Look what happens when you transform the formal, lawn-dominated surroundings of a home into a garden filled with indigenous plants and captivating focal points.
The KwaZulu-Natal garden you see before you was, a mere two years ago, a plain rectangular piece of lawn with surrounding flower beds. There were some pretty indigenous shrubs and trees on the borders but it stopped there. The whole garden could be taken in with one sweeping glance; there were no quiet corners to draw you in and encourage you to explore, no focal point to engage your interest, no secret magical spaces and no water for wildlife. The few feathered visitors that ventured into the garden did so because they were enticed in with a seed feeder hung in a tree. This was a garden begging for transformation.
Following our vision for a wildlife-friendly, peaceful oasis for owners Barbara and Randal, my team and I began with a very boring bank, which had a few BULBINE natalensis struggling in the dry sunny conditions. The stream and waterfall you see in the photos is the end result. Planting along the stream edges was challenging fun, how could we make it look natural and as if it had been there forever? Natal bottlebrush was first in, followed by grasses, especially ARISTIDA junciformis, which hangs gently over the sides. This is a lovely grass that is fluffy blonde in winter and pale green in summer – it never looks tatty or needs cutting back. Kniphofia species cluster round the lower pond as they would in nature. A gnarled DOMBEYA rotundifolia (wild pear) juts from the centre island as if planted by Mother Nature herself. The birds were quick to arrive, followed by painted reed frogs – just how these little treasures find their way into a walled estate is a mystery.
The area outside the kitchen and along the side of the house was particularly uninteresting, just a dry hot bank with no life, and it called out for a woodland type planting. We lifted all the grass and mapped out a winding path through the area to be planted. Small trees and shrubs that would attract insects and supply fruit for the many different birds we were aiming to attract were planted to form the backbone of the woodland. In pride of place is a SCHOTIA brachypetala (weeping boer-bean or tree fuchsia) and a coral tree (ERYTHRINA lysistemon) and both flowered in their first year, what a joy. Tamboti (SPIROSTACHYS africana), ACACIA karroo (sweet thorn) and BUDDLEJA salviifolia complete the upper storey planting. Sprinkled underneath are BECIUM obovatum (I call this little plant the ‘Bee Bar’) and some grasses on the sunny edges. Opposite this bed is an area against the house that receives very little sun – it was particularly wonderful to change this into a shady feature bed. Clusters of KRAUSSIA floribunda (rhino coffee) make a miniature forest with Clivia, HAEMANTHUS albiflos (white snowbrush or paintbrush) and the much happier BULBINE natalensis, relocated from their former hot spot on the bank. PSYCHOTRIA capensis (black bird-berry) with PLECTRANTHUS zuluensis complete the picture, almost like a full stop at the end of the bed before you leave this part of the garden.
With the original beds the straight lines were the first thing to go; we created sweeping soft curves with new beds around the pool and to hide the pond pump and the pool pump. Aloes come into play here – a collection that flowers at different times of the year – and they are mixed in with pretty flowering shrubs like ANISODONTEA julii, which creates a haze of pink all summer, and LEONOTIS intermedia, which contributes orange flames in autumn and for much of the rest of the year. The grass known as Natal red top (MELINIS nerviglumis), so essential for seed-eating birds, is part of the mix together with a sprinkling of GLADIOLUS dalenii and WATSONIA pillansii. The pool area that was once surrounded by lawn is now colourful and bird friendly. Once again, grasses provide texture while Barberton daisies (Gerbera spp.), blue Kingfisher daisies (FELICIA amelloides) and dwarf Agapanthus give bright colour. Nestled amongst this sumptuous summer display are the stars of the winter garden: red-flowered ALOE chabaudii, gold-spiked ALOE vanbalenii and orange-bloomed ALOE maculata.
Randall and Barbara have created a new pebbled courtyard complete with outside dining table and chairs, just off the kitchen. It is in this area that a small vegetable garden now flourishes too. It is a real treat to eat out here within sight and sound of the rushing water, surrounded by the riot of colour and diversity in the new plantings.
To the right of this courtyard is the lavender tree forest (HETEROPYXIS natalensis). Thirteen of these slender, white-trunked beauties cluster closely together, under-planted with a waving sea of weeping anthericum (CHLOROPHYTUM saundersiae, previously ANTHERICUM saundersiae). A meandering path leads you between them to a small bubbling fountain that is a favourite with birds, which splash away happily regardless of any humans nearby.
I couldn’t wait to begin work on the other side of the house, which is visible from the entrance. Here the style of the garden was Georgian (as is the concept of the entire estate), which meant lots of clipped hedges and formal lines. There we had a single clipped hedge of FREYLINIA tropica next to the house and lawn, with a Cape honeysuckle (TECOMA capensis) hedge screening the neighbouring property. There was never any reason to visit this part of the garden. The Freylinia and lawn came out and in its place we planted a woodland that is especially fragrant and pretty in the spring. Natal violet pea (BAPHIA racemosa) and September bells (ROTHMANNIA globosa) form the vertebrae of this woodland. Both bear scented white flowers and when in full bloom the fragrance will waft upwards to the bedrooms on the second floor. The mid level planting consists of small bone apple (CODDIA rudis) and wild pomegranate (BURCHELLIA bubalina). The pomegranate was wonderful in the spring and its clusters of orange tubular flowers were much beloved by sunbirds. CODDIA rudis has a most interesting arching form with dear little creamy bells marching along the stems; they are followed by small fruit that is eaten by the birds. Lining the bark-mulched path that winds through the woodland are BARLERIA repens ‘Rosa’, PELARGONIUM tongaense and CROCOSMIA aurea (falling stars). We tucked Clivia in the shade of the Tecoma hedge, both C. miniata and C. gardenii, so we have splashes of orange at different times through spring and late summer. This woodland is exquisite and even in its newness it invites you down the path, to explore and find out what is around the next corner.
Although the garden was now beautiful and interesting at every turn I still felt we needed a secret area, a place of retreat for a hot summer afternoon. Yet more lawn came out and beds were enlarged to sculpt out a private nook to accommodate a bench in the shade of a group of river indigo trees (INDIGOFERA jucunda). Here an archway, surrounded by the honeybell shrub (FREYLINIA lanceolata), indicates the entrance to what will in time be a very secluded area. F. lanceolata hails from the Cape, but thrives here with its lovely scented pale yellow bells. SENECIO macroglossus, which is never too rampant, and traveller’s joy (CLEMATIS brachiata) clamber over the arch.
The former Georgian-style garden is gone and both Randal and Barbara delight in their new paradise. Barbara does the gardening herself and it is quite remarkable how, in just two years under her care, the garden has grown from poor Cinderella to fairy princess.