Innholdsfortegnelse for November / December 2025 i The Gardener Magazine

Hi folks, I wish to dedicate this page to someone truly remarkable who influenced my journey in so many ways, as well as the green industry we all know today. Please take the time to read this in memory of a remarkable, tenacious trail blazer who dedicated her entire earth journey to us! Kay Montgomery 04/08/1961 – 24/07/2025 I had the privilege of knowing Kay since my germination in the green industry in 1993. That’s 32 years ago – scary! My introduction to Kay was through the South African Gardening magazine, which would be delivered to the nursery where I worked as a Horticulture student. There was always much excitement around the delivery – who could get their hands on the ‘office’ copy? We were only allowed to keep one,…

Zinnias For the sunny garden, zinnias will prove to be tough and bloom all summer long. The range of colours available these days is astounding – the boldest pinks, brightest oranges and sunny yellows are amongst the vast range to choose from. Zinnias love • Well-draining, rich soil and planted in warm weather. • Watering frequently without waterlogging. • Space for good air-circulation. • Cutting for the vase and deadheading. Varieties • ‘Profusion’ is a continuous-blooming variety with a range of lovely colours. They will handle cool and hot weather as well as high humidity. Excellent disease resistance. 25 x 38 cm. • The ‘Zahara’ series has large flowers and good diseaseresistance. They have low water needs and are ideal for hot, dry conditions. 30 x 45 cm. • ‘Double…

Magnificent mopheads The modern range Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Endless Summer’ flowers on new stems as well as on a previous season’s growth, meaning a repeated and prolonged performance from October to April. These plants have a resilient, rounded growth habit with glossy, dark green leaves and are hardy to cold winter conditions. The mature size is generally about 90 cm x 150 cm. Look out for ‘Blue’, ‘Blushing Bride’ (with white flowers), ‘Bloomstar’ (vivid purple or rose pink) and ‘Love’ (pink blooms). Growth tips • Being deciduous, Hydrangea macrophylla is cold-hardy and will survive frost if protected with frost cloth. • They grow well at the coast if protected and will do quite well indoors for a while when in bloom. • In the garden, plant in morning sun and afternoon…

1. Choose the location with the best yields in mind The best layout for a food garden is one that relies on science more than aesthetics. You want the best yield, not always the most beautiful garden in this area. But, there is beauty in neat rows of brightly coloured vegetables, a collection of containers planted with trellised vines and trailing herbs, and a polyculture garden filled with different plants and plenty of pollinators. As far as the science goes, it’s a matter of what plants need most – sunlight, water and nutrients, as well as proper spacing, support, and pest and disease management. 2. Find south When it comes to sunlight, it is important to get as much as possible for the best flowering and fruiting. This means at…

The holidays are the perfect time to gather the kids and make something fun together. And what better place to draw inspiration from than the garden? From pinecones and seed pods to herbs, twigs, and pressed flowers, the natural world offers a treasure trove of materials waiting to be transformed into festive decorations and gifts. Crafting will start a journey for kids to get excited about gardening and growing their own veggies, fruit and flowers. We have gathered some quick and easy gift ideas and projects for kids to do on their own and some with a little supervision. Enjoy! Wind chimes This little project is good for kids of all ages. We used Wooden Bead Kits from Envirokids, which come with all the necessary bits for threading. We added…

If you live in an area that relies on the Municipality to facilitate your water usage, you will be charged for water in most Municipalities on a two-tier billing system. You are billed for the water you use and the water that is discharged into the sewer system. Most will assume that 75% of the water used will go into the sewer system. Water is also billed on a sliding scale in kilolitres (1 kl = 1000 litres). The best plan is to stay under the threshold to save on costs. As an example, in Durban, up to 200 litres per day, you will be charged R39.39* per kilolitre. Then the following amounts apply: Using over 1500 litres a day can get very expensive. There are certain things you can…

Keep Your Garden in Top Shape with Protek A lush lawn and neat paving can go a long way towards making your garden truly spectacular, and this isn’t hard if you have a little bit of knowledge and the right products. Starting with your lawn, you’ll want two things: lush green grass that is growing well and no weeds. These two things are very closely linked, because the first step in getting rid of weeds in your lawn is to make sure the grass itself is healthy. How do you do that? By giving it all the nutrients it needs. This is where you should use a specialised fertiliser like Protek Lawn & Foliage Fertilizer 7:1:3 (15), which is formulated to encourage strong, green growth in lawns and evergreen plants.…

As soon as you have established what a new plant needs, such as climate, aspect and enough space to grow in, by reading the label attached to it with attention, your next aim should be to get it established with minimal stress to allow its roots to begin functioning fully as fast as possible. 1. Prepare the hole Dig a square hole twice the width and depth of the size of the nursery pot or bag the plant is in. Place the excavated soil along its side to improve it. You might ask… Why not just a round hole? Square or round is not vital, although one does not want lazy roots to keep on growing into a ball, but would rather want to encourage them to spread out. Why…

What you need ✓ 3 x 3 m (50-70 mm) CCA-treated droppers✓ 1 x 1120 mm timber slat (25 x 70 mm or what you have available)✓ 3 pieces of driftwood✓ Woodoc Water-Borne MARINE Matt Clear✓ Wood screws: 5.5 x 30 mm and 4 x 20 mm✓ 2 strap hangers✓ Rope✓ 5 mm washers✓ 3 steel hoop pot plant holders Tools Flat paddle for stirring, paintbrush, sander with sanding discs (80-grit and 120-grit), pencil, ruler, tape measure, jigsaw, drill driver with Phillips bit and 5 mm wood bit. Steps 1. Measure, mark, and cut the droppers into the following lengths: 500 mm, 2 x 550 mm, 2 x 600 mm, 2 x 650 mm, 2 x 700 mm, 2 x 800 mm, 850 mm, and 900 mm. Cut the 2…

BOOK CLUB Gardening in the Shade in South Africa Finding the best plants for a shady area can be challenging, especially if the rest of your garden receives full sunshine all year round. Gardening in the Shade by Allan Haschick explores the various types of shade and their impact on plant growth. It presents solutions to common problems, such as feeding, watering, and mulching shade plants, as well as dealing with exacerbating factors like wind, frost, and soil type. Popular shade plants, such as clivias, bromeliads, fuchsias, and ferns, are featured, and a directory of species categorises plants under headings like groundcovers, tropicallooking perennials, and succulents. www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za BUY IT! Rosmarinus prostratus ‘Tony’ Tough and easy to grow, this sought-after variety of rosemary will be your next culinary plant for your…

I’ve just pruned back three mature geranium bushes growing happily in a trough on my fifthfloor balcony. From these, I took 12 cuttings and placed them in water in a set of test tubes on my kitchen windowsill. To do this, I cut off leaves from the stalk until there were only four at the growing end. Is there anything I can add to the water to encourage cuttings to root? Regards, Anna Dear Anna, So, the short answer is yes. Ideally, change the water every 3-5 days. By adding a seaweed-based liquid plant food, such as Kelpak, to the water at half-strength dilution, you can encourage faster rooting. In water, it is normally really successful; however, one faces obstacles and limited success when transplanting these cuttings into soil. I…

If you were to stroll around Bryanston, you might happen upon a property that looks suspiciously like it fell out of an English gardening magazine and landed neatly in suburban Johannesburg. With bubbling water features, meandering pathways, a scattering of roses (well, 350 of them and counting) and more ‘garden rooms’ than a stately home, this is the Carver-designed, Darryl and Janineloved family garden. Darryl, his wife Janine, their three children – daughter Ashton and twin boys Kyle and Sheldon – plus Nana, who reigns serenely from her cottage, needed a place where everyone could breathe, play and be surrounded by beauty. What was there when they moved in was lots of grass. Endless grass. An ocean of green nothingness. From grassland to grandeur Back in 2012, when Darryl and…

Coneflowers have been gracing the fields of Europe and North America since the 1700s and were traditionally used as medicinal plants, as is still the case today when a cold strikes. But the purple ray flowers drooping from a central cone on spindly plants have morphed into very popular garden hybrids with upright and compact growth habits supporting generous stems with a rich variety of flower shapes and colours. The ‘Artisan Collection’ is grown from F1 seed with ‘Red Ombre’ producing very large, deep red, fiery, and brilliant single flowers transitioning into softer shades as they age. The ray flowers are carried horizontally from the typical central cone, which, if not removed from the plant in late autumn and winter, will attract birds with its seeds. So, you guessed right;…

Good to know • Bougainvilleas need a maximum of six hours of bright sun to flower well, like a sun-baked north-facing wall. • Keep the soil moist until you see the first signs of new growth. Then, allow the soil to dry out before watering again. • Feed in spring, mid-summer and autumn with a slow-releasing fertiliser high in potassium, and mulch afterwards with a fresh layer of compost. Do not overfeed, as this will encourage leaf growth and few flowers. • They flower on new growth. If they become too vigorous, they can be pruned after a flowering flush. Young plants can be trained into bushy specimens if you keep pinching out the stem’s growth points at first. Best survival tip Bougainvilleas do not like disturbed roots and should…

More on the books Four lucky subscribers each stand the chance to win one of two copies of Brahman Hills: The Making of a World-Class Garden and one of two copies of Jane’s Delicious Natural Solutions for Pests and Diseases for Organic Edible Gardens. Brahman Hills: The Making of a World-Class Garden is a collector’s item and a wonderful gift, showcasing the beauty and inspiration behind this world-class garden. Available in stores and online. Jane’s Delicious Natural Solutions for Pests and Diseases for Organic Edible Gardens by Jane Griffiths’ is a full-colour softcover, the latest in her series of food gardening books. Packed with practical methods for creating and maintaining balance in your garden, it offers prevention strategies and natural techniques to help plants resist problems. If that balance is…

Brown patches Brown patches have variable causes, and you will have to use your best detection skills to isolate the problem(s): Too little water – if the lawn is watered regularly and deeply in summer, it will be fine. It is, however, when you water that can create a problem. Watering at night can invite fungal disease, causing dead patches after a while. Watering should instead be done early in the morning, giving the lawn a chance to dry off during the day. Lawn caterpillars – these worms are active at night in summer, and they attack healthy leaf blades. To detect their presence, leave a wet towel or sack overnight on the grass. They commit their destruction from just under the soil’s surface, and if present, some will be…

Zombie fungi A fungus named after Sir David Attenborough has become known as the zombie fungi because it turns spiders into submissive beings, changing their behaviour to benefit the fungi. This species was found in a cave in Ireland when the BBC was filming the series Winterwatch and was named after the iconic presenter. The purpose of the fungus is to move the spiders that would normally be in caves or cellars out into the open, where the fungal spores can be dispersed by wind. Unfortunately, this also leads the spider to perish. Psychoactive cactus peyote Lophophora williamsii, known more commonly as peyote, is well known for having hallucinogenic properties and has been used by North American Indians in their rituals for over 5000 years. What may be surprising to…

Nona van Niekerk, founder of Cape Garden’s legacy, has plants growing in gardens all over the Cape Province today. So, when you next gaze upon your bamboo palm, red dipladenia, flowering bird of paradise, or a lavender buzzing with bees (all best sellers!), think about this visionary and far-reaching woman who started a massive nursery chain consisting of five large retail branches, generously stocked from a growing farm in the West Coast town of Vredendal. Nona sadly passed away on 12 August 2025 due to cancer. The award-winning and much-loved garden centres of Cape Garden had humble beginnings in the late 1970s, with matriarch Nona van Niekerk striking her first cuttings under a small shaded area and selling her plants from under a giant old loquat tree to feed her…

One of the biggest trends international florists are embracing for next year is the return of natural, effortless arrangements that are romantic, delicate and soft. Garden-type flowers in airy displays allowing each bloom to shine. The finished look is effortless and natural, as if you stepped into a field and picked some flowers. For gardeners, this means cut flower gardens, and the best way to get these into the garden is to sow seed. From now on, start sowing aquilegia, carnations, foxgloves, hollyhocks, statice, and zinnias, with more seeds coming in autumn and winter to fill in any gaps.…

Building a legacy Fiskars started as a small Finnish ironworks in 1649 and has grown into a global, solutions-based, innovative company known for its precision, durability and design. Their dedication to manufacturing quality, ergonomic and technologically-advanced gardening products has ensured consumer trust. When you buy a Fiskars product, you are guaranteed a product that will last and be reliable season after season. Innovations Fiskars has been at the forefront of innovative technology when it comes to manufacturing quality tools. These are some of the solutions they have engineered to make a Fiskars tool easy and powerful to use: • Cutting systems: Fiskars’ cutting tools like pruners, loppers and shears are legendary. Today, the PowerGear mechanism has revolutionised pruning and cutting. This system multiplies the hand’s force, making it effortless to…

Coffee The price of coffee beans has reached nearly R400 a kilogram, and the effects of climate change on coffee-growing regions have made beans increasingly scarce. With 2.25 billion cups of coffee consumed daily in the world, with the number still growing, it puts pressure on the coffee-growing regions to expand their growing areas. But because coffee is grown at altitude, the higher you go, the less arable land there is to plant trees. It’s time to bring it home and plant your own trees. You can get a decent coffee harvest from some trees in your garden at half the price of store-bought coffee beans. Just make sure you are up to the task of preparing coffee for the machine; it’s not a fast process. Arabica is the most…

Tip Pick strawberries in the warmth of an afternoon sun for the best flavour. ✔ Select a variety For a longer season, some varieties will fruit all summer, and those that can be planted in succession will fruit all at once over a few weeks. A strawberry that grows well in South Africa is ‘Selecta’, which is known for its disease-resistance and produces big, juicy, red strawberries. This variety is often grown by farmers. If you want to grow from seed, ‘Florian’ is a new seed variety from MayFord Seeds, and ‘Fresca’ is new from Kirchhoffs Seeds. ✔ Give them the best growing conditions Strawberries are comfortable grown just about anywhere, but they will give you more and sweeter fruits if they get at least 6 hours of sunlight a…

Why grow rare? There’s a special kind of thrill in nurturing something you don’t see in every garden. Rare and hard-to-find plants invite you to celebrate the wild beauty of nature while helping to conserve it. Picture the turquoise glow of the indigenous Ixia viridiflora lighting up a spring bed, or the punchy pink flowers of Amarine ‘Belladiva’. Each bloom is a quiet marvel, and your garden becomes a living gallery of South Africa’s treasures. How to plant your rare finds ● Choose the right spot. Most indigenous bulbs love a sunny position with well-draining soil. ● Prepare the soil. Mix in compost for nutrients and a handful of coarse sand to keep it loose. ● Plant at the right depth. You will find these on the packaging. ● Water…

To prepare for the summer onslaught, focus on eliminating breeding grounds, sealing entry points, and using natural repellents before bringing out the big guns. • Plant repellents – plants like marigolds, basil, mint, lemongrass, rosemary and lavender are helpful to deter pests. If you don’t have these, try essential oils like citronella and eucalyptus. • Cleaning and food storage – eliminating food sources by storing food immediately and cleaning up crumbs and spills goes a long way towards keeping flies and ants away. Clean surfaces with vinegar, which critters don’t like. Also, remember not to leave pet food out. Clean areas for bins regularly to stop the spread of insects and pests. • Start at the source – mosquitoes love some standing water to breed in. These include empty containers,…

Here are some tips for laying bark mulch in a flower bed: ● Remove all the weeds and debris from the bed and around all the plants. Lightly rake the area so you have a clear base to start. ● On the edges of the flower bed, move the soil inwards with a rake to form a small channel so that when you lay the bark down, it will line up perfectly with the edge. ● Don’t use landscape fabric under bark mulch, as the purpose of bark is to break down and add nutrients to the soil, unless you are using it on pathways. ● Add a layer of mulch around 5 cm thick, but keep away from the stems and trunks of trees, allowing a 10 cm space…

Rockin through summer Nothing is as satisfying as seeing the bees and pollinators making your garden their home. All the different salvias are among the best perennials to plant for almost all year-round colour and for attracting pollinators. There is one new variety that stands out and has proven to be a rockstar because of its larger flowers and standout performance. The Salvia ‘Rockin Fuchsia’ has deep pink flowers and grows in all soil conditions in full sun. One plant will give you more than a square metre of colour, being incredible value for money. The long flowering period is extended with the dark calyx (where flowers join the stems) on the spent flowers, adding another layer of colour. Wayne’s Favourites Collection 101 Boeing Road East, Bedfordview, Gauteng 011 453…

The basket used for this potting recipe is a more modern version of the traditional wire basket, which would usually require a lining with choir. It is a solid and sleek fibreglass bowl, roomy enough to contain four different plants which complement each other nicely. Before planting ● Make sure that the drainage holes are adequate and open, then place a thin layer of gravel chips over them to make drainage even better. ● Use a good quality potting soil and add some Atlantic Bio Rock Root Builder to it to aid strong root formation. ● One of the most important soil additions for summer hanging baskets and containers is a water-retention product to prevent the soil from drying out too fast. Hydrocache Water Retaining Gel from Starke Ayres was…