Take a look at what can happen when you enter the ‘Cold-Climate Challenge’!

In just three years, June and Bruce Hansen have created a picture-perfect garden in their new home that overlooks picturesque farmlands and the majestic Drakensberg.
Facing the challenges

Establishing a new garden in this scenic part of the country has not been easy. Having lived in Johannesburg, June was no stranger to frost, but she was not prepared for the devastation that a severe hailstorm wreaked on her first spring garden.

“I was mortified,” recalls June. “I had battled with our clay soil and was so excited when the garden burst into flower – and then it was all gone.”

However, just three weeks later the garden was back to its former glory. The local gardeners explained to her that the storms release large quantities of nitrogen, which is why the garden recovered so quickly. She has now come to accept that snow, hail and bitterly cold wind are just part of the gardening experience.

Colour and texture
June is passionate about colour and texture. In a short space of time, she has created a tapestry of flowers and foliage that had visitors to last year’s Open Gardens in Underberg gasping with delight.
“I don’t know if I am doing it right, but I love mismatching textures and colours,” she adds shyly. “I intentionally choose trays of seedlings with mixed colours and dot them around so that the end result is a continual surprise.”
While selective pieces of classical ornamentation enhance the garden, some of the less obvious objects and signs dotted around reveal June’s sense of humour. “Weeds for sale – pick your own” had visitors chuckling.

Structure
June experiences a serious allergic reaction to Kikuyu lawn, so Bruce designed a generous paved walkway that extends from the entrance of the property to the front garden, alleviating the need for lawn. The paths are intersected by a generous circular seating area where the couple spend much of their time enjoying the spectacular view. The design has divided the garden into
a series of interesting planting areas.
The hardy Photinia ‘Red Robin’ hedge, with its copper-tinged new foliage, adds height along the entrance boundary, while a number of cold-loving acers, liquidambars and Japanese maples enhance the garden with their gorgeous autumn colours.

Birds, butterflies and insects fill the garden in the summer months. June attributes this to the extensive variety of colourful flowering plants that provide nectar, pollen and seed.

“In summer, we have sunbirds, weavers, waxbills, white-eyes, bokmakieries, the Drakensberg robin and other chats,” she reels off. “Even the swallows fly in under the covered veranda and snatch any small spiders they can find.”

She is particularly fond of the many bees that busy themselves around her as she works in the garden and adds proudly that she has never been stung. Although the garden has several attractive bird feeders, June only resorts to artificial feeding in the colder months.

Doing it June’s way
June’s love of the wildlife that shares her garden has prompted her to garden organically. Due to the high clay content in the soil, she lays down a thick mulch of compost every three months and gives an additional feed of enriched, recycled soil which she obtains from a local nursery. Every three months the entire garden is fed with pelletized chicken manure fertiliser.
Aside from spraying the roses once, just before the Open Gardens, June does not use any poison in the garden – another reason, she feels, that her garden is so alive with butterflies, bees and birds.
Typical Drakensberg afternoon showers keep the garden well watered in summer, but in winter June waters the garden at least twice a week to prevent the clay soil from freezing and cracking, citing this as one of the reasons her spring garden looks so glorious.
She also follows the advice of seasoned local gardeners to purchase plants from nurseries in Underberg only as these are ideally adapted to the specific climatic conditions.
June believes in allowing her bulbs to remain in the soil through winter, instead of being lifted, and as a result they come back with vigour the following season.
She is out in her garden at least three times a week and much of her effort goes into deadheading any spent flowers – causing the plants to keep pushing out new buds, which means the flowering borders provide an extended summer display.

As a parting comment, June mentions how much she enjoyed opening her garden to the public. “If ever you are requested to open your garden to the public, do it!” she advises. While she admits it is hard work, she says the fun she had meeting so many new people along with the gardening stories that were shared made the experience worthwhile.

Vegetables and herbs
The couple enjoys a steady supply of vegetables and herbs from the kitchen garden, which is planted in an attractive checkerboard design. Again, it was their colours and textures that prompted June to experiment with these edibles, and she tends to grow plants with interesting foliage such as parsley, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.