Innholdsfortegnelse for January / February 2025 i The Gardener Magazine

Tidying up bookshelves is a chore I am not very enthusiastic about, but I do like the precision of order, height, and book themes. Once I am done, it gives me the utmost satisfaction. I get the same feeling of complete order in my little world when I rearrange my small 7,7 cm square pots of succulent babies and youngsters; it’s a feeling, though, I guess, of complete so-called control – as delusional as it may seem. Although fleeting and by no means a reflection of the busyness of life, it is a good feeling; I know that some can resonate with me. While tidying, I came across a little book I have had for many years – too long ago to remember when I got it or from where.…

Stylish wooden sheds These wooden sheds from Upyard are not only beautiful but incredibly functional, too. They are made from premium, sustainably sourced Nordic spruce in Europe and feature integrated ventilation and double doors for practical, spacious storage. They are easily assembled and available in two different sizes from Builders Warehouse stores, and Makro and Leroy Merlin (online). Practical metal sheds Perfectly practical, the Archer Metal Sheds offer simple storage wherever needed. Available in two sizes, these sheds feature sliding doors and a fixed window and come supplied with a foundation kit included (excludes floor). They are available in a modern grey colour, are easy to assemble, and have a unique perforated panel design. They are available from Builders Warehouse stores, and Makro and Leroy Merlin (online). Garden in comfort…

Steps • Wipe down the pots and let them dry. Mix two 20 ml Woodoc Colours (Ebony in this case) into one litre of Woodoc Tile and Cement sealer. Using two will darken the colour. • Paint the mix onto the surface of the pots with a paintbrush. Let it dry, then add two more coats, allowing them to dry between coats. This will give you the rich colour we are looking for for this project. Plants To complete the look, we planted the two pots with Juniperus x davurica ‘Expansa Variegata’ and mulched them with black pebbles. This groundcover juniper is a beautiful, low-growing evergreen shrub prized for its distinctive variegated foliage. It features a mix of soft green needles highlighted by creamy white splashes, giving it a unique…

Just like Jamie Oliver can teach us to cook a meal in 15 minutes, there are ways to garden in 15 minutes or less. Here are some of our top time-saving tips to make gardening easier, quicker and more fun. Stop weeding Weeding can be very time-consuming, but there are ways to prevent weeds from ever having to be weeded out in the first place. The first thing to do is to cover the soil. Place pieces of cardboard on the surface of the soil and then add a thick layer of compost and organic matter to plant in. This will stop weed seeds from germinating under the cardboard, and as it breaks down, it feeds the soil as well. Also, cover the soil with groundcover plants as a living…

Join Freddie to find out what’s new and trending in the world of bedding plants. These Flowering Favourites are available this month at garden centres countrywide ready to be planted in your garden or in a pot. THE BEST OF SUMMER Summer annuals offer more than just colour, texture, and variety in a garden. They also thrive in the heat of summer, offering a flowering display right until autumn and sometimes longer. Fill gaps left by spring flowering annuals, create heat-loving containers filled with these annuals, and support pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds for a lively outdoor extravaganza. Verbenas For bright, long-lasting colour in the hottest months, you can’t go wrong with annual verbenas. They thrive in full sun, but can also take shade and have clusters of flowers…

I am making time in the summer to have some fun and be creative with garden projects. Get off to a good start! This gorgeous Philodendron ‘Hope’ will enhance a corner inside your home or on the patio. Keep them looking lush by getting the basics right; planting with quality potting soil, palm peat and perlite. Moss balls or kokedama The Japanese word ‘kokedama’ literally means moss ball, and a string garden is a collection of these moss balls suspended from the ceiling or some other structure. Creating a string garden with your own kokekama is a lovely way to spend a leisurely afternoon and is not very difficult. YOU NEED ● A shade-loving or indoor plant of choice ● Dried moss or coir (coir used to line hanging baskets,…

Healthy food is all about preparing fresh ingredients in the simplest (yet tasty) way. Today’s balanced diet includes lots of fiber, plenty of fruits and vegetables, and proteins in the form of meat, like lean pork. Keep it interesting, and you can’t go wrong. ESSENTIAL PORK FACTS Health Benefits Explore the various health benefits of incorporating lean pork into a balanced diet. • High-quality fresh pork contributes to muscle function and physical performance. • Eating high-quality fresh pork as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise can help maintain healthy muscle tissue. • Lean fresh pork is a healthy protein source for a weight loss diet. • Moderate intake of lean fresh pork meat as part of a healthy, varied diet does not increase the risk of heart disease.…

Celosia ‘Foliage Sol’ This is something new! Celosia ‘Foliage Sol Lizard Leaf’ and ‘Foliage Sol Gekko Green’ are two foliage celosias with rich burgundy or bicolour green-burgundy leaves. They are heat- and sun-tolerant. Salvia ‘Salgoon’ The Salvia ‘Salgoon’ series is a new addition to the ever-increasing range of perennial salvia. This heat- and droughtresilient salvia flowers profusely from spring to autumn with firm, well-filled flower spikes in various colours. What’s to like It’s a perfect plant for a pollinator garden, attracting bees and butterflies. This robust, upright-growing salvia is not a heavy feeder and has little or no disease or pest issues, so it doesn’t need fertilisers or pesticides. The deep purple, lavender, blue, and pink flowers with contrasting calyxes stand out against the dark green leaves. Where to plant…

Winning letter Dear Tanya… 1. Secateurs are quite expensive now. Is there anywhere I can get small parts for these? 2. I would appreciate tips on growing (Warbergia) pepper-bark from slips. I would appreciate how long it takes to make cuttings, how deep, etc. I have had some success, but any advice would be appreciated. 3. Where can I order clivia seeds for the more unusual colours? Regards, Connie Mundell (Eswatini) Dear Connie, Gardena secateurs spares are available; please look at their website, www.gardena.com/za. Alternatively, you can pop into your nearest garden centre, which stocks Gardena, and they will be able to assist you in ordering the parts. To grow pepper-bark from slips. Choose semi-hardwood cuttings (partially mature wood) from a healthy, disease-free Warburgia plant. The cuttings should ideally be…

Steps Using offcuts of shutter board, cut out pieces for the ladybird shape: 1 circle 260 mm in diameter1 circle 300 mm in diameter with a cut-out circle 170 mm across1 circle 130 mm in diameter2 circles at 20 mm in diameter.2 x 6 mm dowels cut to 60 mm in length 1. For the first step, use the 300 mm circle with the moon cut and find the centre point in the width. Measure 25 mm on each side of the centre point and cut out the piece of wood in the centre with a jigsaw. 2. Give all the pieces a good sanding following the grain of the wood. 3. Wipe down all the pieces with a clean cloth dipped in mineral turpentine. 4. Use a hole saw…

Where to plant it ‘Volcanica Solar Flare’ does best with morning sun but also tolerates shade, although the colours will be less vivid. Plant in fertile soil that retains moisture but doesn’t get soggy. Plants in containers should be watered daily or every second day in summer. Feed monthly with a liquid fertiliser. It will perform as a perennial in frost-free gardens but is frost-tender and should be treated as an annual in areas that receive frost. What’s to like This is a dramatic plant for containers or the garden. Its heart-shaped red and burgundy leaves are scalloped with gold, and the underside is yellow-green. ON THE GARDEN MENU…

Greg has a passion for turning green spaces into living canvases, and creating gardens into breathtaking outdoor art whilst working towards a sustainable future. With an artist’s eye and a gardener’s touch, Greg will create a bespoke garden for you, endorsed by an extensive portfolio and award-winning designs. www.gregdowsett.co.za. Plant now! New on the market is Euphorbia hypericifolia ‘Flurry’, which forms a cushion or ‘snowball’ consisting of hundreds of white double flowers. Its compact and mounded growth habit, at 38 x 70 cm, makes it perfect as an edging plant in mixed borders or as a ‘mixer’ in containers, as it complements any other plant. Plant it in well-drained soil in full sun or light shade, and do not overwater. The plant will start flowering in spring and will continue…

WHAT KIND OF GARDENER ARE YOU? Midsummer is when your garden is at its lushest. It’s always playtime in the garden, and whether it’s lying under a tree or finding more stuff to grow, gardens are our safe space for self-expression and joy. That leaves us with the question – “What kind of gardener are you?” What kind of gardener are you? Well, I love plants, and all of the above is my answer. Garden and plant lovers rarely stay in a lane, and that’s how it should be. We all have an idea of what kind of gardener we are, but experience tells me that it’s a journey, and you can become any kind of gardener the moment you are in a green space at one with nature. The…

Planning for the future and canning from the garden is on the menu this month. A simple healthy salad dressing ¼ cup apple cider vinegar½ cup olive oil2 teaspoons prepared Dijon mustard1 clove garlic, minced Salt and pepper to taste Mix all the ingredients and pour over the leaves just before serving. NOTE The health benefits of a leafy salad are numerous, and it contains arguably the best ingredient you can add: fiber to improve your gut and control blood sugar. A fresh start! ✓ Learn a new skill ✓ Improve diet ✓ Get into shape Many of us have the desire in a new year to get in shape, improve our diets, spend more time with family, learn a new skill, get organised, and so on. What is more…

Thriving in a tropical environment, anthuriums, known as flamingo flowers or laceleaf, love a warm, humid environment to grow. The new colours on the market are so rich and unusual that you may need to buy a few. There are several ways to use them, making them versatile in the home. Displaying in pot covers The variety of pot covers available these days means that you can easily match or supplement your décor just by using pot covers. If you can’t find just what you need, you can transform a plain pot cover with paint or modge podge. Try taking a beautifully patterned serviette, removing the backing so that it’s a thin sheet, and modge podge it onto a plain pot for something amazing. Growing in water Having the ability…

Silver staghorn ferns at platinum prices Tinus and Nollie @plantae orchids When we think of a staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum, which can be found in many South African gardens, usually comes to mind. This species is from Australia and is quite adaptable, making it suitable for most frost-free gardens. However, this is just one of 18 odd species, and some of the other species are much more specific about their growing conditions. The recent trend in staghorn collections is to go for the more compact forms of Platycerium veitchii and Platycerium willinckii. They also have an amazing white-silver appearance due to the fine hairs covering the leaves. Selections of these species and, in some cases, hybrids are grown for certain characteristics such as the number of divisions to the leaf,…

Blue star fern Phlebodium aureum is an epiphyte that loves to grow on trees using its creeping rhizomes covered in ‘fur’ to cling to the bark. It will grow equally happily in garden soil. The arching fronds are blue-green, deeply lobed with wavy pinnae resembling fingers. The growth habit is sprawling and can reach a size of 1,2 x 1,8 m in ideal conditions with regular water and high humidity in the atmosphere. This fern also loves growing in a hanging basket in a humid bathroom with bright light. Autumn fern or copper shield fern Dryopteris erythrosora is a coldtolerant terrestrial fern that can take deep shade (where its copper hues are better) and full sun. The growth habit is upright, with fronds developing from a crown. Pink-red fiddleheads (the…

PAINT, POTS, PATINA… The colour teal is described as bold and transports us to the serene green blues of Caribbean seas and the expansive skies that surround us. Shades of teal can be used as a statement or sparingly and combined with complementary colours like brown, orange, and gold. It also has a sense of nostalgia that takes us back to the carefree 1990s and the early 2000s in fashion and optimism. It’s a colour of joy and vibrancy. Just a touch of teal paint will brighten up a patio, mark a door as special, or make a pot plant part of the décor in the home. The blue of aged copper fits perfectly into this colour group and brings about the nostalgia we seek in design these days. With…

Steps 1. Add a cup of Woodoc Tile and Cement to a glass jar and mix in a Woodoc Colours bottle. For this project, we used two colours: Inky Blue and Full Moon. Mix each one separately. Use a stick for each to mix the colours into the sealer very well. 2. Clean off a river boulder with a brush. If they are really dirty, scrub them before adding the paint. 3. Pop the boulder on a small terracotta pot to keep it stable and make it easier to move around it. Use a white pencil to make lines or patterns on the boulder. 4. Use a paintbrush to paint the design onto the boulder. Allow the paint to dry, then apply two more coats of paint to get good…

This month, I have the odd pruning and tidying in the garden, but what I love most about summer is sowing new seeds and planting my favourite plants. Tidy up Begonias The taller varieties like ‘Dragon Wings’ and ‘Nonstop’ tend to become leggy and topheavy. Cut them back lightly and feed with any good foliar fertiliser, and they will soon be covered in flowers again. I love a penstemon Call me old-fashioned, but I have always been fascinated with penstemons that produce such a colourful display of foxglove-like blooms until late autumn. Plants such as penstemons that mingle well with their neighbours are invaluable in today’s small gardens and the sweeping plantings I do in my large borders, and their long-flowering season is a bonus for me. Penstemons are perennials, and…

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The pollinator warrior We all know and understand the importance of bees for the survival of our food sources, but then there’s the pollinator warrior who knows that pollinators are more than just bees. It’s all about planting for pollinators and being part of the rewilding of your garden space. You’re at your happiest when the garden is full of bugs… the good ones. Planting for pollinators should be important to all of us. We love the way that modern roses are more open to allow access to the bees. Dahlias have also opened up by design, as have many of the bedding plants that would have been tightpetalled flowers in the past. But it’s all about the flowers for this warrior. The indigenous Anisodontea (Cape mallow) dance in the…

What you need ✓ 2 @ 250 x 250 x 21 mm timber shelving ✓ 10 lengths of 19 x 80 mm dowel rods ✓ Woodoc 50 Marine Exterior Sealer ✓ Woodoc Stain Concentrate (Rosewood) ✓ Fine sandpaper Tools Circular saw, Drill driver, Sander, 20 mm spade bit, Tape measure/ruler and pencil, Paintbrush, Masking tape, Utility blade What to do 1. Start by glueing together the 2 pieces of 21 mm pine shelving to increase the overall thickness to 42 mm. The grain of the sheet must run in the same direction. Leave the glue to set and dry overnight. 2. Using a circular saw, cut down to a square 250 x 250 mm. Measure 40 mm inwards on each side and mark out an inner square. 3. Divide this…

Most will approach another year with firm intentions to better their health and personal appearance – sometimes with moderate success, but mostly not, from what I have seen! My New Year’s resolutions do not include curtailing any bad habits (they are just too engrained by now), and no efforts I made to look any better seem to have been fruitful. There is simply no cure for wrinkles, and neither for gravity when one reaches a certain age. It was actually when they were down, and the earth moved under me that I realised there is something I can apply my mind to in the new year by using the one organ in my body I hope is still in good working order – I can try to improve my skills…