treks, bad knees, bee stings, and leeches hanging from my neck,” he says. “But if I am lucky, plant collecting offers me a bit of seed, and the resulting plant possesses all of the memories associated with it.”

The bold flower clusters of Clivia in early to mid-spring and their arching, often symmetrical, strap-like foliage make them stunning additions to an indoor plant collection.This guide will discuss how to care for them as hous

If you want green specimens that stand out in your garden with their unique shapes and colors, check out these Plants that Look like Rocks and Stones!

Arum Lily Care and Growing is easy if you follow the procedure correctly. Read on to learn about How to Grow Arum Lilies in this detailed article below!

Blue flowers bring a sense of calmness and tranquility to your outdoor space. If you’re looking for blue flowers to grow in your garden, there are plenty of options. Here are some types of Best Blue Flowers to consider.

While there is hope and optimism on the horizon as the easing of lockdown approaches, there’s still uncertainty about the possibility of travelling abroad this year. According to the Amex Trend report, people are missing travel so much that it’s taking an emotional toll and impacting their wellbeing, with nearly half (48%) of respondents citing that not being able to travel makes them feel anxious and stressed. We partnered with The Joy of Plants for our latest project to reveal how you can transform your home with houseplants to immerse yourself in another country, even if you’re planning a staycation at home.

While there is hope and optimism on the horizon as the easing of lockdown approaches, there’s still uncertainty about the possibility of travelling abroad this year. According to the Amex Trend report, people are missing travel so much that it’s taking an emotional toll and impacting their wellbeing, with nearly half (48%) of respondents citing that not being able to travel makes them feel anxious and stressed. We partnered with The Joy of Plants for our latest project to reveal how you can transform your home with houseplants to immerse yourself in another country, even if you’re planning a staycation at home.

Martha Washington Geraniums produces vibrant and showy blooms in shades of pink, purple, and white. With proper care and attention, these plants can provide color and beauty to your garden or home for years to come!

Seems that finally – after this long, warm autumn – the cold weather is about to arrive. With this in mind I have been busy bringing vulnerable plants undercover. The brugmansia was still flowering prolifically, but I took a deep breath and cut it back to about 50cm and have now given it a fleece cover as it is far too large to move. Succulents

We were sitting enjoying our lunch in the restaurant at Grootbos Nature Reserve near Cape Town, when in walked Monty Don.  It turns out that he was a guest of South African Tourism in preparation for a competition called ‘My Mission to South Africa’ which is being run in association with The Guardian.  It turned out th

Botanically, New Zealand is an extraordinary country. Because it drifted off from the rest of the world so early on, its natural flora is very limited and with the exception of the red flowers of the Metrosideros (New Zealand Christmas Tree), flowers tend to be insignificant, with a natural wooded landscape that is predominantly a mixture of trees in many shades of green and tree ferns. It’s not really surprising

It was our local allotment association’s annual day out – and for the fourth time in five years  they elected to go to Wisley.  It’s a good decision, because no matter what type of gardener you are, there are always things that will be of interest. I was hugely impressed by the new South African meadows which conjured up the real thing amazingly well, despite their cultivated surroundings. In the g

Free Range Feather Duster One of the surprises during our time in South Africa was the number of ostriches in fields and in the wild.  The first couple of times we saw them we got very excited, but by the time we realised how common they were, they barely rated a mention.

I do love seeing plants growing in their natural habitat, especially when they grow nowhere else. I remember standing in a field in South Africa – actually the Tienie Versveld Wildflower Reserve just outside Darling in the Western Cape – while a botanist pointed out flowers that were unique to those few acres. There are a number of w

Gem Squash – Everyone should Grow Them I’m a bit mystified as to why more people don’t grow gem squash.  I do understand that if space is an issue they may require a bit more effort than courgettes, but given that they can be trained up a sturdy wooden tripod, or encouraged to climb a fence, they really are worth trying. Especially as they stop growing at tennis ball size and don’t turn into marrows overnight!  Having grown up in South Africa, they are a vegetable that I have known since childhood – and I have never wavered in my enjoyment of them, either picked fresh as they are now, or stored for winter.  Eaten now, I steam them cut in half with a dab of butter, pepper and salt and eat them skin, seeds and all.

I may have been excited to see Thunbergia scrambling way up into the trees, but when I mentioned it to someone, their comment was “That thing?  It’s a weed that we are always having to pull out of the garden.”  Maybe that is winter’s gift to us – it stops a plant we treasure for its autumn colour from becoming a pest that we seek to eradicate.  

The Chalice Vine (Solandra maxima) is not a South African native, but it is a popular plant in gardens where its 20cm diameter flowers are unmissable.  Definitel

It is impossible to visit South Africa without being aware of the vast chasm between the richest and the poorest and to feel fearful for the future.  There are good things happening though, one of which is Green Futures at Grootbos. Unemployed

If I can get the technology to cooperate, my next few blog entries will be from South Africa.  We are off to the Western Cape for a couple of weeks to see some of the spring wildflowers and visit some wonderful gardens.  

Even with my South African flora in my hand I am little the wiser in the face of such glorious abundance. The floral high point, so far, has been a field on the side of the road that the owner ensured was never cultivated so that it’s dramatically abundant wildflowers survive and thrive. Called the Tien

Garden Africa Garden Africa is a wonderful charity that works with people in South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe training smallholders to grow crops to organic standards to improve their income and protect the environment. Whatever support you can give will be appreciated.

I’ve always known that South Africa is the home of the pelargonium, but even so I was amazed by the sheer diversity that exists there in the wild. From vibrant red species tumbling down cliff faces,  to large pink-flowered shrubs on the road verges to the subtle beauty of Pelargonium triste in amongst the wildflowers of the veld, everywhere we looked there were examples of this highly adaptive plant.